Vaccination details, and parked by the river

Around 9:30am we drove over to the small city of Arnhem (pop 160,000). It was only about a 45 minute drive. Our vaccination appointment was for 1:36 pm (yes, exactly!) but we were badly in need of a laundromat and we had found one about 1.5 kms from the vaccination place.

But it was right downtown and we had to find a parking spot for Max!

The roads in the middle of the city are narrow, and most of them are one way streets.

Heading into the center of Arnhem.

Parking might be tough!

But one of the benefits of having a small motorhome is maneuverability. And at only 5.9 meters (just over 19 feet) Max fits into a normal parking spot. Just as we were approaching the laundromat, we came up to an empty spot that I was going to have to parallel park in.

It was a little tight, but no problem!

We were the only ones inside the laundromat. There were two machine that you have to buy tokens from, one that accepted cash, and one if you wanted to pay by card. I tried them both and couldn't get either one to work. Had to call the number and get a girl to come over and she gave us tokens in exchange for cash.

Lots of cash.

I've said before that laundromats are expensive here, and that's if you can find one to begin with.

Two loads washed and dried cost €14 ($20.60 CAD, $16.50 USD). And we had to buy a two hour parking pass as well for €3.50 ($5.15 CAD, $4.15 USD).

While the laundry was going on, Ruth went and found a photocopy place because we had to print off a couple of medical questionnaires that had to be brought with us filled out. That cost €2.20! 

Since parking wasn't that easy, I wondered what parking would be like at the vaccination place. So I walked over there to have a look. And I'm glad I did. They had disabled parking only, so we decided to buy another parking pass and leave Max right where he was and walk over to the clinic.

It was pretty efficient. Mostly young people getting vaccinated, although there were a couple of other people our age. We handed in the medical questionnaire on arrival. Mine mentioned my bee sting allergy and I was sent over to talk to a doctor (who looked like he was about 19 years old) to ask me some questions before being cleared for the procedure.

They were doing both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (called Janssen here in Netherlands) and the Pfizer lineup was probably twice as busy. We had chosen the Janssen vaccine because it is one shot and we would be considered fully vaccinated by July 21st or so. And yes, of course I had done all the research to know that this was approved and acceptable by the Canadian authorities. Up at the counter, we handed over our passports and they found us in the computer. But they could only find Ruth based on her maiden name which had been asked when we made the appointment. It seems that in much of Europe, women maintain their maiden name, or they hyphenate it to include their married name. 

They hand you your vaccination paper, and then you get your shot and then sit and wait for 15 minutes in case you have an adverse reaction. We were both fine.

While sitting there, I was looking at the paper. The certificate part is all in Dutch. We went and asked if it could be done in English, but were told no. This would have saved us the cost and trouble of getting a certified translation because Canadian border requires official translation if the document isn't in French or English. 

Can't they just use Google Translate like everyone else? I mean, I understand why they need the translation because they might be presented with paperwork in any of 150 or more languages. But it's a little ridiculous because there is so little info on it to begin with and it's easy to see where it says your name, your birthdate, the date of vaccination, the product, and the batch number.

So, we'll have to spent the €50 ($73.60 CAD, $59 USD) or so each and get that done before we arrive back in Canada.

It was almost 2:30pm by the time we arrived back at Max. 

I had found a paid RV parking area right in town by the river, but we figured we had spent enough for one day and went to a free spot 4 kms outside of town. When we arrived there, we found the RV spots but there was a sign saying the area had been closed to motorhomes as of April 1st. 

Now that we were in Arnhem, we wanted to see more of it. So rather than driving further away to find another free spot, we bit the bullet and went to the paid spot by the river.

There was one other small motorhome here... exactly the same as the one we had borrowed to RV in Spain and Portugal back in 2017.

They have an odd system to pay the parking fee. You have to download an app, and check in to the spot via the app. Then the system sends you an invoice... next month! It all seems on the honor system to some extent because I never had to put in a credit card number, although you do have to put in your licence plate number. The fee for 24 hours is €9 ($13.25 CAD, $10.60 USD).

It rained on an off late afternoon but it cleared up after dinner and we went for a walk.

Max, parked beside the river in Arnhem.

Impressive church steeple.

Taken from the bridge.

Can you see Max?

I'll zoom in for you.

A little more.

Ruth had a bit of a fever when we went to bed, likely related to the vaccine. She's not quite 100% this morning, and her shoulder is sore where they did the shot. I feel fine though so far, even the shoulder.

The sun is shining and it's supposed to be a nice day, so we are going out to see the sights.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nice price drop on this highly rated 4 Pack of Solar Pathway Lights.

And in Canada...

Electronic Bug Zapper