Books, Sudoku and Movies while RVing Around Europe

Several weeks before leaving our home in Surrey, BC for this year's European tour, my husband downloaded hundreds of movies to my computer.  One of my favorite things to do in my home in Canada is watching downloaded tv series' which I can enjoy watching non-stop and without the need to watch the commercials and of course watching downloaded movies, not really the Holywood American movies, but what is typically called "foreign movies" which means European, Korean, Japanese, etc.  I am actually overwhelmed and indeed extremely happy knowing that thousands of movies are available to me in the internet anytime I want to watch a movie - we have a super fast internet connection which enables us to download anytime, all the time.

So for this trip, I have hundreds of movies in my computer.  It turned out, I will not be watching much.  I am not fond of watching a movie in my 17 inches screen.  At home,  I have a recliner and a huge screen.

Another favorite thing to do is playing sudoku.  In 2007, we accidentally found our favorite sudoku book in Germany.  I have bought and tried several other books but I found the German sudoku book to be quite challenging and it has puzzles from light to medium to hard to extremely hard which I like.  In Canada, last year, we found the book in Amazon and had it shipped to our home.  So this year, we made sure to buy it and while having difficulty finding it in bookstores, we bought some other types which turned out good but not as good as the German sudoku.

Books are bulky and takes up a lot of space - but not anymore.  We are too cheap to buy Kindle though but we both have Blackberry (gift from our son Ryan).  My technical support, my husband Mar of course, downloaded lots of books in his and my Blackberry.   He said our Blackberry can accommodate 3 thousand books with its current 2 gb memory card.  Wonderful thing about reading books using the Blackberry is that light is not needed - Blackberry screen is lighted.  This is actually great because most times we are out of power having used up all our juices using the internet, doing emails, FB, googling and researching towns, cities and countries in Europe and reading Phils., Canada, Europe and US news.

The authors we are reading now are James Patterson, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich and Tara French.  Mar and I have finished about 10 books each.

IKEA - Our Favorite Place for Breakfast

We discovered IKEA breakfast in Innsbruck, Austria around the first week of July this year.  What I like about it is - it's cheap and coffee all you can.  I am a coffee drinker in the morning and I usually take two mugs. 

Another good thing is IKEA's huge parking lot - not to mention their washroom is also huge and clean.

We have been googling for IKEA locations ever since and whenever there is one on our route, that is where we go first.

Euro 1.00 breakfast at IKEA Lille, France

Every country has their own version of IKEA breakfast - Austria has the most content - smoked salmon, 2 slices ham, 2 slices cheese, 2 bread rolls, butter and jam packets for Euros1.95 while France is Euro 1.00 with a croissant, orange juice and coffee only.

Swedish meatballs with Fries Euro 1.95

In France, they have a promotion for their signature dish - swedish meat balls and fries - reduced price at certain hours in the morning and afternoon.  So if you want your meatballs meal price reduced by Euros 2, the time to come for lunch is between 11 and 12 noon or between 2 and 4 pm.

We like IKEA Lille, France better because they have free internet for 20 minutes which actually is free wifi unlimited since 20 minutes is never enforced.  IKEA locations in Austria, Germany and Netherlands do not have free wifi.

Euro 1.00 breakfast at IKEA Gent, Belgium

Motorhome, RV, Camper Friendly Dunkerque, France

My husband found from motorhomers' forums two free camper parking in Dunkerque. We went to the first but because there were about 5 static caravans with children and about 6 men clustered, talking, we thought they were Romanians, we left to check out the 2nd free camper parking hoping to find a more peaceful and quieter surroundings.

It was a very pleasant surprise - this free camper parking is huge with two sections with a total of about 40 parking spaces, just steps to the sea, there is free water, a shower and free washroom/toilette on the sea walk/promenade. We were happy campers.

Our first try with Free Wifi from this location (we were given a log-in and password by a friend from Paris) was unsuccessful so to use the internet we had to go to McDonalds which was about 3 kms. On the third day of trying with Free Wifi, we connected and so we enjoyed all our needs and wants all from one location everyday.

Dunkerque is (also spelled Dunkirk) a stress free city, camper friendly, beautiful with both old and new buildings and condos and the sea is beautiful, the sea walk/promenade which was several kilometers long was very clean. Fresh seafood is cheap and parking is free near the fresh fish market.

The sunset was great, changing colors as the sun fades, from several hues of purple to several hues of orange and finally to an exquisite deep red orange.

One more thing we liked was the fact that Policie do a lot of roving in our free parking site; we see them several times a day in their police car.

Mackerel was an unbelievable Euros 4 for two kgs. one day and because I still have fish marinated in vinegar, I did not buy. The next day it was Euros 3 per kg. and because I thought it is still very cheap and besides I did not need two kilograms of mackerel, I bought 1 kg and another half kg. of an unnamed fish which was very fresh and white priced at Euros 6 per kg. The unnamed fish was indeed fresh and delicious and the mackerel as always was very good.  A few days ago, mackerel was Euros 9 per kilogram in Oostende, Belgium.  From E.Leclerc my husband bought already cooked big shrimps at Euros 9 per kilogram, which was also very cheap from our experience in our already 4 months rving this year in Europe.

We liked Dunkerque so much we did not want to leave, but we had to move on and see other places. It is the first town/city/commune where everything we needed and wanted was all in there in our free camper parking. We stayed 6 nights.

We Liked Bruges, Belgium - UNESCO World Heritage Site

The whole city centrum of Bruges, Belgium is UNESCO World Heritage Site. That means all the buildings in the city center is included in this prestigious recognition.  It is quite impressive so we decided to visit this city.

We were not disappointed, the city is quite beautiful especially at night with the dramatic and romantic effect of lights.   We drove through the city twice during the day, and once at night which we were fortunate to be able to park very near the church and the most important buildings.  By experience, we learned that visiting towns and cities at night is when parking is available and free.  Free parking usually starts at 7pm.

Lindt chocolate was my favorite.  Now I am converted - Belgian it is.  I bought one small box for Euros 7.25.  Super creamy and delicious.

For wild campers/RVers, free parking just outside the city center is so many, there is always available parking whenever we went.  We did not see signs not allowing campers to park or stay the night.  Bruges is camper/rv/motorhome friendly city.

Wherever we park, open internet connections are available.  We enjoyed internet the whole time we were there.

My husband found the new bike in Bruges he was looking for - priced below Euros 100 - his budget.  He got it from Carrefour Saint Kruis.

I went shopping, first time, for some clothes and blouses. They were nicely priced too at Carrefour.

We enjoyed Bruges so much, we stayed 4 nights.

Weeds While in Netherlands?

I was doing my laundry in Vlissingen, Netherlands and while waiting I chatted an older lady who was doing her laundry too.  She told me her life story, where she came from, how and when she started living in Netherlands, her opinion of Netherlands and the Dutch people and her business.

She is a shop owner, three shops in all, where she sells weeds = marijuana - legally.  I asked her how much and this is what she told me:

1 roll Euros 3.50 or 4.00
1 package Euros 8 (makes 3 rolls)

Did we buy and had fun?  Nope!

Laundry for up to 7 kgs is Euros 4.00
Dryer Euros 2.00 just enough minutes to dry my one load

Getting Sick While Travelling

My husband and I were on a Mexican Riviera cruise in 2009 when I got sick.  I was with colds and coughs and one morning, I woke up with a very bad asthma attack and I asked my husband to bring me to the ship's doctor.  I was seen by the resident doctor immediately, x-ray was taken, some more test were done and I was diagnosed with COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.  I was given oxygen and a bed.  More tests were taken and when the doctor was confident that my oxygen level was close to normal, one hour later, he released me from his care with antibiotics and Ventolin puff.  He emphasized this instruction that I should go the the ER immediately  (hospital ER on land) if I had another bout of breathing difficulty.  This happened on the morning of our last day on the cruise ship which means it was check-out time.  We were actually hurriedly delivered to the customs check-out area, I on a wheel chair, Customs Officer waiting, we were his last clients from the ship.  Our bill from the ship's hospital was US$500 plus.

This month here in Europe was my second experience being sick while away from home.  My whole right arm was painful day and night for a few days already and one morning, I had a severe spasm on my neck and I can't get up from bed.  I was already taking paracetamol for my painful arm but we knew we needed the right medicine for me to get better.  We went to a pharmacy in Middelburg, Netherlands and explained my medical problem and asked for the right medicine for stiff neck.  She can't give me anything other than paracetamol and suggested we see a doctor whose office was nearby.  We went and ask at the reception to see the doctor.  We were told he has a full schedule but he can see me tomorrow.  We agreed and so I was seen by the doctor and was given strong meds which was obviously highly regulated.  The pharmacist needed to ask for my full name and address and record it on her computer before she sold us the drugs.  We spent Euros 25 doctor's fee and Euros 25 for 10 days of medication for a grand total of Euros 50.  Huge but pleasant surprise was the price of paracetamol - 50 pcs. 500 mg. is only Euros 0.95.

It was funny though because I was happy to be given a "pain-killer med" which some people are addicted to so I was waiting for the "addictive effect" which I expected to be all positive meaning a "high" or a generally happy feeling.  Nothing of the sort happened.  I slowly got better though.

Help from Stangers in Europe

Europeans are kind and helpful when a foreigner/tourist needs help, an observation derived from first hand experiences while we we RVing this year in Europe.

The first time we were helped was in Austria when we were out of LPG and our GPS led us to a place where no LPG station existed as confirmed by a man whom my husband approached to ask.  He told us to follow him in his car which we did and he brought us to the right place which unfortunately is out of a proper gasket to make the LPG tank work so he called another shop to confirm we can be helped there.  He gave us the adress and so we went and finally we were able to buy an LPG tank and a fitting.

The next was when we were out again of LPG in France.  We went to a lot of shops and gasoline stations but they would not accept our tank from Italy and Austria.  So we were ready to again put a deposit on a new tank to be able to have LPG.  Now, the problem is communication.  The lady cashier does not speak nor understand English.  A gentleman behind my husband helped with the translation and offered to take us to where we can buy LPG and make a deposit on a tank/bottle.  We drove not quite a short distance, he even got out of his car to talk to the cashier to discuss our requirement.  He left only when  he was sure we were fine with the purchase.

The third time was when I needed a pharmacy to buy something for my painful arm but it was a Sunday and the pharmacy was closed.  A gentleman noticed we were having a problem and approached us in our camper.  We told him what we needed and he told us where to go to buy the med which was a gasoline station which he said sells paracetamol.  He changed his mind later, got into his car and asked us to follow him.  Once we were at the gasoline station, he even got out of his car to accompany my husband inside to make sure the shop has the med, only then he left.

We have good experiences aside from the above examples like people smiling at us, talking to us, waving at us which are small things but means a lot when one is a stranger in Europe.

Veere, Netherlands is the Best

One of my previous post mentioned RVers who are free or wild campers' needs such as a free and safe place to park for the night, WC for water closet = washroom = toilet, free wifi, water and not to mention food and diesel.

We have been reading conflicting feedback from motorhomers' forums about whether or not free camping is allowed in Netherlands.  One night we were approaced by two police officers who informed us in Middelburg there is s fine of Euros170 for parking in areas not designated for campers.  They were kind enough to point us where to go to sleep and park for free for the night.

We visited Veere one day out of our more than one week stay in Middelburg.  In huge parking lot by the marina which they signposted as GRATIS, we were accompanied already late at night by two motorhomes.  My husband ask both the gentlemen of the motorhomes if they are staying the night and they said they would.  We were not really confident but took the risk and stayed the night.  There was no ticket the following morning, hallelujah.

The town center provides free wifi and where we were parked exactly, there is free wifi despite being not in the center of town.  There is also a clean WC for 20 cents per use, which is the cheapest so far in our experience here in Europe.

Veere, Netherlands is now our favorite town.  We went back another day and slept there again with no ticket the following morning.

Dams, Dikes, Bridges and Barriers in Netherlands

We liked Netherlands after all.  At first we thought we would pass by quickly through Netherlands to Belgium and finally to France where we enjoyed our almost month-long RVing in June this year.

We visited Groningen and liked the old buildings and the cheap breakfast at IKEA.  We then drove  past Amsterdam because we had been there twice.  We were not in a hurry though and stopped at a beach which GPS showed to be interesting, so we made a detour and  found Brouwersdam beach and it's gigantic parking spaces.  We were amazed - there were a lot of RVs parked vertically or horizontally along the beach seemingly not concerned about occupying too much space.  It was a very pleasant place to park because everyone seems to be having a good time swimming, watching the sunset, just relaxing and at about 10pm there was about fifty hook and line fishermen in a row in an opening from the other side of the dam.  We watched most of them caught one of two salmon, we guessed.  We hang out till about 12 midnight then we went to a small village of Scharendijke and park there to spend the night.

 

We started liking Netherlands and reading about the country.  We learned that 25 percent of their land is below sea level and 50 percent is just 1 meter above sea level.  We read about Delta Works which is a series of dams, bridges and barriers designed to protect their country from flooding.  Due to global warming, should the North Sea rise, these Delta Works should be able to protect them, at least this century, their government said.  I  then, admired the Dutch people for their resilience and tenacity to fight the nature as best they can and their being able to be a rich country despite this huge challenge.

We drove to Middelburg where by stroke of good luck, we where pointed to where to park legally at night for free by a policeman, so we made Middelburg our homebase.   We visited neighboring villages/town mostly along the coast like Vlissingen, Westkapelle and Veere.  Some more towns we visited are Oostkapelle, Zoutelande and Biggerkerke, Goes, and Krabbendijke..

Coming to Middelburg, we crossed Dammenweg, Brouwersdam and Pijlerdam.  We became very impressed with Netherlands.  So we decided before leaving Zeeland, we might as well cross the other dams/briges/barriers.  One sunny day we did - we crossed Zealandbrug, Rijksweg, Philipsdam and finally Oesterdam (Oyster Dam) which is the longest dam with a length of 11 kms.

We have a huge respect and admiration for the Dutch people and even ourselves were surprised, we like Netherlands.

Encounters with Police In Europe

We did our first European tour of Europe in an RV in 2007.  We had two encounters with law enforcement agencies - one with two traffic policemen in Czech Republic and the second with Douane in Germany (Customs).

We were driving towards a mall early morning when these two policemen came out from their hiding place.  We were signaled to stop so we did.  We were informed our violation was that our headlights was not on.  We were told if they wrote the ticket the fee would  be over Euros100 or something but they can settle for half.  We told them we only have Cad$20 and even showed them my husbands wallet.  Of course we have more money with me but we know how to get out of this situation having learned from the same experiences while living in the the Philippines.  The two parties did some haggling but eventualy the two policemen accepted the money and so we went to the mall.  In the mall's food shops level, we saw them about to spend our money for their breakfast.  How similar is this to the Philippines? It's so funny.

Second and last encounter in 2007, out of 5 months of being on the road in Europe - we were getting out of a parking space when a Duane car pulled us over.  We stopped, they approached and asked for our passports.  We showed them and we were sent on our way.

This year, we also have two encounters so far - out of 3.5 months of RVing.

First was in Kiel, Germany.  My husband was taking an afternoon nap and I was in the driver's seat, deeply engrossed solving a sudoku puzzle, totally oblivious to my surroundings.  I did not notice when the police car stopped right in front of our camper.  I looked up for no apparent reason and saw two policemen, inside the police car, smiling, obviously they found something funny or amusing.  I recognized their presence by looking at them and showed them my sudoku book cover.  They nodded their heads still smiling.  I wanted to ask them, what's wrong or what's funny, but I decided to wait for them to tell me.  Still both smiling, they signaled me to move on.  I confirmed my understanding of what they wanted by signaling back.  They nodded in agreement and so I showed them I understood and they left.  We left that parking spot and went to the mall.

Second encounter -  We parked and slept in a Mcdonalds parking space on our first night in Middelburg, Netherlands.   On our second night, at around 11pm, we were ready to go to bed when a police car drove past us then came back.  One policeman and one young policewoman approached the passenger seat where I was at combing my hair.  I opened the door and we were asked if we intend to sleep right there.  We said yes and asked if it was ok.  He said no and there's a fine of Euros170 if we did and it would be a very expensive sleep for us.  My husband asked where we can park for the night.  They pointed the locations on the map which my husband provided - there were three options which they said we  can park and sleep for free.  We went to the nearest one and once we were parked, the police car drove past and signaled "ok" with his thumbs up.  For over a week, we kept coming back to that location to free camp.

Seaside parking in Kiel, Germany

Train Station Middelburg, Netherlands

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Stress Free and Relaxing Free Camping

We like towns and cities where we can park for free and where we can open our windows and door to get air circulation going in our small home and it would seem ok to do so.

We would also like to enjoy fresh air (sea air preferably) and beautiful views of the sea or mountains or both.

We also need internet connection preferably free wifi.  Paid internet connection is Euros 20 per day which we do not like to pay.

RVers also need to use public washrooms to avoid using our RV's toilet for number two.


So after filling our tanks with diesel and water from gasoline stations and hoarding as much food as our very small refrigerator can take (we have plenty of cupboard/cabinet space for canned goods), we are set to go and find the perfect free camping spot.


We have learned that it is not possible to get all our needs in one spot.  We are happy to travel back and forth between two places to satisfy our needs.

 For example:  In Kiel, Germany, we strongly like the view of the Baltic Sea, the fresh air, the free parking right there on the sea wall and marina and the seemingly friendly people of Kiel.  We slept there 6 nights and for our internet and washroom facilities, we travel about 6 kms each way to the CittiPark Mall everyday and at the end of the day, we go back to our favorite spot with sea view and spend the night.  We liked Kiel so much, we stayed there 6 nights which was our longest stay in any town/city ever, so far.

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Europe Part 1 - Four Thousand Kms. In Two Months

June 25, 2011 marked our second month RVing in Europe.  My husband and I started our journey in Gazoldo degli Ippolitti, Mantova, Italy on April 25 and to complete our Europe Part 1, we decided to go back before heading on to Europe Part 2.  We spent a few days in my niece's home and on July 1, we left again with a determination to see Scandinavian countries.

We have travelled 4014 kms in two months, visiting the many communes, towns and cities of Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany and France.  We have seen several world famous lakes and rivers and the deep blue seas of the Mediterranean in the French and Italian rivieras.

As RVers, our primary concern is our personal safety due to the fact that we are free or wild campers.   Going to private campsites would cost us Euros600 easily per month and to avoid this cost, a lot of long time RVers, as per my research, choose to not pay and go wild camping.  As wild campers, we have parked and slept in different sorts of places like mall parking lot, McDonalds parking, street parking and big supermarkets parking like ELeclerc, Casino, Carrefour and Auchan.  We are glad to report that we were safe the whole time, no incidents of break-in whatsoever.

It was a beautiful and wonderful two months RVing experience in Europe.

Free Camping Five Best Spots - French and Italian Riviera

Bandol, France is one of my favorites.  Our parking is right beside a park where the senior citizens of Bandol play the popular sport called Petanque and where the flea market is set up once a week, which is right beside the marina and is just on the right of the main street's restaurants and shops.    We stayed 3 nights.  GPS 43.13334 5.75185

Outside of the town of Saint-Maxime is a restaurant called Mario Plage.  We think the parking lot beside the sea is for the customers of the restaurants but when we arrived at around 9pm the restaurant is already closed so we thought we can park for the night and leave in the morning.  We stayed one night.  GPS 43.31783 6.66591

After leaving our parking spot in Mario Plage early morning, we drove a short distance and found this huge parking at a commune of Saint-Maxime called Les Issambres.  We stayed here all day and found the place to be very relaxing and we felt we can stay there a long time and nobody would bother us.  We saw two men who set up a tent and hammock in a not very well hidden spot in the bushes/woods.  GPS 43.36172 6.71593

  
Next is a commune of Saint-Raphael called Agay.  We left a McDonalds location around 1130pm because we did not felt safe there so we drove and found this very well lighted street parking across from a hotel with no sign of business (doesn't look like a haunted place though).  We stayed one night GPS 43.42683 6.87630

Our last favorite came unexpectedly.  We have given up on the Italian Riviera because every towns and cities have NO PARKING sign for campers - then came this parking right beside the sea, our closest to the sea parking ever.  On the entrance of the parking grassy lot is a machine meant to collect parking payments but when we came it was not functional.  My husband talked to people from another camper and they informed him they have not paid any amount of money for their 5 nights stay mainly due to the machine being out of order.  The town is called Noli. We stayed one night here.  GPS 44.21582 8.41602


We have an idea of staying "forever" in France in these free camping spots, moving from one spot to the other, enjoying the beauty of nature and living happily ever after.