Zeeland

The pictures are:

1. Me heading into, well you can see.
2. Eva trying to stay upright
3. Me in Zierikzee, with more wind
4. Somebody mowing the dyke's grass.
5. Me and a very surly cup of fries.


Another weekend so Eva and I took off again. After heading to the Netherlands for the 4th of July, we decided to go straight back there the next night for a two night camping trip. Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands not far north of Belgium. Most of you are probably familiar with the name, but rather from New Zealand fame. But we in fact went to old Zeeland, where the Dutch explorer Able Tasmin got the name for the country near Australia.





We had checked the weather report before leaving and it seemed not bad. It said it would be sunny with some wind. Some wind in deed, more like constant, pounding, un-relentless wind. A little rain was mixed in, and thankfully our new tent that we were testing out was a good one.





The first night we mostly just drove and set up camp. We didn't leave until Eva got off work, so we didn't set up our tent until about 9:30, somewhere near Biggekerke in Zeeland. Fortunately it doesn't get dark until almost 11, so we had time for a beach stroll. Although I think stroll implies no gail force winds. We found a restaurant/bar on the beach that was hurting for business with the horrible weather and only had two mom's and their four young children as guests. They may even have been relations of the owners, but the kids were having a grand old time dancing like crazy. Eva and I decided to join them for a dance. It was probably the most happening beach club on the whole coast that night.

The next day we hit the road and first went to Domburg where there is a famous hotel/thermal bath that was closed for renovation. Although a lot of our drive was along the coast, we often didn't see the ocean. You see a large part of the Netherlands is under sea level, and they have a huge system of dikes that keep the water out. So as you are driving "along" the coast you only see a massive grassy hill, not the sea.

For lunch we stopped in Veere. It was a nice little town with a massive cathedral. Eva had been there before but I never. The wind had settled a little bit, but was still going.

Next we drove across a large bridge/dyke area that was loaded with Huge windmills. And boy where they getting a work out today. There was a theme park dedicated to this below sea level/dyke phenomenon, but we did not want to shell out the 22.50 to go in. Instead we tried to walk along a sea wall, but literally couldn't because it was too painful. Any exposed skin was blasted with sand coming off the beach caught up in the wind storm.

We pushed on and wound up in Zierkzee in search of a castle that our guide book said was there. A woman in a pastry shop said she didn't know anything about it, so we wound up with pastries instead. Seems obvious, doesn't it. Then we saw a sign for a zwimbad or swim bath, and went on a quest to find a swimming pool/hot tub combo.

On our third attempt in as many little towns that claimed to have one, we found one in Sophiahaven. There was actually a massive vacation land camping park place that had a swimming complex attached to it. We decided to set up camp for the night and head to the pool. It was quite enjoyable, with some Japanese style hot tubs, a sauna and a large pool with a wave maker and a water slide. It even came complete with screaming kids.

The next morning we got up and headed home. On our way, we stopped in Middelburg, one of the larger towns in Zeeland. It is a very nice town with a few cool churches and squares. In one of the main squares we came across a beach volleyball tournament of all things. They had imported sand, nets and inflatable palm trees, but unfortunately not the sun. No need to import players though as the Dutch are the tallest people in the world.

When we got very close to back home, as Murphy would have it, it was sunny. We went away for the weekend in search of some better weather, and came home to find it. So of course we had to stop at the beach on the way. When we got home, Eva made mussels for dinner, and we both collapsed in bed, early, exhausted.