Dover to Rotterdam, The Netherlands

After London we spent a few days realxing and shopping around. In Folkestone we bought lots of Second-Hand Books from a charity shop and some travelling guides to all the stopovers and camp areas in Europe.
On the 6th we said goodbye to England and the White cliffs of Dover and took the ferry to Calais, France.
First thing we noticed was we were suddenly on the other side of the road. We stopped at a Aire-a free motorhome stopover and there were other motorhomes!!!
Next morning we drove up through Belgium (thinking we were still in France). There were no bordersbut alot of bicycles and pots of flowers. We were in the Netherlands by lunchtime and it's very flat!!! Half the signs were English and the rest Dutch. We saw glasshouses for miles and were driving on a dike at one point. In the afternoon we followed signs 'Kiwis welcome' that our friends PJ and Claudia Potgieser (http://www.dutchduowildlife.nl/index.htm) had put out for us. We met PJ and Claudia in La Penita. Mexico in '07. After catchin up over the last few years we started the 'Great Dutch Feast'. We started with Deep fried 'Bitterballen' (Beef Ragout rolled in bread crumbs) and other Meat Parcels, Deep fried. We then tried all the unique dutch chip flavours like paprika and hamka's.
For dinner we had a Chicken Sate Kebabs, Fried Banana, Bami (Noodles), Nasi (Rice), Kroepoek (Fried Shrimp Chips) and Pindasaus (Peanut Sauce, which went with everything). And we couldn't eat it all!
For pudding we had Griesmeel (Cherry and Semolina), Btterkoekje Pudding (Macaroon flavour) and Chipolata (Fruit and Almond) and (Our favourtie) 'Vla' (Chocolate and Vanilla, like custard but not custard).
We kept going and tried all the dutch Snoepje (Lollies) especially Salted Drop liquorice.After a good sleep we woke up to another feast of Beschuit (Crisp Bread) and Muisjes (Little blue or pink sprinkles that you eat as tradition when a baby is born, Blue ones if a boy or pink if a girl). We also ate Hagelslag (Chocalate sprinkles), Roggenbroad (Moist Dark Rye Bread) and Komynekaas (Cheese and Cumin Seeds) and sausage and more cheese.

The Nieuwys

London

On our first day in London we parked at a supermarket in Felton and took the train to Waterloo Station which was really big and busy. From there we walked straight to the London Eye,surrounded by hundreds of other tourists we waited in line then boarded glass capusle and spent half an hour up in the air looking at the great views of London especially Big Ben and Parliament being 135 metres off the ground. Though we did fry in our little glass house as the weather was so hot. We had cheese and bread in Parliament square next to tents and banners permanently protesting peace for Afganistan Troops. William had a wee chat the a african who told him never to jion the army and go play football instead. Westminister Abbey was impressive the big windows and masonary beautiful wethen went to St. James Park where we had second lunch with locals having their sunday picnics on the grass and worshipingthe lovely warm sunshine. We couldn't get over the unexpected hot weather! We took the tube to London bridge, it was very noisy and windy down in the station. We stopped at he Dungeons and met Sweeny Tod and Jack the Ripper and learnt all the history in a pretty gresome way, blood guts the lot.

Tower bridge was really busy and we joined the flow of tourists crossed over and passed the tower of London. We had chips on the lawn of the beautiful St. Pauls Catherdral then crossed another bridge over to the Tate Modern and Shakespere's Globe Theatre. We had cream cheese baps and chocolate raisens for tea beside a lake in Kensington Gardens.

Day Two, We watched the Changing of the Guard, Mum yelled at by an angry policemen for climbing on the gates for a better view. He was pretty quick to stop her because otherwise hflf the crowd would have climbed up for the better view. Lots of men in red coats and fluffy hats stomped and marched around with a band playing and there were lots of horses. It was a long cerermony and looked like alot of work for the police trying to control the crowds.

Afterwards we found our NZ friends staying in an apartment at Covent Gardens and then went with them to Hamley's Toystore-250 years old and seven stories of toys, games, gadgets and magic tricks. It was really amazing and all the demonstrations made it really unique. All the staff had a toy or a trick though some were still learning theirs. Johanna had to show them how to Hula with the hoops.

We were like the paparazi at Madame Tussauds wax museum every  famous person on the planet seemed to be there including Jonah Lomu. Favourites were definatly Micheal Jackson, Miley Cirus, Brittany Spears, Obama and Princess Diana. We soothed our sore feet in the cool water of the Princess Diana Memorial Fountaion before going home to sleep in the ASDA carpark the water was cold and numbed your toes it felt heavenly after a whole day in town with jandals.

Day Three, We got up earlier for a busy day at the museums but it turned out that nothing opened until ten so that was annoying. We went past Harrods and looked at the over the top dramtic window displays. They were so detailed the fitness clothing even had dummies of real exercise equipment and the dresses were surrounded in diamonds. We could have spent all day in the Science Museum but we had only been in one room (full of cool interactive exhibits, games and shows) and we had used up the morning! Next was the Museum of London where we learnt all about london from the Romans to the present there was so much history and hole rooms and movies on the plague and the great fire.Then we started having trouble with our transport tickets which was ruining our day but in the afternoon we went to the London Aquarium and saw massive sharks and a new rainforest section. We were intending visit some free art galleries open late but with our ticket cards stuffing up and costing us lots, we were very tired and a little stressed. After watching some amazing and not so amazing street performers we took the train back to Felton.

We have had a awesome time in and around London but will be glad to have a break in Europe and hopefully feel a bit more free and (Mum thinks) less Claustrophobic.

British Theme Parks

Legoland was awesome there was Lego everywhere in statues and monuments. The miniland land was made up of lots of cities there were replicas of London, Amsterdam, Venice and Paris. There was even a Mt Rushmore and a fully automated transport system. We were lucky enough to take part in a lego robot workshop. Where we learnt how to programme our own robot so it could complete various missions which everyone found a challenge.

Thorpe Park was the thrill capital of Britain and definitely the older peoples favourite. There were lots of rollercoasters and rides. Even a horror maze base on the SAW movies. Right next to Thorpe we found a great place for dinner after long days of tiring lines and lots of walking. We could eat and watch wake boarders and water skiers practice and do some pretty impressive flips and jumps and some equally impressive wipeouts.

Our last park was Chessington World of Adventures. It had a really cool zoo full of unusual creatures. There was a variety of different birds and there were Gorillas, lions, tigers, monkeys and even a full aquarium. The rides were good too and Johanna and maddy could ride there which was really good. After visiting all these parks we have become really tired and now we can't wait until we reach France where we can just relax.

LONDON

Hi Everyone, We are now in London and writing this blog in our friends rented apartment. We have spent the last few days at Legoland and Thorpe park. Playing with lego robots and riding some massive rollercoasters. London has been amazing we have flew the London Eye and spent an entire day walking round the streets and parks and riding the tube. We still have so much to see! Now we are going to Madame Tussauds and all the free museums and gallerys. We cross over to France on Monday.
The Nieuwys.
We'll post in more detail when we have time.