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27/7 - 31/7 2004  DIARY  1

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Seemed I deserve a little vacation to relax. Am not good at just relaxing, so I decide to take a little trip down through Germany, and a bit into the Netherlands. Spending a good deal of time, figuring out which places are worth visiting, where they are and whether they have time for me. The main target is nurseries and botanical gardens.
27. Up at 7am, after 6 hours of sleep. Not the ideal way to start a drive for just over 900 kilometres, but I have appointments to be reached. Quickly find out, the fateful rumble from the right front wheel bearing, can be overdone with the radio.

Quiet and quiet down over Zealand and Falster. Reached the ferry an hour before sceduled, but it's nice to have some elastic. Almost gets the tailgate in my back, and sails before I reach the cafeteria. Through a Germany that is completely similar to Denmark, the sun is promoting most of the trip. There are just a few wind-tears at noon - as I pass Reinstatd!

Gas the car and drinks a cup of coffee, as I turn off towards Bielefeld. Also find an ATM, it's so embarrassing when you have no cash and they don't take Visa. The town is called Herford, but there are no cows. Petrol is more expensive than in Denmark (9.26 versus 7.93), and I only drive 14 a litre. Incidentally, runs by GPS, so great! Don't worry about road signs or distances. A voice tells me when to turn and I can see how far to the next turn and next stop. Of course, can be a little depressing when standing 426 kilometres for the next turn, with the overall impression being a really relaxed drive.

Reach Mbuyu half an hour before calculated. He is home and apologizes once again, he does not have so much at home, he is building a new greenhouse. He has nothing to apologize for, here are about 150 different species, and only caudiciforms! Here are even the two species, that I bought in expensive over the Internet. The expensive was not really the plants, with the minimum order, both times being 500 kroner in transport. I make a lot of photos of flowers and nine species, I have otherwise borrowed photos of. Buying two plants; one for myself and one for an acquaintance. Only 8 euros, not enough to justify the visit, but he takes it very nicely.

Before I drive, we are just down and look at the new house. The foundation and floor are ready for 100 square meters more. They should be ready for next spring. Suddenly two and a half hours have passed, and I have to move on. Cross the Dutch border at seven o'clock, grab a gordon bleu half past eight, and then I have to find my hotel in Rijnsburg.

Out on the road again, and then there is a queue. We snail off for the next 15 kilometres, it takes an hour and a half! So it doesn't do good things on my tight schedule. Landing at Pension Witte at eleven, a small and cosy pension, where not much has been done in the last 100 years.

Loading photos onto the PC. Have borrowed an unusually cool digital SLR camera from my exceptionally good friend Jesper. He had had his new toy for two, consecutive days, before I "nationalized" it. I only took 125 photos, but it takes time to sort and name them. As the local church is ringing midnight, I stop. The pictures are sorted and named, now they just have to be the right size and put in the right pages. It must be when I get home, after all, today's 900 kilometres have left its mark.
                 The tour continues in Diary 2

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