Holland l&I 2023(ex Militracks)

[sunday]

You mean we could not politely ask for a Sd.Kfz. 9 Famo to be our transport?

Curses! Foiled again!

Jokes apart, I think Leo offered himself to rent a van.

[DB]

So, I've booked 18th to 25th and I'll be flying in - the only reasonable train price required me to be in London for a 6:16 am departure, which means *an hour or more earlier than that*. The extra day is "just because".

 

Also - the Easyjet website is an absolute minefield for over-booking stuff.

[sunday]

Seems most people will be there 19th in the early/mid morning, so perhaps we could made the Dutch military museum visit a whole day event...

[Markus Becker]

On 4/22/2023 at 2:17 PM, sunday said:

Jokes apart, I think Leo offered himself to rent a van.

Any comments Leo? 

Now that I arrive and depart solo I could risk taking the train. 

[Leo Niehorster]

I did indeed offer to rent a van. But people say they are bringing their cars. So I am at a loss. Let's establish how many "motorized seats" are available on which days. Then we can decide if one van (7 seats) is enough for all of us. Or if it is really necessary. If people want to bring cars, who am I to object?

[sunday]

Only car that would come for sure is Bjorn's, if Markus come by rail, unless someone shared information in Facebook and not here, IMHO.

[sunday]

There is a Whatsapp group set. Some phone numbers are missing, however.

We found a kinda cheap solution for car renting.

Edited April 27, 2023 by sunday

[urbanoid]

Do we have anything planned for the 24th?

[Harold Jones]

4 minutes ago, urbanoid said:

Do we have anything planned for the 24th?

For some of us that is departure day. I'm sure those staying longer are open to suggestions, if nothing else I suspect there will be plenty of things to justify another day in Amsterdam.

[Markus Becker]

Trying to get home. We planned with the 23rd as last day(in Amsterdam)

Depending on the chaos at work I might have another day but I would not count on it. 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Markus Becker

[urbanoid]

I'm just wondering which return flight on the 24th should I choose. Most are in the morning and those would be preferable if we don't have anything planned. It's either the morning or 8 pm.

[Markus Becker]

Plan for the morning and join the WhatsApp Group. 

[sunday]

Nice channel on what to do in Militracks

 

[Harold Jones]

Should we start a pool for the total number of Goliaths seen this trip?

[DB]

I'll go with 3.

[Harold Jones]

Solid guess, I suppose we should include all three remotely operated demolition tanks:  Goliath (Sd.Kfz. 302/303a/303b), Springer (Sd.Kfz. 304) and the Borgward IV (Sd.Kfz. 301)

[sunday]

Put me for 2.

[Markus Becker]

Pre I&I: Advance into Holland 

 

Matt's flight was late. Leo's train was late, I missed mine. No idea if Jose was late too but he ended up in an entirely different hotel. 

 

Once arrived Matt and I did foot patrols to recon the area: nothing culinary within walking distance. 

 

When Leo arrived we met up at the bar, after a few beers were joined by Dave, who was delayed in EU passport control. 

 

Onwards to the hotel restaurant of the Bastion for food and many more beers. Btw, Bastion and Best Western are the same, just in two buildings next to each other.

 

[BansheeOne]

Sounds like an entirely normal I&I start. 😁

Have fun!

[Markus Becker]

Friday. Day 1: 

 

After seven large beers on the previous evening I remembered -well was reminded- I had forgotten Aspirin*. Plenty of water, coffee from Mac D and time did the trick eventually. 

 

Harold arrived in the meantime and soon enough Jose and Leo arrived with the cars. 

 

The trip to Soesterberg on 4-5 lane highways was uneventful. 

 

The museum complex -old airfield, still used by gliders- had stuff from 1568(and before) until now. They offered rides on various military vehicles but we agreed that one should not have to pay for that but the other way round. 

 

On the way home we stopped at a supermarket to stock up on among other things beer, while Harold, Leo and Dave hurried back to the hotel bar. Only to find out it doesn't open before six. 

 

Here we are again in the Bastion restaurant, after being at the Best Western bar. 

 

 

* found an Aspirin Direct in my backpack this afternoon. 

 

PS: Dave is rising to the defense of not ice cold English 🍺.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Markus Becker

[Allan W]

Hey Markus, Lisa recommends you try Oranjeboom beer. When in Holland…

[Markus Becker]

Saturday Day-2:

We decided to depart at 9 to arrive around 10:30. The usual delay and wo or three confusions on the Amsterdam ring highway with it's many exists and we were at an ETA of 11. Björn arrived on at at 10:30 exactly as previously planned: Bloody efficient Germanz!

So far so good until we reached the outskirts of Overloon and ran into The Mother Of All Traffic Jams: one klick out and Just A Lot Of Standstill.

Someone decided to abandon the Jose mobile and go the last 1000m by foot, saving himself about an hour.

Near the entrance we the model tanks with fantastic sound effects and in some occasions Barbie on board. Would have never taken her for a German tanker but she's a woman of many talents. She was riding the Bergepanzer Panther shotgun and her brunette self command the M3 Lee. No model Goliath but the model builder though the idea was fun. You'd obviously control it by cable like IRL.

Right behind was a Bailey bride like structure overlooking the ring while the exclusively German vehicles were run.

Most important first: No way to hitch a ride on some of the many SdKfz and Kettenkrad, plus the other old-timers: Stug, Nashorn, Looraine Schlepper and Flak - Hetzer being the highlights. But the lines were just way too long. The militaria market in front of the museum was a beehive.

The museum itself was unusual. No Goliath, no T - Gewehr but a gigantic landing craft/truck Franken thing with 1500 kilo wheels more than 2 meters in diameter.

Off to lunch we went to a place just 10 minutes away where the owner was surprised we made it there. Leo was impressed with one of the waitresses and even more so with the desert. Björn (Driver) was very impressed by the taste of the alcohol free Afflingen Blond. Only when he ordered the second it was noticed that there were two blondes of that name on the menu and he got actual one, not the inferior copy.

At the hotel Sunday, Urbanoid, Björn and me continued talk and drink until closeup.

 

PS: Special thanks to autocorrect for additional entertainment value. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Markus Becker

[Markus Becker]

Day 3: Arnheim

I was riding shotgun in Björn's car. Not one turn missed and time for some chatting. He had been called by some Dutch number the day before that didn't pick up when he called back. It was his hotel wondering why he had not checked in. They than canceled his reservation and when he arrived rented him a room at a higher price.

Fun stated on the parking lot.

The machine to pay the fare was fully digital, the screen was sometimes very sensitive, sometimes unresponsive, in Dutch only, not that well lit. And outside in the sun.

The one at the other exit was all that and had some misaligned letters. The fun of putting in the license plate number became "an experience". 

After a brief visit at the small bridge museum we made our way to the local war museum. Slightly complicated by a bicycle race happening the same day. 

The private museum was stuffed full of stuff. Walls and walls of firearms, ammo, uniforms, propaganda posters and often not labeled or mislabeled. Nice stuff for nerding out. 

Next up late lunch at the Indonesian restaurant. It is located in an ex military hospital complex, part of which is a retirement home for veterans. 

The restaurant itself was 'a bit posh'. Pretty much everyone was dressed up in their Sunday best, except for us seven. 

One very good rice plate later we planned to go the the airborne museum at Oosterbeck. Leo, Dave and Harold skipped it as the ETA was half an hour before they closed. They went to the war cemetery and than to the hotel bar. Stay hydrated. 

Björn and I explored the museum outside -because 15€ for 30 minutes means No-. They had a few 17 pounders with various degrees of battle damage and a Sherman with odd add on armor. 

After going to the cemetery it was end I&I for Björn who drove home after having very much enjoyed the two days.  

Our return trip ran into an accident just short of the hotel. The delay troubled the team hotel bar because they were looking for dinner (not that long after a BIG lunch). 

After dinner we headed back to the bar for beer and when they closed for more in Matt's room. But just a few. The stuff I had left was sub standard in quality, his was Belgian. So Belgian my bottle wasn't finished. No idea what happened to his even more Belgian bottle. 

 

 

[Markus Becker]

Day 5: Amsterdam

The day started with a theft. Someone nicked my 'do not disturb' sign. A new one was gifted by Jose. Before we went to Schiphol I had to go places and let's say they could have put the deodorant dispenser somewhere else or at least changed the point of aim. Suddenly being sprayed on the head when you close the door is unpleasant. 

We made it to the Reichs-Museum without incident...just four hours before we could get in. At least making a reservation online was an easy process. 

Off to the canal tour. OFC on the booze free boat. The stuff they had would have even knocked out Urbanoid/Matt. Possibly by his cigarette setting off the alcohol fumes of the liquors. 

Being well behaved and responsible we restricted ourselves to low order drinks at a lunch place with a restroom that was most spacious but only by the standards of conventional submarines. Food, drink and waitresses were rather good though. So much that we gathered there after OD-ing on mostly art in the museum. Not many guns in that place. They also had a display of historic ladies underwear but that was quite redundant given the sate of (un)dress of not some of the female visitors. 

A bit of hydration later most of us had Indian/Nepalese for dinner before heading back to the hotel bar. Leo skipped the museum(for a coffee shop?) and was back at the hotel (bar) well before us. We still managed to get a beer or two before they closed up. When than ended my supply of "Shutters". Correctly referred to as Shitters by Dave. FVI: Hertog Jan is the stuff to get. 

 

PS: Next up Day 4 in Den Helder. 

[sunday]

17 minutes ago, Markus Becker said:

Reichs-Museum

Ahem... Not yet, anyway!

On the cruise boat I met a very nice Virginian lady that was a descendant of, in her words, the man that started the American Civil War. She was not proud of him, to say the least. As she was sitting in the non-glazed section of the boat, we kept talking every time there was something to take a pic of.

Edited May 25, 2023 by sunday