July 14, 1988

From buch@n

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Today we left Holland, entered Belgium (just so I can say I've been there), entered Holland and then entered Germany (refer to map). In Holland for the second time I had to post my postcards because they had Dutch stamps.

I fell asleep until we had left the autobahn near the next youth hostel. This wasn't quite where it should be but I found it. Harriet and Jørgen don't seem to trust the signs and when they don't find whatever they are looking for they try another direction. I just tell them to follow the road until they see another sign. The place was closed anyway.

We decided to go for a drive and found a cathedral nestled in among some trees in among some hills. We checked it out, had lunch (3.30 pm) and then went back to the Youth Hostel. This time we found out it was closed indefinitely. Great!

The only real choice we had was to go to Cologne. It took just over an hour to find the Youth Hostel with the help of a bad map. Guess what was wrong. It was full. By this time I was very annoyed. If only the rain would stop.

Harriet had seen a sign pointing to a caravan park and by pure luck we were able to hire a caravan.

Reflections

^{Reflections about this day made on July 13, 2008.}

• I've now been into Belgium twice without stopping! The second time was on the way to Austria for Christmas.
• My comment above, If only the rain would stop doesn't fully indicated that we were looking for accommodation in very heavy rain, in the dark, in a city we were completely unfamiliar with, well into the early evening.
• Just as I carry an iPod today I had a portable cassette player with me for most of my time in Denmark. I recall vividly sitting in a cold, rain-soaked caravan listening to Cliff Richard on a cassette I'd borrowed from a friend.

External links

• Altenberg cathedral - Wikipedia page on Altenberg cathedral.