Summer in (some of) Western Europe: catching up with friends and family

2018 Nov 14

We were going to be in the UK in August (family celebration, which is another story), so took the opportunity to do some wandering around, connecting with friends and family beyond the initial focus. We flew into the UK via Madrid, and picked up a rental car from LHR to visit Marlow and then continue to Norwich.

1)    Marlow: we were able to spend a day with Mark and Beate, enjoying their hospitality and walking by the Thames.

2)    Norwich: this was the main family get-together, with Tes & Margaret, Rolf & Jan, Catriona, Nick, & Charlie. We (the visitors) stayed at a house in the village of Neatishead, conveniently close to the White Horse pub, and shuttled back and forth to Thorpe End. It was the first time we had been together for a long time, and it was enjoyable to catch up on our various stories.

3)    Nandrin: we dropped the rental car off at Norwich airport then took a taxi to the station (to the confusion of the taxi driver who wondered how we had arrived at the airport at a time when no flights had arrived), then took the train to Liverpool Street, and the short tube ride to St. Pancras, where we took Eurostar to Brussels. There we picked up a rental car: we had booked a fairly boring car, however were offered a Fiat 500 which was much more attractive an idea. We went ahead with this, and found that it was the Fiat 500X, which is a sort of “Fiat 500 on steroids” version of the car.  This proved to be an excellent option for the next week.

We drove east to Liège and on to the small town of Nandrin, in the wooded countryside in Eastern Belgium. After an excellent dinner at a local restaurant we relaxed at the home of Pierre, Mariana, and Olivia, who unfortunately were in Southern France at the time. The following day we drive to Brussels to meet JIm and Sarai, with whom we had spent some time in Botswana last year, and whom we now met in rather different surrroundings, lunching at Le Pré Salé and then catching up on news. We then explored the Grand Place and wandered around the town centre.  

 

 

The following morning we enjoyed the Musée Magritte, local cafés, and then headed west to Bruges, to have a late lunch in the Place before heading back to Nandrin.  

 

 

 

4)    Luxembourg: The following day we worked our way south to Luxembourg, first visiting the Mudama (Museum of Modern Art) and then exploring the city and its battlements and the Casemates, before an early dinner. We then headed out of Luxembourg, past Trier (frequently visited by Alan’s Mum and Dad, along with Tes on occasion) and made our way north to Düsseldorf, which was selected simply as a convenient overnight stop. 

 

5)    Lübeck: From Düsseldorf we enjoyed the efficiency and safety of the autobahn (on which the Fiat proved well able to keep up with most of the traffic) to work our way northwards towards Lübeck, stopping to visit Bremen, one of several Hanseatic Ports we would see on this trip. Bremen was fascinating and well worth the brief detour from the autobahn. We lunched at the interesting Manūfactum, and then continued northwards. Lübeck itself was another fascinating old city, full of cobbled streets and corners, with the main city gate – the Holstentor – a kind of germanic version of two leaning towers of Pisa with a gate in between. Despite it’s being a fairly rainy day to this point, at the end of the afternoon the sun came out, illuminating the Tower Gate from behind us. 

6)    Aarhus: We continued north into Denmark, headig for Aarhus to visit frinds we had met in Malawi last year - Victor, Sophie, Lone, and Steven – and Mikkel - whom we had met in Colombia on his back-packing trip round Latin America.  They hosted us wonderfully: Victor and Mikkel showing us the old town and harbour, introducing us to Danish customs and practices, and preparing an excellent dinner at Victor’s home. We were able to visit the ARoS, an excellent contemporary art museum, and the following day, the Moesgaard Museum, with excellent insights into Danish (and indeed Scandinavian) history. 

 

  

7)    Copenhagen: the following day we took the ferry to Sjællands Odde, then drove to Humlebæk to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (*). We lunched there, overlooking the sea, and then contomued into Copenhagen itself, staying at the excellent M18 hotel and exploring the city, its harbour, bridges, parks, and dining at Cap Horn, in Nyhavn. In the next couple of days we enjoyed breakfasts at the Fresh Food Market and at Andersen & Maillard,  the National Museum, Sømods Bolcher for traditional sweets, ascending the Rundetårn, and wandering around the city, as well as stopping at Petitgas, a time-honoured hat specialist, where Alan could not resist the professional attention of the hatter and bought a Hat.

 

8)    Vadstena: we then crossed the bridge to Sweden (this being known for the TV “whodunnit”, which spawned an equivalent series in the USA, and also more recently for the decision to close it in response to the influx of refugees from the “Middle East”, contrary to Schengen principles). We noted with interest the careful and profesional interview to which we were subjected to ensure that nothing inappropriate was involved in our entry to Sweden.

We knew that it was going to be a long way to our next planned destination – Stockholm, and so looked for a place to stop overnight on the way. We found that Vadstena, was more or less halfway there, on the second largest lake in Sweden - Lake Vättern, and chose to stop there, which proved an excellent decision. Vadstena is where the first Bridgettine Order monastery was founded in 1350, and Vadstena Castle is one of Sweden’s best-preserved 16th century castles. We stayed in the Vadstena Klosterhotel, which is what it left of the original monastery. On the way we had stopped at Hamneda where there is an Elk Reserve however unfortunately it was closed, although it was good to deviate from the main highway and travel on the minor roads of the area for a while. 

 

 

9)    Stockholm: the following day we continued northward to Stockholm, arriving around midday. We checked into our hotel and then set out to explore on foot, walking to Skeppsholmen for the Moderna Museet then to Gamle Stan; the following day visiting the excellent Fotografiska Museet, and then taking the ferry to the other side of the harbour to visit Vikingaliv, the Vasa Museet (in which the Vasa is stunning in its size and state of preservation), then walked to Karlaplan, took the Metro to Central Station, and back to Gamla Stan for dinner at Gästabud. 

 

 

 

 

 

10)  Stavanger: We then took two flights, connecting in Oslo, to reach Stavanger, where we were to stay with Birte for a few days. It had been a decade since last seeing her and it was great to catch up on each other’s lives after this time.

The weather was somewhat typical of Norway during our stay – ranging from beautiful sunshine and clean blue skies to steady rain – fortunately we spent the sunny periods outside and then rainy periods (mostly) inside so this was no problem.

On our second day we took the ‘bus into town to pick up a rental car for the day and explore the fjords and mountains of Rogaland. We drove south and then east, visiting the waterfall at Månafossen, then continuing inland climbing into the stark rocky landscape of the mountain heights, and lunching at the Kjerag Café overlooking Lysefjord. We then drive down the switchbacks to Lysebotn, subsequently back over the mountains to Tonstad and back to main coastal highway, stopping at Terland Klopp stone bridge and at Ålgård on our way back to Stavanger. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we drove out to Utstein Kloster in the rain, taking the new tunnel under the fjord (best experienced when it’s raining heavily at the surface), drove by Fløroy Fyr and Fort (and electing not to get out and walk, partly since the site was closed), and stopping for what turned out to be a free coffee at the Utstein Kloster. 

 

After dropping off the rental car and lunching at  Skagen (where they were still playing the same music tape they had been playing when Alan first visited in 1975 it seemed), walked around the old town, then visited the excellent BGE Contemporary Art Gallery. In the evening we walked down to the harbor for dinner at  Fisketorget.

 

The following day we took the ‘bus to visit the Stavanger Art Museum overlooking the Mosvatnet, then back to Birte’s to head for the airport.

While we were in Stavanger we found that there was an exhibition of graffiti which we enjoyed. Also the town has grown significantly since Alan’s last visit (and much more since his first) with some good news and also some less good news, such as that the wonderful office location on the fjord is now surrounded by apartments, losing much of the setting which made it such a marvellous place to work.

 

 

 

 

11)  London: on arriving at Heathrow, we stayed at the new Moxy Hotel (a welcome addition to the options available near Heathrow). The following day we headed into town by ‘bus and tube to Russell Square, had some tea at Camellia’s  and then visited the British Museum, to experience “I Protest” an exhibition of dissent over the ages put together by Ian Hislop. Then after a beer at Craft Beer Co., we spent some time in and around Covent Garden and Seven Dials. Dinner was our now traditional South Asian dinner in London, this time at Salaam Namaste, then by tube and ‘bus back to the Moxy. The following morning a very early start for the fligt to Madrid, connecting to our flight home, arriving late afternoon and enjoying dinner with family that evening.  

It had been excellent to catch up with our friends and family, see some places new to both of us, and relax after a strenous work schedule in the previous weeks (and months).

Alan and Marce

Photos may be used for non-commercial purposes with credit to alanymarce@gmail.com

(* NOTE: in case you were wondering why an art museum in Denmark would be called the “Louisiana Art Museum”:

“The property had been built and named in 1855 by Alexander Brun … who was an officer and Master of the Royal Hunt and who married three women who were all named Louise”

(https://www.louisiana.dk/en/louisiana-history).