THE TRIP
EUROPE 2001
THE BEGINNING
We began our journey at Graham's home in Evesham. From there we drove to the ferry port at Harwich and waited to board our ferry. After a slight delay, we set off! Sitting on the ferry, crossing the North Sea, we sat upon the deck and relaxed in the cool winds and bathed in the spray:
Little did we know that Danny's lewd posing was just the start of a career in campness throughout the trip!:
AMSTERDAM
At last we had arrived at our primary destination of Amsterdam. After much random driving we finally found the campsite and set-up camp:
We now set off into the heart of the city:
The sun was shining brightly and the weather was remarkably hot. Graham soon complained that his shoes were just too small for his mammoth feet, thus we had to buy him some new sandals from C&A!:
Using Danny's amazing map-reading skills (which, incidentally, always managed to lead us into the heart of China Town in every city we visited!!) we soon got our fill of culture:
Over the next few days we also absorbed that which most other people refer to as 'culture':
On our inane wanderings we encountered many weird and wonderful vehicles:
We all got rather worried when we found a shop dealing bondage gear with Danny's name all over it:
And of course, what trip to Amsterdam could possibly be complete without a wander around the zoo?:
At night we relaxed with a barbie and a cool drink:
ROTTERDAM
After Amsterdam it was off to Bruges, with a short sight-seeing stop in Rotterdam. Danny's urge to admire random architecture could not be easily calmed:
We did however observe some rather curious anomalies around the city, such as a car driving off a roof, and an advertisement showing a woman being offered an 'engagement-condom' by her man:
BRUGES
Over the border and into Belgium, we had now arrived in the quaint town of Bruges, known as the 'Venice of the North.' The cloudy weather did not, however, deter us from aimlessly strolling around:
Of course it was not long before we got silly:
Of course this couldn't last all the time! So it was time to absorb yet more of that great European culture:
We even stopped for a brief respite at the exceedingly tranquil lake of love:
At night, Graham became a strange troll:
We never did quite understand that one... Anyway, after Bruges it was off to Amiens! Or so we thought.. In fact we decided that Amiens was a silly place and went straight to Paris!
PARIS
Whilst spending absolutely ages trying to find first the tourist office and then the campsite, I had a chance to photograph many of the lovely parisian buildings:
Unfortunately around this time Graham fell ill with a nasty cold. Something had to be done!:
Danny and I went to visit my Great Uncle Jeremy, and stopped off at La Grande Arche La D�fense on the way back:
We had given up on driving around the city long ago, and so the metro became our main mode of travel:
Danny directed us on our next cultural outing to the Pompidou Centre, where Graham and I took a bunch of silly 'modern-art-inspired' photos:
But our museumage couldn't stop there! NO! It was on to the Mus�e d'Orsay:
We decided to relax at one time on the banks of the River Seine:
Every evening we returned to our campsite, which was getting more and more flooded every day by the constant rains!:
Yes the Eiffel Tower:
POITIERS
On the way from Paris to Bordeaux, we needed somewhere to stay the night. Where better than the futuristic 3D-cinema theme park of Futuroscope in Poitiers??:
BORDEAUX
Apart from a silly cafe named "Chez Roger" what else is Bordeaux famous for?:
BIARRITZ
I'm not quite sure why we went to Biarritz.. It rained heavily every day, at night we were kept awake by raucous Germans karaokeing away, and when we went swimming we were almost smashed on the rocks by the humongous wave! Still, lots of lovely ginger-roofed houses though!:
After Biarritz we drove onwards into Spain over the dark Pyrenees:
BILBAO
Spain at last! Goodbye foul rain!! Hello glorious sunshine!! We decided that the city of Bilbao was far too grubby a place to stay, so we found a nice campsite right on the beach about 20 minutes away:
But of course Danny needed to see some more random architecture and so we headed right into the heart of Bilbao to see the famed Guggenheim Museum:
After Bilbao we commenced our random driving across Spain, with a stop at Zaragoza (where we were going to stay - except that Danny couldn't find the campsite shown on the map) and a night by a foul lagoon. We carried on down to the Capital city of Madrid:
MADRID
Time to absorb yet more culture!:
After all that, we found a lovely Irish Pub, whatever would we have done without them?:
Graham soon tired of Madrid, and thus it was time to move on to Marbella!
MARBELLA
Ah yes, Marbella. After hours of driving around trying to find our campsite, and then settling on a completely different one altogether, we met up with Hughesie & Co. and sampled the intrigueing night-life!:
We spent a night near Alicante on the East coast as we made our way up to Barcelona.
BARCELONA
Of course, how could we resist the random Freddie Mercury impressions as we entered this wonderful city, the best place we had yet visited in Spain. The streets were packed with weird entertainers:
Here is where I bought my wonderful Barcelonian Happy Buddha, who became my favourite drinking partner:
We even saw Danny's camp friends in authentic Navy outfits!:
It was so hot that Graham's nipple fell off!:
SANTANDER
Our final stop in Spain. Santander was the port from which our ferry sailed back home, we sat in the tents that night and watched the sun go down on what had been an excellent road-trip:
The following day we got on the ferry home and mused on what future adventures may yet come pass..
THE END
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