22 January

Walked around Amsterdam....

One might detect a certain lack of enthusiasm about Amsterdam. And rightly. The two highlights for us are always the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum - Dutch Masters and 19th Century impressionists being included in the artworks that interest us. As it turned out, the Rijksmuseum was a bit disappointing this time. Major renovations are under way and the collection on display is extremely restricted. The entry price, however, is the same!!

The Red Light district is a source of minor interest on a cold and rainy afternoon, but beyond that, or even partly because of that, Amsterdam always seems 'grotty'. Legalization of marijuana has attracted many young people from all over Europe, but for all the wrong reasons. The van next to us had its bong out airing when we arrived!

Tomorrow, we return the van. From the depot, it is a quick (and free) ferry trip to central Amsterdam, where we are staying in the same B&B that we visited before we collected the van 3 months ago. It's a great little hotel and a stone's throw from Centraal Station. So the following morning, we just walk across the road and jump a fast train to Paris.

That will start phase three of our adventure. We now have five city stays of between four and seven nights in, Paris, Valetta, Istanbul, Edinburgh and London.


21 January

Drove to Amsterdam.


20 January

Where is a good reformer when you need one?

Martin Luther took hammer, nails and his treatise and made his concerns clear on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517. That was a long time ago and it tore the established Church apart. A millennium and a half earlier, another, far more influential figure, took to the usurers and peddlers in the temple.

Tolerant christians (with a small c) that we are, enough is enough with the commercialization of religion! Entry charges for churches, machines that turn coins into souvenirs of a holy relic are just tolerable. Price lists for blessings and mass offerings are just beyond the pale! Today, in the otherwise fantastic town of Bruges, (yes it IS in F'n Belgium*) we came across the sort of thing that incensed Luther.

Bruges' Basilica claims to have a vial of the blood of Christ. The relic is displayed with great ceremony only between restricted hours every day – extended hours in season. As the faithful approach the altar to pay homage to the relic, they are confronted with placards requesting payment for the privilege. To make all this worse, there is a glass box right beside the holy relic, presided over by a priest, that is stuffed with money. As an aside, one has to wonder why the Church has allowed such an important relic to languish in “F'n Bruges*”.

If this isn't enough, on the way out, one has the option of forking out another 6 euros for an 'intercession'. Five hundred years ago, it was the sale of indulgences. It seems that modern 'spin' has made it ok to sell 'intercessions' and Papal blessings.

It must be said that the price isn't always high. Further down the street today, we paid 2.5 euros to see a piece of the 'true cross' housed in a 16th century church that is a replica of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem. For this price, we got to press a button to light up the interior of the church, the tomb of some 16th century noble's wife and the heart of the noble himself (he died elsewhere apparently). There were even individual torches to spot special features. Sadly, the batteries were flat! Not just all this but, there was free entry to the Belgium Lace Museum thrown in. Best ecclesiastical value in Europe!

But back to beautiful Bruges. It was hard to believe it was late January today. Blue sky and sunlight encouraged us to walk from the camp grounds into town this morning. On this, probably the last sight- seeing day of the van phase of our trip, we needed a bit of a walk, mostly because we planned to have a big feed of Belgian frites for lunch. The Belgians don't claim to have invented the 'frit', but they sure have done a lot with it! Our feast was purchased in a student cafe in a back street. Crisp chips, smothered in creamy mayo was pure evil that had to be walked off for the rest of a most pleasant day.

And, oh yes, we did climb the tower.*

(* For those who saw the Movie)