We landed in Frankfurt, Germany and after a sleepless night in the economy class of Air Lufthansa we boarded a German “ICE” train from inside the airport terminal and traveled north to Dulmen, close to where we picked up our motorhome. Onboard the smooth running ICE train I noticed my ears popping and it seemed to correlate with our apparent high speed, I said to Margot that we must be be doing at least 200 km/hr and just then the notice board posted a train speed of 291km/hr, needless to say the rail system throughout this part of Europe is nothing less than amazing; our anticipated 4 hour trip only took 2.

They know us now at the small family run hotel Van-Lendt in the village of Buldern, just outside of Dulmen, so despite the hotel being closed for renovation Herr  Hendrix insisted that we come and stay with them anyway. We did and we had a very nice visit, when finally heading off to bed at about 8:00 pm, we let him know that we would be down for breakfast around 8:00 am as we had lots of motorhome duties at Dumo Reismobile (RV Dealership) to attend to the next day. We closed the blackout blinds in our room and in the blink of an eye, the clock read 12:03 pm… 16 hours had passed!  What a shock, what a panic, what a way to start our trip. But, everyone was cool and very forgiving, Hendrik’s hotel  breakfast/lunch was delicious, the “pick-up” from Dumo was reset for 1:00pm, and that was followed by a nice reunion with Michael Tyson (owner of Dumo Reismobile) and the rest of our friends at Dumo. Later  we drove away in our 2018 Burstner Lyseo TD690 Motorhome but we didn’t drive far, we did some grocery shopping then stopped for the night at a Stellplatz in Dulmen. (Stellplatz: A designated overnight motorhome parking area with minimal services and matching prices. Usually located near town centres or attractions where the locals do hope you will spend some of your money).  The next day we shopped at a familiar mega sized camping store called Obelink just across the border in Winterswijk, Netherlands. We picked up a few camping supplies then stopped for the night at a close by campground to try and get ourselves organized before moving on. It usually takes us about a week of living in a motorhome before we really start feeling settled.  

The following day was Friday and we made a bee-line to Leiden, near The Hague, to reconnect with some very special people. Invited to stay with Hedy and Kees, we abandoned the RV out front and spent the next three nights as house guests in their beautiful home. A full day of impressive local tourist attractions was expertly planned by Kees for the Saturday and as if that was not enough, we got the opportunity to share all this time and experience with Jan & Marije, and Nynke & Joost as well.  Such a wonderful day. We really enjoyed seeing Anneke and we got a chance to visit her nice new home. Just before heading out, we squeezed in a very nice visit with Els and Aad as well. What a fun and action packed 3 days it was, hopefully we didn’t wear everyone out. Margot and I can’t tell you guys how much we enjoyed spending this time with all of you and we thank you sincerely for everything you did to entertain us, feed us, and make us feel at home. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we have an opportunity to repay your kindness.  

Monday afternoon (March 11th) and we’re on our way again. On our drive to Paris we’ll be checking out a few more WWI monuments and a few Château’s as well. I’ll try and post a second blog on this part of the journey ASAP so until then, hope everyone is well at home and know that we’ve comfortably settled into the gypsy mode again.