Spring European Driving Experience

Introduction

Since returning the Europe with the children I always wanted to do a European driving trip especially in spring. The idea behind a spring trip was always to see the flower fields of the Netherlands. Although for children one flower field is the same as another.

The plan

We really wanted to cover a number of countries and centres on our trip with the largest amount of time reserved for Netherlands. The route to Netherlands would see us going through Brussels. So a stop in Brussels is a natural break to the journey.

Additionally being in banking I always wanted to see what Luxembourg was like, it is not a natural city to be be visiting in Europe and most people would not have heard of it or would be prone to skipping it. With a week to kill i thought I would fill the ambition of visiting Luxembourg City.

So our route was London > Brussels (2 nights) > Luxembourg (1 night) > Amsterdam (3 nights). The routing was driven around the availability of hotels around the time we were planning to visit. Being a very last minute individual this is always a problem for me.

Our route

Our route was as follows, Day 1 was London to Brussels

We did this during late afternoon leaving at 16:00 from London driving down the M20 to Dover. We had a flexible (both ways) ticket booking from Dover to Calais. The ferry crossing took 90 minutes and we lost and hour from the time zone difference.
Once on the other side we just took the motorway and in roughly 2.30min we were in Brussels. We arrived in Brussels at about 22.30 in the evening. The journey along the motorway(E40) was smooth.

Day 2 was spent seeing the sights and eating in Brussels. See the Brussels in a day page (Taking the pis) to see what we covered while there.

Day 3 was a drive and sightseeing in Luxembourg City. The drive is a 2 hours journey along fairly smooth roads and relatively picturesque surroundings

Day 3 night was spent in a hotel in Luxembourg. Luxembourg City is fairly small so its easy to get around. Apart from he city centre with is small with cramped streets the streets are well laid out and its an easy city to navigate. The one things we missed when visiting Luxembourg was Vianden Castle which is about an hour from Luxembourg City. We missed this largely because we left Brussels late and did not really make it to Luxembourg City until 11.00am 

Day 4 was the drive from Luxembourg to Netherlands to see the Kuekenhoff Gardens often called the Gardens of Europe. That drive was a particularly long drive seeing us backtrack a significant part of the journey from an ease perspective. We could have taken alternative routes but we went back via Brussels (outskirts). Our route below is mapped out.

Instead of going directly into Amsterdam we stopped off at Kuekenhoff Gardens first we started from Luxembourg City at 08.00 and reached Kuekenhoff at 12.00. Kuekenhoff is clearly sign posted. The gardens are only open from March to May and I would advise you to book on-line although the queues were not particularly long when we went.

Day 5 and 6 were spent in Amsterdam doing the sights of Amsterdam with Day 7 reserved for the Journey back to the UK with detours to the flower route and Kinderjek (Windmills) on the return leg.

Note if you want to see the Windmills of the Netherlands there seem to be two sights to see working windmills. If you are in Amsterdam and have flow in then the natural place would be Zaanse Schans which is a little north of Amsterdam. From my research the better place was Kinderjik with is to the south of the country and on our way home. There are more details on the Netherlands write up.

Key things to take

1. Red warning triangle if you breakdown
2. High Visibility top (I took my running jacket)
3. Jerry can
4. Lots of torches (one particularly large beamed one)
5. Breakdown tools
6. Car Liquids (Oil, Water, Coolant and windscreen washer fluid

Other notes

• I took out RAC European breakdown cover single trip (GBP60)
• Extended my motor insurance (comprehensive) to be valid across Europe - your local UK cover will only give you Third Party cover when you're on the continent. So check your policy.
• My ferry ticket was a fully flexible out / in ticket with P&O at GBP90 each way. I went flexible as it was only 20 pounds more expensive then the partially flexible.

Parking in Amsterdam

• All the hotels have parking and will charge for parking. You can park on the streets at your own risks. Most cities we went to the parking was fairly straight forward except Netherlands where our hotel didnt have enough parking when we arrived. So we had to park out of town using one of the government provided parking point. There is a Park and Ride (P+R) mechanism in operation but be sure you have the right ticket and understand how to get the discounted parking.

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Cambridge for the day

Introduction

No chance for a break in the cold winter months in the UK, well with out first Chinese New Year out of HK we decided to make sure we had a short break. This timed perfectly for the family and we drove out to Cambridge an academic town to the north east of London. For us the journey was a quick 90 minutes from the southern tip of London.

The day

The colleges of the university dominate Cambridge centre with a nice shopping center to take you mind of the academia and onto more mundane things like Primark! The university colleges line the river with some majestic buildings. The three main colleges of St. Johns, Trinity and Kings College are the main buildings with other smaller colleges sprinkled in between.

You'll be greeted by great buildings such as shown below. Each college has a chappel which are quite interesting to visit in their own right and in St.John's college you can see the placard of great scholars from Cambridge.

St.John's College

 Of particular interest was this Indian mathematician who has a great story behind him. Srinivasa Ramanujan was a genius mathematician from India and you can read his story here (wiki link). I learnt about him as a young reader of New Scientist and what a joy to see his name recognised along side greats such as Newton.

King College Chappel - external view

King College Chapel - Ceiling view

King College Chapel from the River

Apart from the colleges the other interesting thing to try is Punting, which is essentially going on a boat ride along the River Cam after which Cambridge is named. Punting along the river for a 45 mins tour is offered by a number of companies official as well as your normal "jack the lad" tout loitering along the main through fare where the colleges are situated.

I especially enjoyed going to the Wren Library which is open from 12-4pm and allows the visitor a sneak peek at some of the great works emanating from Cambridge. Above all for me the visit to Cambridge was work it just to cast my eye on the Principia Mathematica first edition by Issac Newton. Will there ever be a more influential piece of science for humanity.

Additionally the Library has works from Otto Frisch and A A Milne (Winnie the Pooh). The Wren library is probably something that's easily overlooked but something awe inspiring for any kids interested in science.

The colleges all charge an entrance fee for the grounds. I would pick a few of the major colleges to go to. A top time is to visit the evening prayer service at the Kings College Chapel. Its a 45 minute service but allows visitors free access to the chapel and for most part a lovely service.

Conclusion.

Cambridge is a fantastic city well worth a visit from London. I suggest going on a sunny day in summer as it will bring out the city at its best. Although if summer is too short its a great city for winter too. As long as you go you wont have missed out. Enjoy your visit to Cambridge we certainly did and it gave our kids a yardstick to aim at. Academically there is not better city in the world with the kind of history Cambridge has.

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Ahmedabad - The hidden gems in your back yard

Introduction

As a Gujarati native, Ahmedabad is a family hub for us its the primary link from Mumbai and the hub for us to go to all the spokes of family across Gujarat. On my recent trip to India I took some time to take the family around some of the key places across Ahmedabad. For most families of Gujarati (Indian) origin we never think about seeing the places in our back yard. So below I've described some of the things you can do in Ahmedabad besides shopping malls and give your family something of interest to do and see.

The step wells of Gujarat

Hidden in the old part of Ahmedabad in the midst is the Dada Harir Vav. The word "Vav" describes a set well where you would step down through the ground to gather water for daily use. Whilst these step well have been supersede in daily life. A visit will render you in awe of the function of these large holes in the ground but more so the intricate care and design of these unique pieces of architecture.

A look across the top of the step well

A look down into the main well

As you step down you appreciate the layers of the well

Intricate carving in both Sanskrit and Arabic (Mughal era)

Looking up the step well towards the light

Intricate carvings of the step well - perfection in all things

Huthee Singh Vadi

Tucked away again in the old part of town is the Jain temple Huthee Singh Vadi. The temple we visited was under restoration and photos weren't allowed inside. But here are a few shot taken from my phone from the outside of the temple.

Huthee Singh Vadi-intricate decorations on the outside

Siddhi Sayed Jali

Around the old Ahmedabad town the streets are riddles with gates (darwaza) and fortifications in the area. One of the interesting carvings in Ahmedabad are the jali's in the centre of town. These are fine carvings in a slab of stone forming windows to religious buildings.

How to to get around town

We took the approach to rent a rickshaw for 3 hours taking us everywhere. Interestingly even the rickshaw owner did not know all the placed but these are easily found on Google Maps and by asking around as we did.

And there is more to see in Ahmedabad, take a look at the tourism website and it has a wealth of options to keep a day occupied.

Note if your are going to cover a substantial amount of distance or have a large group the best option is to rent a car to drive you around.

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Cracking Krakow

Introduction

One of the pleasures of working in a large organisation is the ability to travel. For some the travel to repeatedly the same location makes the experience and extension of often monotonous work. Thankfully for me the experience of business travel doesn't take this format so still feels like an experience.

So my work recently required me to travel to Krakow in Poland, my first visit beyond what we used to call the "iron curtain" for people like me who were 1970's children. Krakow is one of the smaller town circ. 1M population but growing fantastically fast especially for technologist like myself.

Whilst I didnt really do sightseeing no time here are some photos from my visit and my thoughts on Krakow.

First impression and the city

Krakow is a small airport, probably the size of a small suburban street. Its 3 hours from Warzaw by train (30 mins flight) and easily accessible from Europe and Russia. Can drive into Poland from the rest of Europe very easily.

The current airport is work-in-progress (Oct 2014) and I'm sure it will be very modern when its finished in the next couple of years. Airport is located about 30 mins outside the city center.

The city is small with a mix of new and modern malls and Ikea like super stores and very nice hole in the wall boutique shop in the centre of town. The city is build around two centres the old city and adjoining Jewish quarter. Both form a centre life packed with restaurant, hole in the wall eateries and hives of activity.

A few of my photos from Krakow


The first photo is of Wavel Castle in the city centre, this was taken on my first morning from the window of my hotel.

Walking around the fringes of the old town, lot of lovely old buildings and cobbled streets. the inner city is laden with trams criss crossing the streets.

Here is a picture of a tram turning at a cross roads, the streets seemless transitioned from cobbled to tar and back.

 One of the suburban trains of Krakow, I took this train from my place of work to central Krakow.

A Polish train driver, looking out across the track as I was waiting to buy my ticket on board the train. The driver wasnt happy with me he slammed the door in my face. But I didnt mind I still had a smile on my face - the joys of trains.

A 80's bar in Krakow, Spotem, truly underground it felt like an London underground tube platform. The place was packed with students Krakow has 200K student population and is truly a student city.

The old city is surround by gates and towers such as this one. The inner town definitely has a medieval feel to it. Surprised it survived the Second world war but apparently there was an agreement with to not bomb Krakow.

Being vegetarian food in Krakow was not a problem but for sure the food was quite stodgy. I would probably end of looking like this fellow. I survived my week on potato pancakes, dumplings of different varieties and such fare. But I did survive fairly easily. For the carnivores there are endless options of a fairly heavy and filling nature.

Polish culture is to have a heavy breakfast (breads), dinner at 3pm which is heavy and a light supper at 6-8pm which usually consists of bread with meats/soup. For me a polish lunch is probably all the calories I need.

Conclusion

Krakow a good weekend break with lots to do. I would probably avoid going to the local football matches especially the local derby. Apparently it can get violent with some serious weaponry. Apart from that, the town was good, people friendly and very willing to talk and engage.

October, for me, was a very pleasant time to visit, the coldest months are December, January and February when temperatures are commonly at -10 to -20 on average. They have been known to go down to -40 so good luck with avoiding that.

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