Monday 1^st July – Day 29

Having risen early again before the alarm went off I gave Sean a prod and went for a shower.  When I came back Sean was up and we headed out for breakfast.  Having enjoyed a veritable feast again we caught the train to Waterloo.

Sean is very much into the Napoleonic era and with Waterloo being so close to Brussels it seemed a shame not to go.  Unfortunately for the first time since Munich it rained heavily and we got soaked wlaking around the battlefield.  We did find shelter in the museums and spent a really enjoyable day in what is a very charming little town.

As seem to happen frequently on this trip, we lost track of time and ended up getting kicked out of a museum at 18:00.  We had been wandering in and out of the museums for nine hours!

Having had such a great, and wet, day we headed back to Brussels for some tea.  Afterwards we felt like a couple of beers down at the hostel bar.  Considering it was yet another early start tomorrow we went to bed at 22:30, having packed our backpacks to save time in the morning.

Tuesday 2^nd July – Day 30

Having risen early and had a huge breakfast, Sean and I headed off to the train station.  On the train we met two Cockney girls who were just beginning their journey around Europe.  We were able to give them some useful tips and sounded like seasoned pros when talking about the things we had seen.

The girls got off the train at Antwerp and we carried on to Arnhem.  Having got the wrong bus our ten minute journey to the hostel took nearly two hours.  Eventually though we checked into the hostel, dumped our bags and headed back to the town centre.

There is a World War II airborne museum in the nearby town of Oosterbeek and so we headed straight for it.  We spent nearly four hours trekking around the magnificent museum looking at official orders for Operation Market Garden and other genuine documents.  We eventually got kicked out of the museum as it was closing (lost track of time again!) and went for a cheap meal.  Having eaten we went by bus back to Arnhem and saw the sights there.  The cathedral is particular impressive.

With time drawing on we headed back to the hostel where we met an Australian who was telling everyone in our dorm about his adventures so far.  We spent a pleasant evening in his company and went to sleep full of ideas of where to go on our next backpacking expedition.

Wednesday 3^rd July – Day 31

Having woken up at 06:30 I gave Sean and our Antipodean chum a nudge as they both wanted to get up as early as possible.

Having had breakfast we checked out of the hostel and caught the bus bus down to the train station.  We said farewell to our Aussie friend (we never did find out his name!) and boarded our Amsterdam bound train.  We arrived in Amsterdam at about 10:00, put our backpacks into storage and headed out for one last look around the capital of The Netherlands.  Unfortunately, the rain hammered down so we took refuge in an Internet shop and caught up with all our emails.  We decided that with us having some spare time we would head out to Den Haag (The Hague) as we were told it is a beautiful old city.

The Hague is split into two distinct categories: firstly, the modern commercial part which is very impressive and secondly, the old part which was simply breathtaking.  We managed to see the cathedral and ‘cabinet’ ministerial buildings.

We caught the train back to Amsterdam at about 18:00.  For old time’s sake we went for a pizza in the Pizza Firanza restaurant (where we went on Day 1) and afterwards called home from the Stadtsdoelen Hostel.

We still had a few hours left before we needed to pick up our luggage so we headed off to a cinema and watched ‘Bad Company’, in English with Dutch subtitles.  Interesting!  Better than staying out in the rain though!

After the film we picked up our backpacks and caught the train to Schipol Airport.  Today had been our last full day and our hectic schedules of work and university were looming large again.

Thursday 4^th July – Day 32

Due to the noise in Schipol Airport I ended up staying awake all the way through the night.  Sean, of course, slept right through until it was time for us to check in for our flights.

The flight itself passed quickly and before we knew it we had landed in Liverpool.  I picked up my bag and so did Sean only to find that a parcel he had bought was missing.  Sean reported it but his parcel was nowhere to be seen on the plane and so he filled in a ‘missing luggage’ form in the hope that the rest of his belongings were found in Amsterdam.

We went out towards the exit where my Grampa was waiting to take me home.  I said goodbye to Sean, who was going straight to check in for his flight to Belfast, and went home.  After being dropped off I dumped my bag, phoned my parents and went to bed.

I woke up at 17:26 having only set out to have a little snooze!  I was being picked up by Grampa at 17:30 as I was going round for tea so I had to get up – and quick!  I made it with seconds to spare.

I spent a really enjoyable evening telling my grandparents about my trip, and reliving all of the experiences.  I was dropped off at home at around 22:00 and went straight back to bed.  I had a lot of sleep to catch up on.

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