Bergman Travel Diary

Today we packed up all our camping gear bright and early and headed back to the Calais Crossing to catch the ferry back to England . Easy, it was supposed to be. Organised, we thought we were....mmm. This story deserves to be told so that fellow travellers be more careful. As planned we drove into the Gated Crossing area and headed off to check Storm in through the pet control section. We knew we had all of her vaccinations up to date and had done them withing the allocated time frame demanded by customs (at least 24 hours but less than 48 hours before departure)...no problems there! As we stood at the control counter waiting to be served we overheard the gentleman in front of us protesting to the lady behind the counter. It seems that the vet he saw in Europe failed to tell him that the dog he had just fostered out of a pound would need particular treatment before heading home. After many red faces he was sent away with his wife and dog to find the vet (who we had already used ourselv...

Very seriously...there is nothing to do in Calais ! Despite the fact that many travellers stop here on there way between France and England there is not much to see, besides the flowers growing in the gardens. Yes, it's on the coast, but even that is very quiet and not very exciting. We decided to do what the travel books suggest to do when in Calais...shop! Very disappointing indeed. The 'great' shopping complex we found wasn't even full to it's capacity with shops and what they did have was less than exciting. So, after searching the streets for something to do, and finding nothing, we decided that relaxing in the tent was just the thing to help us unwind before we head back to school and work next week. Then it started raining...and raining...and raining. Luckily, the tent just managed to hold out in the wind and wet. We got a little bit of water inside but nothing to really worry about. So, we spent a very relaxing day watching movies on the laptop from inside t...

Once on our way again today we discovered that we had actually slept just over the border of The Netherlands last night. We must have been quite a sight to see for the other sleepers there. We were in a huge road side car park/truck stop, Matt in the back with the boys, Kerry and Storm in the front. But, once we covered the windscreens with our towels to stop the headlights waking us, we all slept quite well...warm too! Our time in The Netherlands was short lived though...we came, we saw (a very little), and we kept on driving. Next stop... Bruxelles (Brussells) in Belgium . Yet another country to check off our growing list of places visited. We parked the car just outside the Cathedralis SS Michaelis et Gudulae Bruxellensis (Cathedral of St Michael). We decided not to go in yet but to head into the city centre and visit the cathedral before we left. For those ealy risers like us...BEWARE!!!...Brussells should be nicknamed the 'sleepy city'. Nothing (asside from the Information...

This morning we said goodbye, sadly, to Kerstin, Stefan and Kjell as we readied ourselves for the final leg of our long journey through Europe. We hope to come back again in September to visit when we do our next European Vacation. The boys had a last play with the local kids while we packed up the car...then it was time for some group photos before heading off for last sight seeing together before we left. First stop for Matt and Stefan was the Hűtt Brewery to do a quick tour of the brewery and buy Matt some German supplies (a proper hűtt beer glass and 6 bottles of beer to go with it). Then it was on the VW Factory. Though the museum part of the factory was closed we managed to get an idea of the sheer enormity of this amazing factory....it's the size of a small suburb...WOW!!! Stefan gets to drive a car around the factory to get from one place to the next (that's how big it is). We drooled over a few new model VW's and then headed back out to the car park for our f...

Off to the city of Kassel today! More and more history seems to find us each day. Kassel, home to story writers The Brothers Grimm, was very severely bombed back in WWII and had many of it's historical buildings destroyed. Consequently, today it consists of only a few of those very old buildings, surrounded by newer (less historic) buildings that were constructed after the war. Some say Kassel is boring but this is definately not true. Where else can you go to find a massive statue of the hunky Greek God 'Hercules'....in the words of Disney...'honey, you mean huncules'...lol. We parked the cars in a very misty car park and wondered if the heavy mist that was shrouding then entire area would ever rise enough for us to see anything worthwhile. After a rather large walk through a beautiful parkland we discovered a massive old castle perched on a hill. The mist (that had been slowly rising through the beautiful green canopy of trees above us) finally disapeared t...

More relaxation with Kerstin, Stefan and Kjell today! After a much needed sleep in a real bed we enjoyed a nice slow start to the morning with breakfast. The boys then went off to play with the local children (who they met yesterday while were enjoying the back garden). After the boys had a play we headed out with the Barthel's for a while...to the Knull Wildlife Park, a wildlife park not too far from their home. We got to see two real bears (really glad we didn't stop to see the ones locked up in Switzerland now)... in a nice large enclosure which they share with a pair of wolves. We had a lovely time walking around the deers as they enjoyed being hand fed, then checked out all the other regular wildlife park animals before heading off again. Later on Kerstin took us to a nearby town, called Melsungen, which has been protected by one of the historical groups. Every single building in this town is built in the old style (lines criss crossed over them...like an old chalet) and n...

After another good nights sleep on airbeds in the tent in Munich we woke refreshed and ready for the next leg of our journey...has it really been 9 days already? Wow! We fixed ourselves a nice breakfast of toast, cereal and juice before packing up the tent while the boys went and had one last play with the other kids at the caravan park. After a few hours of lovely scenery we finally arrived in Guxhagen, home of Kerstin, Stefan & Kjell. Overall , a pretty low key day. Once we arrived, feeling very excited about seeing our friends again, we sat in the garden enjoying a beer and nibblies with country views in one direction and the village in the other....could easily spend days doing this! For dinner we had a BBQ outside....bratwurst and kebabs with salad...yum! Tomorrow night is Schnitzel (Kerry's favourite German food). Once the boys were settled in bed for the night we relaxed inside with some more beer, then schnapps, then beer, then schnapps....mmm, while we looked over Kers...