Friday- Leaving London & a Ferry boat ride.

 We left our Hotel at 4:30 a.m. Ruth had made an Uber car pickup arrangement the night before, and it was a relief to see him waiting outside the door at what seemed like the middle of the night! Although we had contemplated several different types of transportation to the train station, the Uber seemed the most practical (and  the most reasonable) solution. The underground was several blocks from the Hotel, and although we had walked it plenty in our days there, in the dark at that time of morning and toting 2 suitcases apiece plus our hand luggage, it seemed a bit much!! It's nice to have someone else manhandle the luggage and deal with the directions.
Although it seems like the city never sleeps, it was pretty quiet yet that time of morning.

The streets of London are so amazing. Crazy! They go every which way, and it's pretty impossible to tell which direction you are headed. They curve around back & forth and at times you feel like you are simply going in circles.  We were told on our tour bus that at one time the city had contemplated re-doing the layout of the city streets, as so many are also very narrow & go every which way. It made it very difficult to deal with fires and other accidents. The streets were very old, laid out before all the automobile traffic.  Ultimately it was decided not to change, as it would have been such a huge time and expense undertaking.  It is pretty amazing to watch the traffic including all the huge tour buses maneuver the crowded winding streets. (It Especially crazy for someone who is used to driving on the right side, rather than the left side of the road!!)   One of the things I missed getting a photo of, but appreciated was the painted words at the crosswalks, "Look right" I found myself being double cautious anytime I crossed the streets!  Not only that, but I'm not sure we ever saw a simple "4 way" street cross!!  Most the streets crossed in the centers,  in several different directions as they were more commonly 6 different streets!

 Anyway--back to our train station.  We arrived plenty early and it was still pretty quiet that time of morning. It was fun to look around, I had never been at that large a station before. 

We were at Liverpool Street Station.

 From the upper arrival area, looking down into the station.

 While we were waiting we saw superman arrive!

 I didn't get a picture of our train, but did get the one next to us and the platform, out of our window after we were seated on ours. Headed across England now (unfortunately still to dark to see the country side) to  Harwich International station , and we'll take the Stena Line Brittanica across to Hoek van Holland.

We felt very fortunate that both trains we were on were pretty empty (at least in our car) and we had all the room we wanted.  No problem with wresting suitcases into upper racks and elbowing people.

We had a very comfortable Ferry ride, about 7 hours.  We were able to check our suitcases so we didn't have to deal with them, and we had a cabin also that although it was a daytime crossing, I was glad to have a place to crash for a 2 hour nap!

All these pictures were taken out our cabin or the Lounge windows, as it was very chilly, damp and windy and although Ruth did venture out on deck to get some pictures, I was a wimp and stayed inside! LOL!

 We spot the beginning of land- our destination!

 This was the most sun we'd seen that day!

So happy to see my little Dutch baby again-- we were both at the end of a long day of traveling & look rather frazzled.

Once again Laura and Frederik (and Maylia) came miles from home to meet us when we arrived, rather than us taking a couple trains to get to Borne.  They had planned this with Ruth ahead of time, keeping me in the dark.  

 

 They had made arrangements for us to stay at a Bed &Breakfast in Zeeland, a town about an hour or so away and then a day of sightseeing on Saturday before heading back to Borne

First we found a place to eat in a small nearby town.(Brielle)  I loved this night view of the canal that we parked beside.

 And a little Greek restaurant--Yummy food!

After that we headed to Zeeland for the night--Wish I had photos of the B&B. It's just so different than in the states! On that note, this is all for Friday.  Next post Saturday, a tour of history in the land of water and windmills!