EJ and Rhe's World Trip

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

ENGLAND 27 October – 1 November 2011 (London ,Stonehenge, Longleat)

Hello! (English)

We caught the very early ferry back to Dover from Calais and after a little customs look over we headed to London! We spent a couple of nights in a van park south of London and took the ever-proficient public transport in and out of the city J We caught up with Tom, Kate, Sean and Shannon for a delicious Indian meal in Tooting and a few drinks. It was lovely to see some familiar faces and we aren’t feeling as home sick anymore now haha!

We went to a Mads’ Halloween party and met up with a few other people we had met at Oktoberfest which was great! We set off some fireworks on the street on the way home (legal at this time of year in London, we even bought then from the grocery store!) Sean and Shannon had us at their place for the last night which was lovely J

We took off and headed to Stonehenge for a look! This structure is out of this world! It was amazing to imagine how these stones came to stand here and all of the crazy theories that surround its purpose. Some of the stones are believed to have been transported from mountains more than 155km away! No cranes back in those days!

On to Longleat Campsite a little way down the road and we camped here for two nights. We also visited the Adventure Park and Safari Park, which was the first safari park opened outside of Africa. We visited the mongooses, a silverback gorilla, a couple of hippo’s, heaps of seals and rode on Thomas the Tank Engine lol.. We then took our van through the safari park which was amazing! We drove right past giraffes, llamas, camels (two humps), about 4 rhinoceroses, bambi’s, tigers, lions, a massive pack of wolves and the van was accosted by a rabid group of monkey’s who bit holes through the bike rack on the back and pulled on our windscreen wipers! We had monkey’s surfing on our van, it was hilarious lol! Turns out the sign ‘Mechanic Monkey’s at work’ was pretty accurate…

Linda, Sean, Bec and Rhe :)

Hallween party EJ and Joel

Stonehenge

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Garage :)

Feeding the Seals

Sweet Shop :)

The Maze!

Thomas!

Safari Park

Melman

Zebras!

Monkey Surfing!

Monkey Attack!

They bit and jumped on the bike racks (nearly taking them off)

Rhino came up to 1 metre away!

Roar, I'm a tiger!

Cubs playing

Lone wolf lol

Until next time…

EJnRHE xx

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

BELGIUM 23 October – 25 October 2011 (Bruges)

Hallo

Bruges is beautiful! It was voted most romantic country last year and we can see why! It is such a nice old city, with canals, medieval buildings and fries, chocolate and beer everywhere! We took the bus in from our site and walked around the market area. We climbed the 366 steep stairs to the Belfort for the gorgeous panorama of the city and the tunes it blasted haha! We had some fries with mayonnaise, as customary in Bruges from the legendary competing shops at the base of the Belfort.

We went to the Basilica of the Precious Blood in the city square. Here they have a cylinder that was taken on a crusade to Jerusalem in the 12^th century. True Catholics believe that it is filled with Jesus’ blood and every day the shiny cylinder is taken out of its safe and put on a pillow to be worshipped. We then ventured through the various chocolate shops, watched some candy pulling and made our way to the Church of our Lady, where they have Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child statue. We also visited the hospital museum before beers and dinner at T’ Ganzespel. Nicky serves amazing Belgian food and we had vegetable soup, served out of a big pot, just like at home!

We spent a fair bit of time walking around, admiring the gardens, massive watchtowers on the city walls and trying to blend in J

Yet another cold beer....

Candy Pulling :)

Watchtower

A Lake in Bruges

And another cold beer haha...

Soup just like at home..

Steps up the belfry (14 out of 366)

Church of Our Lady (with Michelangelo's Madonna and Child)

Belfry

View from the Belfry of the Market Square

Au Revoir!
EJnRHE xx

BELGIUM 19 October – 23 October 2011 (Ypres)

Bonjour!

We made our way to Ypres (Ieper in Dutch), a small town in Belguim, it was actually the last bastion of Belgian territory unoccupied by the Germans in WWI. Almost 300,000 Allied soldiers were killed here during the four years of fighting that left the medieval town flattened. Convincingly rebuilt, the town and its surrounds, known as the Ypres Saliant, are dotted with cemeteries and memorials.

We went into the Market Square to see the Cloth Halls and visited ‘In Flanders Field Museum,’ rode around the town, looking at the numerous war monuments including Lille Gate, Ramparts Cemetery, the Burgundy Towers, people watching in pubs and enjoying the sunshine while it lasts J At 8pm, the Last Post was played by Buglers under the Menin Gate (a British war monument that displays 54,896 soldiers missing in action) and school groups laid wreaths on the monument. Next day we visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, Hill 60 and the Passchendaele Memorial just outside town. Tyne Cot Cemetery is the world’s largest Commonwealth Cemetery, holding 12,000 graves and another 35,000 names of British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian soldiers missing in action.

We had a lovely day of relaxation on the third day and we gave Thundie a makeover, pulling everything out, cleaning it all, getting ready to sell it when we get back to the UK soon! Then we doubled on one push bike (Rhe’s is currently out of action with a broken gear lever) into town and had another beer. What a life we are living lol!

Onto Bruges!!