Europe - Trip 5

Day 4 - February 7, 2002

Windmills catching the brisk breeze at Lauwersoog

This morning we got up early and caught the 8 AM bus to Lauwersoog (used to be an island we guess given the “oog”) and then the ferry to Schiermonnikoog a Frisian island almost directly north of Groningen. It is mostly a summer vacation spot with huge beaches, so with the gorgeous seasonal weather we figured that no one would be there now.

The famous lighthouse of Schiermonnikoog

This was actually part of the atraction of doing a European trip during the dead of winter - no other annoying tourists, so you catch the locals off guard and they are much more friendly. Rather than being the 500th tourist to flub the pronunciation of kaas, brood and thee, we get to be the first of the day and be more quaint for it. Seemed to work most of the time.

Sue posing for a pic on a road of shells

The arrival on the island was pleasant enough and we found a place to stay, promptly rented 2 bikes to tool around the island on. The island was mostly one big sandbar/dune laid over a dark clay base with a surprising variety of landscape and a lovely little town on the west end and more rugged end. We spent the day looking around the island, walking on the beach, taking pictures of the sites, buying lunch and freezing our asses off in the moist, cold blasting wind.

This is another water tower. Really.

We stopped once at the grand old hotel for a beverage before heading out again, finding more sights and enjoying the air. Finally giving up once it got dark, we stopped at a pub where we sat, drank Murphy’s Red and playing some cribbage (the gift from Darla was definitely coming in handy). We stayed in, warm and dry for a couple of hours before trying to get pix of the lighthouse at night – no luck, the digital camera, fabulous though it is, actually has some limitations. A stop at the Italian pizza place for dinner and we headed off to bed the 18th century hotel/B&B.

Not much rain to start, but lots of wind, then lots of rain with the wind and then lots of rain with rain and wind.