Julia and Monty Go Euro

Euro 2001 on holiday in the Netherlands.

On 8th September we set out for two weeks' holiday which was to include Euro 2001 at Six Flags, which we had enjoyed in 2000. This year we were disappointed, as we had rain for the week beforehand. We arrived at the Six Flags on Friday morning to see what was going on. There were several people there and we spoke to a Philippe from Poland, who we met last year. We are hoping to get to go to his split-screen show in 2002. After a few hours we left Six Flags.

Julia beside their bug "Bertie"

On Saturday we arrived at Six Flags at 9am to be parked in the wet field in the centre of the venue. I had purchased a pair of wellingtons. Was I glad of them! Splashing and wading around we met up with Mat, Max, Julian friends. We had our lunch, then parted company.

We had a look around the stalls and decided that we get a try to drive out the field while we still could. We had no trouble at all, are Beetle has never let us down.

VW Euro 2001, washout

On Sunday we had to park in the same field and had no trouble apart from the mud (see photograph left).

We saw several people who were disappointed at Euro 2001 and have decided they won't be going again next year. We decided that while we were in Holland we would motor on into Germany and Wolfsburg.

We set off on Tuesday morning and arrived about 1:30pm. We managed to find the main factory and Autostadt. We paid to go in to the Autostadt and found we could have a free trip round the assembly line.

When that time came we boarded the very smart Bus and began the tour (which was all in German). We went along the roads of the plant and suddenly turned right into the factory building. We went up and down the assembly line when they were making Golfs, Boras and Passats. We were told that the cars can be customised to the customers requirements, there are 33,000 different items that can be used. These modifications are done as the car is on the production line.

The towers at Autostadt

After we'd left the bus Monty went out to the gentleman who had been our host and thanked him for the tour and told him we hadn't understood him! He was extremely sorry and gave us a nice material bag each with a book and VW clip inside. We went back to the Autostadt and had a look around a small part of it.

We found a photocopy machine where we printed a copy of our red Beetle with the parts would like on it.

By 7:30pm we thought we better make our way back to Dronten. After stopping at 2 service stations we were very glad to arrive back at the farm at 3.30 am. Our host had left the door unlocked, the light on and we made ourselves a hot drink and went to bed. We were up again at 8:30am for breakfast!

For the rest of the holiday we stayed in the local area. We really enjoyed it despite the weather, try nipping over to Holland for Euro 2002 you might enjoy it!.

Julia & Monty