The World Wide Webb

Fuelled by another excellent breakfast, I headed to Bremen station for a fairly long day of travelling. I did manage one final cache before leaving the city, of course - it would be rude not to as it was actually in the station. The first train took me to Hamburg - it was a very uneventful journey spent catching up with episodes of ‘The Rest Is Politics’. I was then quite proud of my efforts to use the Hamburg S bahn to cross the city to Hamburg Altona, where my next train was leaving from. Train three was from Hamburg Altona to Flensburg (For the record, I am counting the S Bahn as a train…..). ‘Don’t you know that there is a direct train from Hamburg to Copenhagen?’ I hear you cry. Well, yes….. the problem was that I discovered a couple of days ago that they were ALL fully booked, so I had to find a less direct route. So - to Flensburg! I very nearly ended up in Kiel rather than Flensburg, as the train did a sneaky division half way, but I’m pleased to report that I moved myself to t...

I awoke this morning to very British weather - I would say very much ‘a bowling day’ given the overcast conditions, but the rain probably would have stopped play. A hotel breakfast was a good way to start the day though - SO much choice, and I do love it when I can have cereal (sadly still no Cheerios to be seen but cornflakes will do). My plan for the day was to walk back into the city centre, visiting a few more sights, finding somewhere to buy a charging cable for my AirPods (doh!), and hopefully completing the ‘WhereIGo’ cache. I achieved most of my objectives - I met Roland: … who is a UNESCO world heritage site, visited St Petri Dom cathedral and enjoyed ‘having’ to stop for a couple of tea stops to avoid the rain. Sadly, the Whereigo eluded me though. To explain, these caches use your GPS and you have to visit certain ‘zones’ to unlock aspects of the puzzle. This Whereigo required you to visit 21 of the top tourist locations in Bremen…. Although it would not tell you which ones,...

I said goodbye to the Netherlands this morning, having spent the best part of a week there. Travelling east on the train, it was striking just HOW flat it is - they are not kidding; even I could probably get on board with all the cycling. My two days in Amsterdam were pretty full-on - whilst I am not going to be rushing back to visit again (don’t get me wrong, I loved the canals, the friendly people, and the liberal coolness, but there were probably a few too many tourists and a bit too much weed everywhere for my tastes!) My journey today involved three trains. Obviously wanting me to feel at home, there were significant delays (apparently due to a deer on the line?), but luckily my trains all lined up well. I’m hoping for similar on Thursday when I have some serious train journey-ing to do! There was some questionable train etiquete on some busy trains today (I just don’t think bags need seats when people are having to stand!), but otherwise it was a good journey. Today also marked o...

Still buzzing from the football last night, I had a good wander around Amsterdam this morning, finding a nice cafe for some blueberry pancakes to start the day near Dam Square. It was then off to the Rijksmuseum. I am no great art expert by any stretch of the imagination, but understand that the Rijksmuseum is very much a ‘must see’, and had done some pre-reading so I could get the most out of the day. The audio guide highlights tour was really well put together, ensuring that I got lots of fun information on the ‘big names’ like The Night Watch, but also saw some slightly lesser known pieces. I also enjoyed setting myself the mission of finding all of the works and items that were pictured in the floorplan leaflet. Mission accomplished! After my enjoyment of finding dogs in paintings in the Mauritshuis, I decided to continue with that game - here are a few highlights! A late lunch was followed by some geocaching - which included going to the bench that features in ‘The Fault In Our St...

I enjoyed a Sunday lie-in and chilled breakfast before saying goodbye to Den Haag and The Social Hub and setting off to Amsterdam. A short and simple train journey soon had me in the centre of the city and able to drop my bags off at my hotel. I reassured Dad that although my hotel is very much in the red light district, it is very safe! I’m not sure how to take it that he replied by saying that he was confident that I also would not be that short of money so early in my trip….. Thanks, Dad! 🫣 I was just setting off to find a canal tour when I had a WhatsApp from Phil, recommending a tour with ‘Those Dam Boat Guys’. The timing was impeccable, and soon I was enjoying a wonderful tour of the city. I got to enjoy a few more unusual sights too - a chicken on a house boat… And a multi storey bike-park… and another duck shop! There were, of course, some geocaches to be found (I’ll do a stats update when I leave the Netherlands on Tuesday), but my main mission was then to find somewhere sho...

One of the reasons why I wanted to visit Den Haag was because it is home to Zuiderpark Parkrun. Some might say that this is simply younger sibling syndrome, as Matt has completed the Parkrun alphabet except for Z but I am viewing it as the fact that I was collecting the Z for the family group. For the record, I am nowhere near the alphabet (I think I might have 7 letters….). I caught the tram out to the park, and befriended other Parkrunners on my way - there were a lot of Brits there! I had a lovely walk, with moments of running enthusiasm, around the park. I was not speedy, although faster than my effort around Ferry Meadows the other week, but loved taking in the scenery. The route was also pleasingly circular! I caught the tram back with my new friends from Ireland - Anita and Ruairi - and happy made it back in time to The Social Hub in time for a well-earned (and delicious) breakfast. I decided to stay in for a couple of hours then to watch the Lions match. I was very pleased that...

Today started with a very nice breakfast at my ‘hotel’. I say ‘hotel’ as it is kind of more like student digs; it is a chain called ‘The Social Hub’ (previously known as ‘The Student Hotel’), whose whole premise is to provide spaces for people to stay, live, study, socialise etc. There are lovely communal areas and, it turns out, excellent breakfasts! I then walked into the city centre, which had very similar vibes to a standard British high street (TK Maxx, Primark, Subway….). My plan was to go to the Binnenhof, the Dutch Parliament, but it is undergoing fairly significant renovations. To keep us tourists happy though, they have erected a temporary viewing tower. Obviously, I went up it as I seemingly like climbing lots of stairs of tall things. It was then off to the Mauritshuis, Den Haag’s famous art gallery. The audio tour led me well, with excellent nuggets including how these angry tortoises are not very accurate, as tortoises do not have teeth…. I also particularly enjoyed the e...