Week four begins and by the end of this blog post we've been on the road for a month! But one by one!

On Saturday, we went first to Suse and Calle. On the recommendation of Niels not 60km directly, but with some detours through a national park. That were some well invested 30km, first through Alkmaar and then along the coast. Definitely nicer than along the street!

And just like Puschel, we flew up and down the dunes and were then very quickly in Voorhout. There, Calle first drove around the block with me (Tilman) to stow the tandem safely in the back garden. And then we chatted so long that plan A for the evening was no longer viable, so we just made plan B. After a beautiful sunset on the beach and the 50-year-old sounds of Voyager 2, I fell asleep (in a bed, pure luxury!) and was deep in a dream before I could realize that Ida had already fallen asleep next to me.

Surprisingly, Saturday was followed by Sunday and we only had one plan for the day: the beach. But unfortunately, the day had a different plan and it rained. The alternative was the Hortus in Leiden. A paradise to photograph and to show off with knowledge about Mexican plants. For Ida, there was a guided tour through the observatory, including the chair where Einstein is said to have sat (the evidence is missing...)

Back home, we watched the Germany-England football final and although they sadly lost, everything was better after the lasagne which was ready by then. And then we let the day slowly end with conversations and port wine.

On Monday, after having breakfast together with Suse, we started, and that was practically it. We drove with our cheesy feet through Gouda and Leerdam with two ferries and finally along the dike to Willem's place where we were allowed to stay overnight via welcome to my garden (wtmg).

Our tent was set up quickly, the rolls from the morning unpacked even faster (which we somehow hadn't eaten during the day), then we also took a shower (that's not part of wtmg either), and finally we fell asleep behind the windmill.

Windmill? Yes, after all, we are in (South) Holland and there are a bunch of windmills there! What you don't see that often anymore and what woke us up on Tuesday were: moving windmills!

After Willem told us that flour was still being ground there, of course we had to take a closer look and we met someone, got a private tour and 2 hours later we would have been ready to grind - if it hadn't been for this annoying bike tour.

Since it was already afternoon and the star watch Haley behind Den Bosch hadn't responded to our numerous attempts to call them, we drove directly to Eindhoven. We didn't do a city tour there and didn't even drive into the city, but directly to the Hovenring, a bicycle roundabout that runs as a bridge over a car crossing.

In the evening, we wanted to go wild camping, or something like that, because there are places in Belgium where this is allowed. Partly with booking via the internet, partly via SMS and partly just like that. But since the first two options only yielded crowded camp sites (after all, the Dutch were on vacation!), we reconsidered. And while we were thinking, we saw someone outside, asked him and of course we were allowed to pitch our tent on his horse pasture. And so we slept one more night in the Netherlands.

On Wednesday, we continued early in the morning, because the day was supposed to be hot and we wanted to cover a few kilometers by noon. We were rewarded straight away: We catched the "golden hour" in the morning.

And then we quickly caught up with our lack of boarders! We crossed the border 17 times! For historical reasons, the Belgian enclave of Baarle-Hertog is built into the Dutch city of Baarle-Nassau, which in turn also has contra enclaves.

With so many borders, there are of course no more border signs, but there is a special city entrance sign (including Puschel).

And then we followed Peter Wackel's recommendation and drove to Malle [translator's note: this refers to an embarrassing German party hit about Majorca which you don't need to know]. From there along the canal, with an ice cream break to Antwerp, where we bridged the heat in the shade in the park and trundled in to Wim and Jenny's in the evening. Two extremely open-minded people who only recently moved back to Belgium from China for work - and before that, they cycled through Asia. After supper, between the conversations, we realized that Peter wasn't right after all, because we had Malle already twice this year [translators' note: ignore that joke].

But we still had plans in Antwerp and therefore, we took the next day off. And so, right after breakfast on Thursday, the local transport adventure started. Of course, you couldn't buy a ticket either at our stop or on the tram, so we first drove 4 stops to Antwerp Central without one.

From there (now with a day ticket, because it costs the same as three single journeys) we continued with what later turned out to be the only train we weren't allowed to take. We convinced the ticket inspector to not give us a fine, but to let us off - one stop before our destination. So we took the tram back for 15 minutes to take the bus in that direction. However, this one had no display of the stops, which is why we paid close attention to whether we could see one of the 3 stops in front of ours. When we got off, 4 stops too late, and walked back, we also learned why we didn't see anything: there was a construction site and therefore a total of 5 stops were skipped! Unfortunately, that was only mentioned at the skipped stops and there were no announcements on the bus either...
However, we finally arrived at our destination: the Urania Planetarium. But not in Potsdam, where Ida worked, but in Antwerp. In advance, they also had a ZKP2 (Zeiss Klein Planetarium), the same model that was in Potsdam 3 months ago! Hilde took the extra time to show us everything on a day when it would otherwise be closed. And so we were taken through the building: through the library, which deals only with astronomy, into the dome, which lies in one half of a church, where the ZKP can be moved up and down on a pedestal and where Canopus, like in Potsdam, wasn't prominently visible. We went further into the observatory tower, where the observatory is located and educational and public relations work is carried out, and finally through the other rooms where exhibitions were held - or during Corona, live streams on various topics were recorded.

Back to town! This time with the right buses and trains. No further incidents, except that the final stop was renamed. Once there, we did what tourists do. But the city was a bit too crowded for us and the church entrance fee of 12€ p.p. was a bit (let's say wayyy) too expensive. And so we were content to have seen the city and drove back quickly because we wanted to cook a Mexican dinner. "Quickly", as we know it from the DB [national railway company of Germany]...

Unfortunately, it was Thursday, and therefore the nearest supermarket was closed (who could have expected that?) and so our day pass paid off with a fourth trip back from the supermarket! And over Chiles en Nogada and an apple strudel from Jenny, we talked again until very late.

On Friday morning, we woke up at 6am, just to say goodbye to Wim who cycled to work. After a short sleep we had breakfast with Jenny and drove off with a heavy heart. So don't be surprised if our next trip goes to the two of them in China! We drove to Mechelen, where the Malinois comes from and where there is an impressive cathedral.

We took a break there and later met my college friend Nico with Jess and Arthur, who had taken a small detour for us on the way from Calais to Frankfurt. After another 40km, we pitched our tent in a garden, just before Ghent. Why were we driving so little, as if we were working towards an appointment? Well, you have to wait for our next blog entry. Until then, Ida will introduce you to the constellation of Scorpio:

First, let's clarify the question: why Scorpio? Well, so far we've asked all people from other planetariums: What's your favorite constellation? And Hilde, from the planetarium in Antwerp, had a good answer ready: the scorpion! She associates it with vacation. It is a beautiful summer constellation. In our latitudes it is usually just on the horizon. However, if you are on holiday in the south, then you can certainly enjoy it with a glass of wine on a mild summer night. :)
There are also several interesting mythologies from the Greek culture about it. And usually a very well-known constellation plays along: Orion. The scorpion was commissioned by different people (depending on the legend) to sting Orion. Sometimes it ends well and sometimes bad for Orion. However, since the two do not get along well in all sagas, they are also on different sides of the starry sky. Scorpio in summer, Orion in winter. If you want more details, I recommend a visit to the legend show at the Urania Planetarium in Potsdam. Interestingly, many other cultures also interpret this constellation as Scorpio. For example the Maya and the Arab world. A star in the constellation "λ-scorpii" or "shaula" is translated into Arabic as "the raised sting".

Well, now go out, look at the stars and we'll see you next week!