tour beginnings

July 21, 2007; 11:15 a.m.

on the tour now, crossing the English Channel on the ferry. before you get on the ferry you have to go through customs, so i got a french stamp. while on the ferry you have to get out of your car and go upstairs to one of three very nice levels. they have several food choices, including a breakfast buffet, bars, an arcade, slot machines, stores, and comfy chairs to lounge in. i can see the white cliffs of Dover ... they are nice, but not as spectacular as they make them out to be. it's raining and cloudy, of course. :-)

the tour so far is good. nice driver and guide. driver is Dutch, the guide is Welsh. our group consists mostly of Americans, but also Aussies, New Zealand, Britain, Brazil, Paraguay, and one girl who lives in the States but is from Iran. my roommate is a girl from Maryland. she's a bit odd, 25, and is supposedly a structural engineer. by talking to her you wouldn't believe it though. we saw the Dover Castle from the road. and from England, on a clear day, you can see France ... though it's cloudy, we could see a little of it.

2:20 p.m.
people are sleeping. i don't understand how you can drive through a new place, a beautiful place, and sleep all the way through it. but whatever. we're driving through Belgium on our way to Holland. it's quite flat, green, lots of trees, cows, brick houses, and when passing cities you can see lots of steeples. i wish we could stop.

no windmills yet, but we passed quickly by a huge field of colorful flowers. tulips, maybe? oh, McDonald's is everywhere, driving is 'normal', and there are tour buses all the time.