Posts in Category: Europe
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Paris – Off to the City of Light to Join Liberation Tours
It’s been one hell of a winter here in Nova Scotia with record breaking (and back breaking) snowfall. It’s April 18th and there is still three feet of snow on large swathes of our lawn. Robins arriving back home have had a rude awakening as they discover that ice worms are not as plentiful or […]
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The Beatles – Song by Song on the First Album from the Liverpool Lads
This is a bit of a change in direction for a travel blog, but I haven’t signed a contract with anyone to write only about my ongoing journeys – after all, the oldest cliche is that ‘life is a journey’, so what the hell, let’s meet The Beatles. I am among the many millions of […]
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The Hague – Holland’s Most Under Appreciated City
Yesterday we wrapped up our stay in Delft by visiting its two famous churches, the Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk. After climbing down from the fabulous view point over the city from the Nieuwe Kerk spire we checked out of our hotel and headed for our final destination on what has been an extraordinary […]
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Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk – Visiting Delft’s Two Famous Churches
It was nice to get up early and have Delft’s market square pretty well all to ourselves. It had been wall to wall people on Koningsdag and yesterday when we took a cruise on the canals it was not much better. This morning it’s mostly us and the pigeons except for one damn lorry diver […]
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Delft – Home of Vermeer and Other Reasons to be Daft about Delft
In the last post we wrapped up our bike and barge tour of Holland with Cycletours and then took the train to Delft to join in the first ever Dutch celebration of Koningsdag. Alison and I both agreed it was one of the most interesting days of our lives. Today we will take the time […]
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Koningsdag – An Amazing Day to be in Delft
When I booked a bike and barge trip with Cycletours I had no idea that it would end on Koningsdag in Holland. In fact I had no idea what the hell Koningsdag was. During the week we were on the barge I learned that it is, in effect, the Dutch national holiday although its probably […]
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Edam – Visiting One of Holland’s Famous Cheese Towns
Yesterday was the penultimate day of the bike and barge tour of Holland with Cycletours. Alison and I set out on our own through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of De Beemster and the lush pastoral landscape of land reclaimed from the North Sea centuries ago. Originally the plan for the final day was to […]
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De Beemster – On Our Own in a World Heritage Site
In my last post on the bike and barge trip to Holland with Cycletours we pedalled to the North Sea and through the magnificent sand dunes that abut the shore before spending the night at the lovely little city of Alkmaar. Today Alison and I are going to try for something completely different in De […]
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The North Sea – Visiting Holland’s Fabulous Sand Dunes
In the last post our Cycletours bike and barge tour of Holland visited the world’s largest flower auction at Alsmeer followed by cycling right through the city of Amsterdam to the historic outdoor museum at Zaanse Schans. I continue to be amazed at the wide variety of things to see and do in this country. […]