DAY 4
Tuesday 24th June 8:25am UK
We are with our tour group on the bus on the way to Dover for the Channel crossing by ferry. There are mostly Australians in the group. The tour director is an English lady named Deborah Wiggin and the coach driver is an Italian man named Eduardo Cinque.
Traveling out of London through the Southern suburbs gave us a view of the poorer parts of the city. Our experience yesterday certainly showed us the lovely and exclusive areas. We are now in the countryside where fields of green stretch along the motorway. It is another beautiful day. So far my impression of London is positive, but we have been lucky with the weather. Also being summertime it gets light at 4am and dark at 10pm, so the days are long. It would be a totally different experience in winter.
We will drive north to Amsterdam arriving at about 5pm today, so we will be traveling on the bus all day. We have a river cruise in Amsterdam and a dinner somewhere.
Tuesday 24th June 11:30am (European time)
I have adjusted my watch moving it forward one hour from UK time to European time. We are sitting in the forward part of one deck on the ferry on our way from Dover across the English Channel 22 miles to Calais in France. It is UK territory for one third on the way across then it becomes France. Our passports were checked prior to coming aboard. I had my first conversation in French saying “Bonjour Monsieur” to the customs man who replied “Bonjour Madame”. We have eaten a light lunch of sandwiches and drinks of juice that cost us £20.00 or €27.00. Michael paid in Euro cash and received the change in Sterling.
There are lots of people on board including several coach tours: one other Trafalgar and two Contiki. I have heard quite a lot of Aussie accents. This ferry takes about 300 vehicles that include many freight trucks and coaches.
Tuesday 24th June 5:51pm Amsterdam
Our first day in Europe has been on the motorway that by-passes the towns. The landscape has been flat and rural as we have traveled through the top of France, then Belgium. We are almost in Amsterdam running behind schedule due to heavy traffic on the motorways. Many freight trucks fill the roads.
We stopped once at a roadside café for the toilet and a snack. We didn’t buy anything to eat. Michael bought an espresso from McDonalds for €1 and we both spent €0.30 to go to the toilet. There was an interesting food hall beside McDonalds offering lots of fresh options to eat, some that they cook for you while you wait. It looked good.
We’ve seen a couple of windmills. They have a unique aesthetic charm. Many have been removed as they are not in use anymore apparently.
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