A Partner in Crime

June 4th, 2007

Today I was joined on this epic foolishness by my friend Gerry, who flew into Amsterdam from Singapore a couple of days earlier. We’d arranged the time and place well in advance (thanks Google Maps), and we both managed to find the place – Boxmeer train station – at more-or-less the agreed time. I had quite a frustrating time trying to find a sane route to the station – every time I got onto a decent road leading to Boxmeer, I was foiled by a sign declaring ‘No Bicycles’ – I wound up having to snake my way through dozens of suburban developments (and use a ferry-crossing) in a very round-about way, finally arriving at the station about 30 minutes late. Thankfully Gerry had similar issues, so we both arrived within five minutes of each other. My love affair with Holland’s cycling paths having soured considerably, we were happy to be on our way.

When we decided to call it quits for the day, we found ourselves a campsite at the very aptly named “Camping de Weerd”, then headed into town. We found a beautiful big church – in front of which was a travelling carnival in full swing:

Lots of noise booming out of the various rides and attractions, with the loudest by far being the mighty ‘Body Shake’, parked right in front of the restaurant area – guaranteeing a chat-free mealtime. We couldn’t help noticing that the painted couple featured on the ‘art’ for the ride were more than a little busy:

Ahh, the Dutch – you’ve got to love them. They sure do.