Trains, Ferries, Trams and Buses
Afternoon train from London to Dover, booked into B&B Corann, 119 Folkstone Road, Dover at British Pound £4.50 each. Owners were very welcoming, white bay windowed typical coastal home, clean establishment, close to all amenities, walking distance throughout, we booked a two night stay.
31st August 1978 Went up to Dover Castle to spend the morning taking in the views and exploring.
Shopped in the afternoon for a few extra's possibly needed in Europe, rain for the first time on the trip explored the town not getting too wet in two hours before it let up. Found a delightful place where they served mash potato, mushy peas, steak with tea around 4 pm, believe you me by the end of our Europe Tour we earmarked this spot to return.
These Brits sure eat at odd hours with terms Afternoon Tea, High Tea, mid-day pub grubs at a reasonable price in London were a good go to for lunch, at least breakfast is breakfast nothing beats a good English start to any day.
Enjoyed tasting local brew at a local pub "The Engineer" how sad many of these pubs are no longer...
1st September EuroRail tickets now open to start travel, embarked onto the Prins Albert from Dover to Ostend which was referred to as Oostende at the time. Price £4.25 each. Shocked to see vehicles drive on-board, everything so different to what we have ever experienced.
Time Zone change we had not taken into account not something we do here in South Africa, we missed the train to Gent enroute to Holland. Traversed back to Brussels after getting lost on trams and spent a night in a grotty Youth Hostel fortunately was the worst first, out of money went to bed with no supper. Plans already going awry, wait to see what tomorrow brings....
Ha ha 2nd Sept. Saturday, We remembered our tipping packs (small amount to keep you going) big boo boo the banks were closed on Saturdays (unlike South Africa where banks open Saturday mornings).
Looked at options and decided on Luxembourg (other travelers mentioned a good hostel there), was on same currency Belgian Franc, opted to make a move after visiting a few sights around Brussels, via Mons to Luxembourg . First deviation from original plan, no hard and fast itineraries, via Mons, changed train lines to continue to Luxembourg until Sunday, then into Holland.
Mons was a very quaint town, we sat outside the church to take in the views not having much time to explore. Arriving in Luxembourg capital a small European nation same name, intriguing city built on an old city wall with deep gorges cut by two rivers, medieval to say the least in it's grandeur and beauty.
Youth Hostel Luxembourg City was neat and tidy, separated accommodation, sharing with a fellow traveler from Israel, after buying 4 bread rolls with sausage (no sauce), price Belgian Franc 100 (about ZAR5.00), rip off.
3rd September we moved up to Ettelbruck about 25 miles north of Luxembourg city, first ever ride on an omnibus-train - (included in EuroRail Ticket). (Now I regret we never took photographs of railway stations and trains, developing film was expensive, each photo counted!)
Ettelbruck, a charming village,as the hostel was almost empty we had a huge section open for us to use. Travel light pack only taking absolute essentials, wash clothing whenever opportunity presented itself. This was the first place able to do laundry while listening to the spirited bunch of locals screaming in the valley below for their football team. Heaters all around the room served great purpose in drying the clothing.
After washing and cleaning everything including ourselves, went to the town to buy food, bought ravioli, baked beans for lunch while sitting in the garden enjoying the view in garden with monument close to the bridge of General George S. Patton Jr,, US Army, who with US Army liberated Ettelbruck on 25 December 1944, still celebrated.
Supper was back to bread and cheese, appeared to becoming par for the course, each region had superb local variety, both breads and cheese.
Shopping list:
1 x Large tin Ravioli, 1 x small tine backed beans, 2 x bread rolls, 1 x block cheese = Belgian Franc 111. Better prices slightly out of main city.
4th September Monday - Traveled from Ettelbruck to Maastricht in Holland where we had lunch and got more money. Next was puzzling out rail system in Holland, then arriving late in Dordrecht missed hostel meal, planned a restaurant meal, will be a slight expense but a necessity, seeing as it's bread every day for breakfast (Continental Breakfasts?), if you lucky cheese, more often than not bread and cheese lunches (easiest to travel with).
5th September Enroute to Amsterdam will be passing through Rotterdam, Den Haag, Leiden, Delft, Amsterdam. Will try get to Hilversum to see town where other half-s Mom was born, travel onto Arnhem where we will spend the night. Train hopping, some trains in Holland announce the station name just before you arrive (helpful).
Besides an announcement before arriving in a station, the coaches are divided into smokers and non-smokers, the berths seat six in each then then are further divided into silent and talker sections for people commuting wishing to work on trains.
Arrived and booked into Arheim Hostel after enjoying a beer in Hilversum where Mom-in-law was born. Hostel has married quarieters, after extremely busy day, pleased to pay FL40,30 for dinner, bed and breakfast (approximately ZAR20.15).
6th September visited "Openligte Museum", an old town as is.
Bamboozled by Holland's railway system after waiting 2 hours for the train, after realizing 20h14 is not 14h14 haha, change of plan, take another train (EuroRail makes this easy) we ended up in Lubeck Germany.... to be continued.
Nothing straight forward, zig-zagging rail lines, stations, towns in foreign languages all good fun!
Next train/ferry travel to Germany, Denmark, Sweden, taking us on the next leg of the trip.
Travel Diary 1978 - Part 1 - Planning
Photographs originally from film camera, converted in early 2000's to digital so please excuse the age, memories are wrapped up here!
Thought for Today: "To travel is to see, to return is to talk." - African Proverb
Places to Enjoy On Hive: #lifestylelounge hive-114105, #qurator hive-102880, #featheredfriends @melinda010100 in hive-106444, #wednesdaywalk @tattoodjay in hive-155530, #amazingnature @adalger in hive-127788, #alwaysaflower @dswigle in hive-154065, #feelgood community @barbara-orenya in hive-19093, #theterminal learn Hive @thekittygirl @brittandjosie in hive-101265 and #ladiesofhive in hive-124452
