Actually, there were carts available for rent in the station - but they only worked with Belgian francs, and there are no Belgian francs anymore, only euros! What other coin should work? No one knew (or cared). But all things come to an end, and we finally got in a taxi and were driven to our hotel. (We stayed overnight in the hotel in the center of the beautiful medieval city of Brugge. A telephone call to the shipping line verified that the RV was on the dock in Zeebrugge and could be picked up the next day.)

Next morning, called a cab, dreading the repeat performance of the luggage into the train station to go to Zeebrugge. Fortunately, in the conversation with the driver, we discovered that he could take us right to the dock for $25 Euros (about $23). Was that ever the right decision! We got to the right dock and they found our RV. It was a long but easy process. Finally we were pleased to see it appear, and all was really quite well. No damage. Nothing stolen. We unpacked a bit and started off for Brugge and the campground. It turned out that the bus is only a couple of blocks away from the campground and we're able to get into the old city very easily. Also a few short blocks away is a supermarket. What more can any travelers want? (We visited Ghent, Belgium, Tilburg in Holland)...

(We're on our second visit to Ghent in Belgium.) Before Easter, there were lots of caravans (small trailers) in the campground. Now it's nearly empty! It's a terrific campground. Among its wonderful attributes: good facilities, including a dump for waste water from the RV holding tanks, a nice restaurant, a grocery, a shop selling frites ("french" fries). In fact, it's so nice that we're staying here tomorrow when we're going to take the bus to the station and the train to Brussels. Why struggle with a new place when Brussels is only 40 minutes away by train! Bought gasoline for the first time since we got here. It was, as Ron says, a thrilling experience. It's a good thing distances are smaller in Europe.

Interesting tidbit: We find that the meat we buy here cooks better than the U.S. equivalent. There's no water in the meat so it browns much better when being pan-fried. The asparagus & strawberries were both outstanding. Even eating in the RV is a pleasure. The weather has turned warm and sunny and pleasant. The coffee is wonderful, the pastries delicious, the bread crisp, the waffles melt in your mouth, the beer delicious and the chocolate outstanding. So far, so good. (Off to Paris where we spent a week crammed with tourist activities. Then we visited Normandy and started south in France.)...

Sunday morning marked the beginning of our third week in Europe. We drove into Perigueux (40 miles east and a little south of Bordeaux). Found a parking space, and saw a lot of people with empty baskets heading down the street. Show Ron this scene, and he can find a marche (market). And he did. It was a wonderful market - flowers, meat, fish, many vendors selling the local specialty, fois-gras, bakers and fruits and vegetables. Despite a bad case of eyes that were bigger than our stomachs, we managed to buy only a fraction of what was available. (We managed to see a lot of French cities on our way.)...

After Toulouse, we headed for Carcasonne because the guidebooks said it had an old walled city. We got a little lost trying to find the campground, overshot it, went around a curve and there the city was, right in front of us, about a half-mile away. We were stunned. Literally. Mouths open, chins hanging. It was as if we had traveled through a time warp. There in front of us was a city from hundreds of years ago...

Got to Avignon and had the same reaction we'd had to Carcassone. Wow! A walled city looming up out of the hills. We followed the outside wall, came over the Pont Edward Deladier, and found ourselves at the Bagatelle Camping which was right on the bank of the Rhone and a short walk across the Deladier Bridge into the old town. And here we stayed through our visit...

When we came up out of the subway (in Lyon), we were really pleased we'd come. The Vieux Ville ( the Old City) is beautiful and there seemed to be a huge hill with beautiful buildings on it. It's quite spectacular. The trouble was that it was the beginning of a huge market and despite the fact that we wouldn't be home until evening, we bought a lot of stuff. It didn't start off feeling too heavy. How much can one chicken (cooked), green beans, peas, tomatoes, two kinds of olive melange, new garlic, bread and a few flowers weigh? Not too much at 11 a.m., but at 2 p.m., the weight of it caused Ron to think we might have also bought a case of beer, and by 5 p.m. he said he didn't think we should have bought a case of wine too! But at 11am, I was very happy to shoulder the bag...

We prefer the smaller roads because you can see France unlike the major highways. They could be on the moon, just like in the U.S. There is something to be said for Route 66!

We drove through a town called Perrone. Nice looking town. Had a couple of signs that intrigued us, so we stopped, and found it has a small medieval area and a "Historial", that is, a museum devoted to World War I. The city had been held by the Germans throughout that war. About 45 kilometers distant another site still has trenches preserved so one can see what living in them was like. But after the Historial, we lost any desire we might have had to pursue this experience...

(We're back in Paris for a second time, but) we'll be going home soon, which will be very nice...

Which is not to say that we won't miss being here. Bread is always fresh and crispy; meat is lean, tender and sears without weeping in the pan; and vegetables and fruit have a great deal of taste, even from supermarkets. Here cities and towns have ancient histories and cultures and wonderful museums devoted to explaining and illustrating those histories and cultures. Public transportation systems are more conveniently used than automobiles. There are streets that one delights in walking because one never knows what beautiful building or monument or sculpture or park one may come across around the next corner. The people are as comfortable to be with as the nicest Americans...

(On our way out of Paris) we decided to visit Bastogne and Liege. We stayed in a tiny campground in a tiny town in southeast Belgium. We were a source of great excitement to the couple who ran this little establishment. We came from America. Their most exotic visitors apparently are usually the Dutch! The next day we got to see Bastogne, the place where General McAuliffe responded to Nazi demands to surrender with the eloquent and never to be forgotten single word, "Nuts"!...

A great deal is remembered. There are two museums, which we visited. Bastogne was severely damaged during this battle. The small museum near the town square had a booklet with pictures of the buildings around the square, some taken after the very fierce fighting and those on the opposite page showing the exact same spot today. Both of us remembered vividly hearing about this battle and seeing pictures of the exhausted American troops in Bastogne in 1944...

It's all very well to say "Travel light", but we've been here three months. There's a lot of stuff to take home. Even the printed stuff that I want to take home is pretty hefty. We'll be getting ready on Monday, traveling to Belgium most of Tuesday and flying all of Wednesday. Talk to everyone after that. R&A...

Short excerpts from our 2003 letters. The letters are in Appendix B in the book.

Here we are in the Amsterdamse Bos Campground, about 3 kilometers from where the RV was stored.

You know, when you store a motorhome for more than a year in a foreign country, anything can happen. The motorhome happened to have been put up for storage immediately after a whole day of very heavy rain last season. But not to worry! The interior smelled nice, everything was dry inside, no mold at all. The motor started up immediately and has made several runs already...

Today we did the requisite walking at the Albert Cuypstraat street market. Gotta have two kinds of cheese in the camper when in Holland. Otherwise the cheese (and flower) police will get us! Then we drove to the Stena Line office in the Hoek (of Holland), and walked in to ask about passage to England. When would you like to go? we were asked. As soon as we can, we replied. This afternoon at 2:30 all right?

Spent Monday in Colchester, visiting the Castle (Norman Castle begun shortly after the battle of Hastings - 1066 and all that - on the remains of a Roman temple) which was very interesting. Took the local roads to get to a campground just southeast of Cambridge. Managed that trip very well. Ron has had no trouble staying on the "wrong" side of the road and going around the many round-abouts leftward. His big problem on our last trip was expecting the car to end at his elbow, like it does in the US...

We pulled out this morning, drove to the War Museum (at Duxford), and when we left, simply drove to a new campground about twenty miles from the first one. I love the Caravan Club. Their directions are so easy to follow that even a direction-impaired person like me (Adelle) can find the campgrounds...

We had planned on visiting a number of cathedrals and other sights between Cambridge and Nottingham, but it rained - no teemed - all day, and we decided we might as well just drive "all day" and skip the rest. Our idea of "all day" is about three hours of driving...

All the guidebooks say that if you go into an English pub, you'll meet lots of new friends. I'm sure that's true although we haven't gone into one. But it misses the point. People in and out of pubs are extraordinarily polite, helpful and glad to meet you...

After Nottingham, we visited the city of York. We've been here before, but we love it! Then it was off to Thirsk in the Yorkshire Dales. This was the home of the most famous Yorkshire veterinarian Alf Wight (a.k.a James Herriott). The house that he actually lived in has been turned into a terrific little museum...

On a weekend visit to some friends in Conset, we saw a great deal of Northumberland - the Hexham Abbey, the Durham Cathedral, a beautiful botanical garden, and a lot of Hadrian's wall. From there, it was off to Edinburgh, even though it was the time of the art festival and Tattoo (bands from all over the world) and very, very crowded. Our campsite was a short drive away from a TESCO Supermarket, which had excellent bus service into the center of the city. We visited museums and joined the 7,200 other visitors to Edinburgh Castle (and it wasn't even that crowded)...

Next stop was Aberdeen where we visited friends who live in a small village. They toured the area with us, showing us the heather on the hillsides and more. We left them and drove to the beautiful town of Braemar (near Balmoral Castle). It was such a nice day that we decided we'd drive across Scotland to the western seaport town of Oban. Our trip through the Highlands was perfect - the sun was shining, the high hills looked crisp and beautiful. Even though we slowed down traffic as we climbed through the valleys between those hills, it was a great trip until we got to Loch Earn on the western edge of the hills. It suddenly got misty and then it started to rain. It rained during our entire stay in Oban, but it didn't bother us a bit.

We got to the campground with no trouble. This may be the biggest one we've ever been in. According to our book, it has 30 acres on the Bay. The camp was full to the brim with campers and motor homes despite the definitely inclement weather...

The weather in England, as the BBC "presenter" said this morning, is only "resolutely cloudy" -- no rain is in sight. But the people we have met in England are "resolutely friendly". The British really do talk and complain about the weather all the time but they certainly do not live up to their stereotype as cold and unfriendly. Going south again. First stop Glasgow where we stayed at a "Certified Location" - a huge yard with room for five RV's but not a real campground.

Then it was on to Blackpool, which is a huge beach town, England's combination of Coney Island and Las Vegas, the largest, tackiest amusement park - not a theme park, an amusement park- in Europe. We are inexplicably fond of tacky beach places, so we quite enjoyed our stay. We had a wizard day. (Did you catch the Britishisms? If so, brilliant!)

Liverpool was our next stop. We never really had a desire to drive around Liverpool to see old buildings or whatever. The Albert Museum and library complex was all we wanted to see. Therefore, we decided to go on to see the mountains of Wales that were visible in the distance from our campsite.

Just on the border between England and Wales, is Chester. This small city (it has a cathedral and that makes it a city) has a center that was built in 1300 and repaired in Victorian times. As a result, it is the best Tudor city remaining in England. Beautiful...

Once in Wales, we stayed at a huge and beautiful campsite and visited the Conwy Castle and an Elizabethan house that had been totally renovated. Then we moved on to Canaerfon, which had an equally beautiful campground and a matching castle! But our main concern were two side trips: first to go up the cog and pinion railway to the top of Mt. Snowdon, and then to drive on to Holyhead and make a one day ferry trip to Dublin. Both trips were memorable...

The morning after we returned from Dublin, we drove east through Wales. The trip back to England through northern Wales can only be described as a "Wow". Wales is really beautiful. Different landscapes but always mountainous. Wales is definitely wild and wooly. Eventually, the road signs that were in two languages disappeared, the scenery became more picture-postcard-perfect-rural-cum-church town and we were back in England. We headed for a stop in Shrewsbury before going on to Ironbridge in Shropshire.

There we visited a remarkable collection of museums that had been recommended to us by English friends. One can argue that the Industrial Revolution began here. We left the area to drive down to Bristol. We didn't stop at Gloucester, Welles or Worchester, or Tewkesbury. The thing is that there is something to see nearly everywhere. We can't stay that long! We set out shortly for Cornwall.

The day was sunny and the drive was a pleasure. The campground was even more beautiful than the other spectacular ones we've been in. It is in Tintagel, which is a tiny, quaint village on the edge of a precipice and it is full of tourists. It is supposed to have been one of the homes of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

Next stop Plymouth. This city has at least two very great things going for it. One of those things is its harbor. The other is its history, which this harbor made possible. While still in Devon we hiked a mountain trail overlooking the Bristol Channel, and enjoyed being in a typical English village setting. Then we were off to Stonehenge. Another WOW. At Salisbury we saw the first open street market we've seen in England, and we wandered through town, but we never got to see the Cathedral!

Next stop: Portsmouth. We started out Sunday morning with the RV and visited the D-Day Museum, the Maritime Museum and Admiral Nelson's ship, The Victory, and then took a harbor cruise...

From here we went to Brighton, about 40 miles to the east. Another seaside town (like Blackpool) but not so tacky. It does boast the Royal Pavillion - a huge, ornate building with lots of minarets...

Now to London. We spent two weeks doing all the tourist things. Our campsite on the grounds of the Crystal Palace was a bus ride away from Trafalgar Square. On leaving, we visited Stratford-on-Avon, Bletchley Park (where the WWII code breakers worked), Canterbury Cathedral, and Dover Castle. We'd seen a lot but we skipped even more!