A Day Stuck in Traffic

Thursday August 12th

Not too early a start today. The plan was to travel towards Hannover. They set out at about 10.30 and did a little grocery shop at Aldi, (which turned out to be a great move) and then set the Tom Tom. The intended buying petrol in the town at the first service station they came to. As it turned out they had to get onto the motorway before they found any, which is a shame as it costs more but in turning off the motorway to buy petrol they averted a disaster.

Suddenly the traffic ground to a halt, but there was the service area ahead so Mary managed to get me over into the off lane. By this time the traffic was at an absolute standstill. People were getting out of their cars on the motorway. They filled me up and then were lucky enough to find a park. It was obvious that there was no point joining the queue to get back onto the motorway as it would be stressful and wasteful of fuel, and hot! I get very hot idling in traffic and was happy that they chose to wait it out with lots of other people mainly from the Netherlands. A police car was travelling up the hard shoulder with a loud hailer saying something they didn’t understand. They were grateful that they had me to rest in with food (bought earlier) and shelter.

They went over to the toilets and found it cost 70c but they got a ticket for 50c off a coffee as part of it, so brought the coffee back to drink in the van. The smell of fuel was intense; with so many vehicles idling in the traffic it was like you were inhaling pure gasoline. As time went by the traffic was still not moving and more people had pulled into the layby to try and park and be able to get out of their vehicles. They made lunch and after that got out the Yahtzee and had a few games. Mary was sure that she would have been nearly having a breakdown if she had been in the traffic jam. They spent 3 hours waiting for the traffic to move and finally decided to attempt to get back onto the motorway about 2.30. The traffic was moving albeit very slowly. There had been an accident but it was all cleared up. Further along there were lots of road works and three lanes going into two so it was very slow travelling. Of course there were trucks everywhere and three little kiwis sat on the back seat with beaks clenched as the big trucks over took me one by one.

Alan had decided that he would pull over at the last possible service area before reaching Hanover to reprogramme the Tom Tom for a campsite. They took the opportunity to replenish my petrol tank as well. Over €100 spent on petrol today! They will never moan about the cost of petrol in NZ again.

While he was doing this Mary wandered off to the toilet and saw a sign. So when she came back to me, she told Alan that she had found a sign pointing to a campsite. So they decided to try it and see and it was only about 1 km away from where they were parked. Alan said that if there was public transport into Hanover they would stay two nights and if not one night and they would flag Hanover altogether. Fortunately the man at the office spoke really good English and explained it was only a short walk to a bus that took you to the tram that took you straight into the centre of town, so they have booked in for two nights here. It is right on a lake front and there is a mechanical water skiing contraption like a ski lift in the lake and people are having great fun being towed around.

I have a good lakeside view and will be quite happy to stay parked up here for two nights while they go and explore Hanover tomorrow.

A Day in Three Countries

Wednesday August 11th

Today it was pack up and move on day again. That means I get to go out on the motorways and squeeze between the big trucks. Some of them think I go too slowly and give me a hurry up with a toot or a light flash. They have no respect for age. Alan set the Tom Tom to take us to Wesel. Now this is not a tourist destination but it was a good half way point for getting to Hanover. I took them through three countries in the space of an hour. Started in Belgium and then into the Netherlands. What a change. The road s in Belgium were rough and all my rattles and bangs were obvious. As soon as i crossed the border into The Netherlands it was all smooth and I sounded just like a posh van. All went very smoothly until a left lane suddenly became a right lane and Mary missed an exit. Tom Tom lady kindly replanned the route and took us off 2 miles down the road and back in the right direction.

The plan was to stop outside the town and ask the Tom Tom to find campsites. But a big truck was behind me and it was impossible to stop or pull over. Suddenly Mary spotted a sign to a camping so they followed that. On the way they spotted Lidl and this is always a good place to shop for food so they went in there to get supplies.

The camping signs eventually took them over a river and to a huge campsite. This is not a tourist spot. All the campers are Germans out for their summer holiday alongside a river. We are probably the only English speaking people here. It is huge. A man drove a car that we followed to our site. They have a fleet of vehicles not registered for the road that they just use to service the site. It is a village really. There is a supermarket, (bingo takes place four times a day), a pub, restaurant and even an ATM.
There are activities organised for the children and teenagers. It is not the sort of place where you pull up and stay one night, but here we are. Most people are flying flags of some sort, mainly German, but we have seen a skull and crossbones! Some have huge flag poles. So we have up our NZ flag and it flying out my window. Everyone seems to be sitting around drinking smoking and listening to songs in English! At the moment someone is playing Cat Stevens singing Morning has Broken.

Mary and Alan are enjoying being here as it has given them a chance to do the washing and generally tidy me up. . For the first time they have rolled out my awning and Mary was horrified at how mouldy it had got so she spent about an hour cleaning it and it lloks like new. When she gets a spare moment she is gradually cleaning my body work with some magic cleaners she bought and I am starting to sparkle on all sides.

They went for a long walk around the camp, well it is a village really. Down one end are all the statics that are really bachs that people come to in their holidays. They are lovingly cared for and have beautiful gardens and well trimmed hedges. There is fishing and boating on the river and it is safe to swim in so it is a great holiday spot. Nearly everyone is smoking. Cigarettes are relatively cheap here and on display at the counters. In Belgium the bus driver was smoking as he was driving the bus.
At the supermarket on site, Mary decided to buy a couple of tins of food, the labels of which she couldn’t read so she went by the photo. What she thought to be a stew of some sort turned out to be a lovely lentil and bacon soup. It is so nice they are going back to get some more before they leave.
After dinner they had a game of Yahtzee before going to bed.

Ka Pai has a Cultural Day in Antwerp

Tuesday August 10th

This was the second day in Antwerp and so there was no need to get up early and rush. The bag of washing is getting full and there are no machines at this camp so Mary inquired from the lady who runs the place about nearby Laundromats. She drew a little map and they walked off to locate it but try as they may couldn’t find it. So they gave up on that idea and went off to catch the tram back into Antwerp for the rest of the day.

Today they wanted to visit Ruben's house, which they had a bit of trouble finding. They managed to walk themselves in a giant circle but it didn’t matter as there were interesting things to see on the way. They finally found it and bought a ticket for Mary. Elderly people were free but she was not elderly enough on this occasion; you had to be over 65. This reconstructed home is right in the heart of town. Situated on what is known as the Wapper, Rubens designed the house for himself when he was in his early thirties. You can wander around his impressive art gallery where he indulged his passion for collecting, his studio and lovely outside gardens, but it is also a home and there is a kitchen, bedroom and linen room complete with linen press.

The ticket was a combined one ,with the Museum Mayer Van Den Bergh. This was a short walk away through the theatre district of the town. This is certainly one of Antwerp’s gems. It is the work of one man Fritz Mayer Van Der Bergh who was passionate about art. There is an impressive collection of art from the 13th to 18th century, including retables, pieces in alabaster, ivory, woodcarving, etc. There is also silver and gold, tapestries, lace, porcelain and illuminated manuscripts. It was not huge and easy to look around with a guide published in English.

Mary had hoped to get free internet at Food Maker, but when she inquired they said they had no cards with the access numbers left on them. There was no obvious free wifi in the street, so she had to flag the idea of publishing the blog today. She bought me a huge traditional Belgium waffle with chocolate on it but had to help me eat it. It was starting to rain so they went back to the supermarket at the station to stock up for dinner and caught the tram back out to the camp. By the time we got out there it was pouring and umbrellas were needed again.

A large group of cyclists arrived and set up small tents nearby. They were young and old together and seemed to be in an organised group. They were trying to boil a jug , but couldn’t find anywhere to plug into the power, so Alan offered to do it for them. They didn’t speak much more English than thank you, but were very grateful. They were on small wheeled folding bikes so presumably had come by train.

As it was raining it was a good opportunity to sit inside and get the diaries up to date and sort out photos on the computer.

From Ghent to Antwerp

Monday August 9th

So it was back on the road for me again after a nice rest under the trees for a couple of days. Alan set the Tom Tom for Antwerp but planned to stop just outside to reset it for the campsite. A lot of lessons had been learnt from the Ghent experience. There was no way they were going to drive me into the centre of a big city again. So they got to the campsite really easily only to find it fully booked at 11am in the morning. They were given printed directions to another one which happened to be the second choice on the list made the night before. So they programmed the Tom Tom to take them to that one, which it did very successfully. This one was campervans and tents only and very cheap and cheerful. The woman at reception was very helpful and gave them a map and told them where to catch the tram into town and what to see.

Patariki Rides a Tram into Antwerp

The trams are modern and mostly multicar. It was a 5 minute walk away and they come along at least every 10 minutes so it was not long to wait. There is a ticket machine to buy a ticket in the street before you get on. This costs 80c less than buying it on the tram, so they missed the first one as they hadn’t mastered the machine in time. The next one came along and took us through the outer part of the city. Suddenly we went down a tunnel and into the underground system. It was hard to know where you were. Mary got up and looked at the tube map on the wall and said they had better get off at the next stop as that would be the first stop the other side of the river. When they got off they recognised where they were as it was right by where they had come to the first campsite that was full. There was a great view back across to town but no bridges. There had to be a tunnel somewhere to get back to other side. Then Alan spied a tunnel sign pointing to a building right in front of them, so they investigated it and sure enough it was the entrance to the tunnel. Two sets of really old wooden escalators took you down two levels and then you could walk or ride your bike to the other side. It had been built in 1930s. It was just over 500 metres long. On the other side you popped up right in the historic centre of the town.

After buying themselves a baguette at a patisserie, they took me on a tourist train ride around Antwerp. This gave them a good idea of the layout of the town and what to look for and visit although the commentary was very hard to hear above the noise of the wheels on the cobblestone streets. Antwerp, like Ghent has narrow cobblestone streets laid out and largely unchanged since medieval times. There are a lot of walking only areas now and dozens of places to eat in the central city.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the cathedral. There was a special art exhibition in the cathedral which was called Reunion. Prior to the French revolution various guilds had altars in the Cathedral at Antwerp. They were all adorned with paintings and sculptures by the best artists of the era, but under French rule many of these pieces disappeared. After 1815 a number were returned to the cathedral but many ended up in the museum. They have temporarily returned them to the cathedral as an exhibition. It was impossible to reconstruct the original placement as many of the altars have disappeared, so they have been displayed against the church pillars. So included here among other guilds were altarpieces of the cabinetmakers, the fishmongers, the tailors, the wine taveners, the smiths and the schoolmasters who got to share one with the soap boilers. This Mary found very amusing. In the notes it said that they jointly commissioned this but the school masters chose to spend more on the painting than soap boilers, and this is obvious from the choice of subjects. The centre panel has Jesus instructing the scribes in the temple and the left panel has St Augustine being baptised by Ambrosius, the patron saint of all schoolmasters. The soap boilers got the right panel of the triptych depicting the oil miracle, when Elijah helped the widow pay her debts by selling numerous pitchers of oil; oil being the basic ingredient of soap.
Ruebens is Antwerp’s own painter and he has some of his most famous works hung in the cathedral. Probably his most famous work is the Descent from the Cross. It is permanently hung in the Cathedral and part of the exhibition as well as it was originally the altarpiece of the Arquebusiers, (the gunners) It was not a visit you could hurry and well worth paying to see.

A quick trip to the information centre to check on things to do tomorrow was followed by a stroll through another part of town. They found a supermarket and bought a few supplies and then negotiated the underground to get back to the camp, cook dinner, and spend some time sitting outside as it was a warm evening.

From Arras to Ghent

Saturday August 7th
Today it was time to pack up and move on. Mo and Lou took down their tent; that was quite amusing. Mary wished they had been there to see them put it up. Apparently a fellow camper had taken pity on them and come over and helped. Ka Pai was on hand to help Hamish out as can be seen in the photo. They were off back to Calais to catch the ferry back to Dover. Everyone agreed that it had been an excellent few days in Arras.

Mary and Alan packed me up and set off towards Ghent. It was all very easy and straight forward on the motorways. There was a very small section of piage (tolls). A stop for petrol was an experience. It took seconds to fill the tank, but nearly 15 minutes in the queue to pay. There was only one cashier and people were buying cigarettes that all had to be fetched. Alan set the Tom Tom to take them into Gent hopefully, to find the info center. There were lots of narrow cobbled streets running at odd angles, many with trams coming down and also lots of buses. The Tom Tom decided to take them right to the centre and parking was going to be a problem. After being taken down streets that were closed to traffic, Mary decided she was all over Ghent and wanted to get out. So they pulled over and programmed the Tom Tom to take them to a campsite. Alan took the one at the top of the list. At this stage they had decided to camp a night and move on and forget completely about Ghent, having had a glimpse of the city even if under somewhat stressful conditions.

All went well until they were told to go right and go right again, and every time they did this they were told to turn around when possible, which was not possible. So the route got re-planned and they drove me around the same piece of road several times. This involved going onand off the dual carriageway and over abridge several times. Suddenly they spied another right turn ahead so finally got over to it and they were taken off in another direction that got them to camping signs. By this time Mary had decided she would stay at this camp even if it was the worst in the world or the most expensive ever. There was a barrier that they had to ask to go through and then they drove me through lovely trees and what appeared to be a big sporting complex and into the camp grounds. Just before the entrance they spied a bus stop. This was starting to look hopeful. The girl at the desk spoke excellent English and was able to explain where they were in relation to Gent and also give them maps, brochures and sell them a concession card for bus rides to town. Things were looking up. They decided to stay two nights and use the bus to get back into town.

They got me parked in a lovely spot close to all amenities and decided it would be worth going back into town just to look around and see where everything was. Then is started to rain really heavily, so they went to the coffee shop onsite and waited for it to settle. Finally it was safe to venture out with jackets and umbrellas and they walked the few metres to the bus stop which had a bus waiting and about to leave. They were a bit confused as to where to get off, but after the scary ride in me around the town at least knew vaguely what the centre of town looked like. In the end they stayed on until they reached the terminus.

As it was still raining quite steadily they took refuge in a large shopping mall and then came out to find it had cleared. A quick check of the map and they managed to walk to the information centre and get a booklet outlining the major sites. They also visited the inside of the cathedral which was not huge but interesting.

Alan went and lined up to get cash from a money machine. There were two machines but a beggar had sat under one of them making it impossible for anyone to use it, so the queue was long. Mary went off to browse in some shops and came back as Alan was walking up to have his turn. The girl in front had just left in a huff when nothing happened. As Alan stepped up out popped €20. It was obviously her money, so Mary ran after her and found her in a shoe shop still holding her card. Mary took her back to Alan who had the money, to make sure she was the one who had been in front of him and she was really pleased to get it. She didn’t seem to speak English but understood what Mary was saying when she took her back to the ATM.

On the way back to the bus terminus, they saw a bus coming that was the one back to the camp, so hopped in and got safely back where they cooked dinner and had a much needed early night.

Ka Pai Visits Wellington and Then Has Lunch With a French Family

Friday August 6th

Today Mary and Alan had been invited to have lunch with a French family in Arras so they needed Hemi to take them there. It was decided that they would take two vehicles into town and visit La Carriere Wellington (the Wellington Quarry) known as The Battle of Arras Memorial. They all got a bit lost getting there because of the one way street system, but eventually Mary picked up the signs and got them there just in time for the last guided tour of the morning.

This is one of the prime tourist attractions in Arras and it would have been a travesty had they not all gone there. It has only been open to the public since March 2008. In the foyer was a huge art installation called “Fall the Shadow”, by Helen Pollock. It is a forest of arms emerging from the water and reaching skyward. She is a descendant of a New Zealander who fought on the Western front. The work commemorates the great war, and was commissioned to commemorate 90th anniversary of the Armistice. I got my photo taken sitting on one of the hands. The man behind the counter went and got his camera to take a photo of me well to put on his facebook page! He said he supported the All Whites all through the World Cup and he had good friend living in Wellington.

The whole underground tour experience was exceptionally well done. You travel down in glass elevator and the limestone is all lit up. At the end there is a very moving film about the Battle of Arras. There would not be another New Zealand experience like it in France. During World War One, a contingent of 400 New Zealanders with tunnelling skills, dug out a twenty kilometre network of passages twenty metres under the City of Arras to reach the frontline. For days on end they dug in the limestone to connect the old extraction tunnels that had been used as quarries in the previous ages. They ran water and electricity into them and created a town under the city of Arras. It included a 700 bed hospital. These passages formed a confusing labyrinth. To enable the regiments to find their bearings some of the tunnels were are named after various places in NZ, so there is Russell, Auckland, Wellington, Blenheim, Christchurch Dunedin and even Bluff. It was a strategic base but also the military living quarters for large numbers of troops. It was very damp and cold, always at a constant temperature of 11 degrees. The tour combines state of the art audio and visual to tell the story of the 24,000 soldiers who were stationed in the tunnels and camped underground before surprising the enemy and charging onto the battle field on 9 April. There was a huge loss of life, hence the number of British and commonwealth graves dotted all around Arras.
After this we had a quick look at another static exhibition about the battle of Arras in a nearby museum. Hamish and Louise went off to do their own thing and Mary and Alan took me to visit a French family.

Mark and Barbara Humphrey had put them in touch with a French family that they had stayed with in Arras on one of their trips. Mary had been in touch with Maryse by email several times. It was realatively easy to find their house which was right in town near the railway station. Maryse had prepared a typical French lunch at her house. Her husband, Emanuel and daughter Eleanor were there also. It was lovely to sit and have a leisurely time over food. The French take a two hour lunch break and eat four or more courses in what is the main meal of the day. We started with a fresh tomato dish followed by a cucumber salad. There was then a course of cheeses. Maryse explained that you ate the cheese in a certain order from lightest and softest to hardest and strongest. After this there was a dessert of Chocolate brownie with coffee. Of course this is all served with wine, but they don’t drink a lot.

Maryse teaches English in a French school and her English is excellent. She translated some of the conversation to her husband and daughter who could only understand a bit of what we were saying. She was happy to show us around their house which was a fairly typical French town house on 3 levels with a cellar as well. It is quite usual for French houses to well stocked wine cellars. They don’t buy today and drink today like the kiwis. Neither do they eat food on the run. Even at school they have the two hour lunch break and they eat and enjoy their food.
It was great to have been able to have a typical and authentic French experience and we hope to be able to return the compliment one day. Maryse may be visiting New Zealand on a school exchange next year to the Wellington area.

Back at the camp Mary cooked dinner for her troops. She and Alan had already eaten well, but Mo and Lou were up for a steak and salad with a nice French dessert to follow. It was a warmer evening than the previous ones so they all sat out to nearly midnight chatting over a few drinks and playing 500.

Out and About in Arras

Thursday August 5th

Everyone decided to sleep in today . They had all put their clocks and watches another hour forward so getting up at 9am was really like getting at up at 8am in England. Fortunately the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. They decided to leave me parked at the camp and take Louise’s car into the centre of Arras. Pania got to go on the outing today.

It was fairly easy to find a park right in the centre of town, but only for two hours. They went to tourist Info place and got a walking tour of Arras. The man in the office spoke very good English and explained where to walk.alan took a picture of me with the Giants of Arras. There are two lovely plazas in the centre Of Arras. The first one Place Des Heros (Place of the Heros )was all dug up and having a complete makeover. Hamish kept commenting about how all the workers actually working, they were all doing something. This is not always so in England, you often see people watching others work. They were very skilfully relaying new cobble stones in the main courtyard. There was certainly no idleness and they were working as a team. It will be magnificent when it is completed later in the year.

The second plaza is the Grand Place. It is slightly bigger and had the whole centre full of activities for children for the holidays complete with sand and beach volleyball. The walk took us around the town and past the cathedral that was also having a makeover but was not open for viewing.

After a typically French lunch of a filled bagette, we booked in for a tour of the underground cellars and passages known as Les Boves. These are limestone quarries dug from the 10th century on. The tour tells you about the underground history of Arras. They were first used to quary limestone,and later became cellars and warehouses for the traders on the squares, and then shelters for the population of Arras during the 2nd world war. The tour guide spoke French first and then English.

They then searched for a supermarket, which they had seen on the way in but didn’t pass on the way out because of the one way system. They finally found one and stocked up on supplies and came back to the camp. After dinner it was back into the cards which they all enjoyed.