NOORDEN BOUND

(Tour Date: June 27, 2019) [click on pics to enlarge]

Today is a shorter hop of around 28km to the town of Noorden, whose main attraction are the myriad of shallow lakes that originally were dug for peat harvesting in the 16th century.  Cooler temps today of around 69 degrees, but the wind has kicked up so we are at its directional mercy.  Before leaving Gouda, we went over to the main market square the see the weekly farmer's market cheese auction.  These days, this is just a show for the tourists, but it was interesting to watch.

The seller and the buyer go through what looks like an Abbot & Costello routine of rapid hand slaps as they call prices until this somehow produces an agreed figure whereupon they shake hands and deliver the cheese to the waiting cart.  Fun to watch, and full marks to the city and the volunteers for putting on a good show.  Apparently, this sort of thing went on in earnest until the 70's.  

Loni's back is really hurting, thus our shortened (from 41km) route today.  She's dosing heavily with ibuprofen, but this is becoming an ordeal.  Our route today was along larger roads, resulting in us having to give way to a number of trucks.  Loni almost hit a wall at one point, but managed to stay upright.

We stopped for lunch at a lovely cafe on the waterfront where beer and sandwiches (a salmon and a tongue for us) revived us.  That's Dede on the left with Loni. He's a student of American politics, god knows why, and got up at 4am to watch the first Democrats debate.  Not for me.  Run away, run away!

In the background is a group of school kids on an outing.  Couldn't resist the shot:

We are relaxed!

Well, as I write this, it's almost a year and a half since I posted the above.  I figure it's about time I finished this trip before we all expire of old age.  Using Loni's notes, I'll pick up from here.  We continued on to the small town of Noorden to our accommodations at the Hotel De Watergeus, situated on one of the large, shallow lakes that cover the area.  While the rooms were ok, it was the gardens and the setting that made this place stand out.  The tired feet were drawn straight to the water.

Not wanting to get on the bikes for love or money, we took advantage of the hotel's very nice dining room for dinner.  Dorado for Loni and sea bass for me. We retreated to our rooms and took in the nice view from our room's porch.

Loni battled a pesky mosquito for much of the night until either she or it gave up and she got some sleep.  Have to say that bugs have not been a problem on our tour.  Maybe it was all the water surrounding us here.  The next morning we had a feast of a breakfast in the library room, which had windows giving out to the gardens.  Cereals, yoghurts, a variety of breads, cheeses, meats, coffee, juice.  A nice, relaxing start to the final day on the bikes.

We're on our way back to Haarlem, and today's route takes us along literal cow's paths with plenty of bovine company.  The girls loved getting up close and personal with the cows; Loni, not so much.

 Unfortunately, we had one final disaster awaiting us.  At one point, DD missed a turn and stopped, causing JC and Meghan to brake suddenly.  Loni, following, was looking elsewhere, and was trying to avoid crashing into them when she fell.  Again.  This time she hit her hip, knee, and elbow on the concrete curb.  Abrasions, goose egg on elbow, bruise on other arm.  She's a walking wreck.  But, she soldiered on!  DD took one last group photo in a beautiful area of fields.

Back in Haarlem, before hitting the hotel, we gathered with DD and Emil, from the bike service, at a rooftop bar to critique the trip.  Despite Loni's mishaps, we all gave it two thumbs up, and would recommend it to anyone.  They did a fine job.  

John & Meghan took a "date" night, so we ate with the girls in the hotel dining room.  Only ok, but we weren't complaining, as the hamburgers came with onion marmalade.  Yum to that.  Afterwards, we collected some paddles and a ball from the front desk and went across the street to a park where the girls played "tennis."

Back to the hotel for pajamas and a bedtime story, which Isla helped to read.  And excellent day to end an excellent bike tour.  We had one more day in Haarlem, and spent it at the Teyler Museum which was a mishmosh (in a good way!) of science and art, which we all enjoyed.  Afterwards, tho, Loni's back hurt too much to continue so we returned to the hotel for an afternoon rest while the family went on some more touring.  That night, we ate at an Indonisian restaurant recommended by DD and Emil.  Lots of rice, of course, and a couple dozen small bowls of meats, veggies and condiments to put over it.  Some satays as well.  I didn't much care for it because of the spiciness, but the other adults liked it.  Isla had a meltdown and said her stomach hurt, so Meghan cabbed her back to the hotel while the rest of us strolled back through the city.  Tomorrow, they will catch a morning flight to Stockholm, while Loni and I will make our way to the harbor for our cruise to Norway.  We had our final breakfast together that morning with the girls asking for Oma to sit between them.  Much smiling by Oma!  Sorry about the glarey eyes, I did try the redeye tool, but this almost looks worse.

Their taxi picked them up at about 8:15, and with much teary waving we parted ways.  We didn't leave until 11:00 and when we got into our cab, it turned out to be the same driver that had taken them to the airport.  She was making major dough off our family today!  She was really nice, tho, and gave Loni two drawings the girls had made for her.  One was a giraffe, and we think the other was an elephant.  Guess she knew they'd be more appreciated by Oma.  We ended up taking the Great Circle route to the harbor.  She said this was because the direct route was blocked today by a festival.  Hmmm.  That "festival" cost me 99 euros!

 

 

G-OW-DA

 Tour Date: June 26, 2019  [Click on photo to enlarge]

Well, that's how it's pronounced, apparently.  Today was a "stay" day off the bikes, so we got a local guide, "Bep," to take us around town.  She was a little academic, but friendly and very knowledgeable.  We are in Gouda, so cheese is everywhere.  Note the rounds hanging over the street.  We saw these all over town.  Yes, the girls love cheese.

 One of the stops was at the Weighing House, built in 1668.  Carved reliefs show the process of the weighing, including the not-so-subtle efforts to tip the scales.  Note the left foot of the seated man is on the left scale, while the hand of the weights man to the right is pulling down on the rope on the other side.  The building today houses a museum dedicated to the cheese manufacturing process.

At the town hall in the main plaza a wedding was underway, with a very cool escape car waiting out front.  Love the basket!  The wedding party was quite happy to have tourists and townsfolk watch the proceedings.

All around Gouda there are these marvelous carvings over entryways and sticking out of walls.  It would be fun to make a serious effort at cataloging all of them, but these were just a few that caught our eye.

One of the big attractions in Gouda is the Church of St. John, the longest in Holland, and boasting the Gouda Windows, the biggest collection of 16th century stained glass in Europe.  I couldn't get the right lighting to show off the windows, but they were stunning.  I nicked this one off the internet:

We'd had enough walking around for a while, and it was time for lunch.  Right next to St. John's is the Museum Gouda, which has a very nice courtyard cafe.  Loni & I shared a nut bread/cheese/fig jam sandwich and a slice of carrot cake.  Yes!

Suitably tanked up, we hit the Museum, which was an eclectic mixture of objects.  We each found something fascinating.  Loni liked the pencil drawings, I went for the scientific stuff, and the girls were wowed by the minerals.

After the museum, we decided to call it a day.  Loni's back is hurting badly.  One more archway pose, then back to the hotel for a nap.

 After some Z's, we connected with the family for a pizza dinner on the main square, followed by a gelato fest for dessert.  Another fine day!

 

FONDUE, ANYONE?

 [Trip Date: June 25, 2019]

Today we ride from Delft to Gouda, about 41 km.  That's not too long, but it's 94 degrees outside!  We'll be melted by the time we get there.  This, however, would prove to be the most scenic day of our bike rides.  We took off about 9:45 after breakfasting just outside our room.  Yup, that's the door to our room.  Ta, Royal Bridges, you were quirky but just fine.

Our ride today took us through rural countryside along pathways everywhere.  I don't recall more than a couple of stretches where we shared with motor vehicles.

At one point, construction dictated that we had to take an unpaved road where the surface was littered with enough rocks and granite bits that DD suggested we get off and walk our bikes to avoid someone going down.  Eventually, we reached a canal with a line of windmills!

By following the path we ended up close to one for a family portrait.  That's my inside-out hat in my hand.

The moms.  The panniers were supplied by the company and were nicely waterproof.  Luckily, we didn't need that feature our whole trip.  Nothing but sun!
 

 

After some sandwiches for lunch, we took off again with about 25km to go.  The heat started getting brutal.  At one point, Addie looked like she was starting to doze off and we were concerned that she might be getting some heat stroke.  Found a shady place to stop and poured water over her head to cool her down and that seemed to do the trick.  We made sure both girls drank extra water, and we tanked up as well.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, altho there was much pondering which way to go by DD.  One option for these trips is to go it alone, without a guide, using maps and a GPS to steer you.  Believe me, we were thankful to have DD.  We never would have figured out the route without him.

Upon arrival at Gouda, we checked into the Best Western City Center Hotel.  Wow!  The rooms were huge.  Ours was a suite, with large sitting area, bed area, and giant spa-bath area.  I was pretty close to heatstroke myself, and didn't bother to unpack before shucking my clothes and making for the shower.  Ahhhhhhh.  The room-sized shower is behind the wall with the hair dryer.

 

After recovering, flat out on the bed, we went down to join the family for a stroll into the town, which is quite beautiful. There are churches galore (left, below) and of course there's a town hall on the main square (right).  We had a nice dinner on the square.  We split a goat-cheese and apricot salad and a nice cod fillet, then took a stroll around the area.
 

 

A nice spot to relax before heading back to the hotel.  These smaller cities in Holland really are peaceful and beautiful.

VISIONS OF VERMEER

 [Trip date: June 24. 2019]

After rising and shining, we opened the door cautiously so as not to bump into anyone's breakfast tray, and had a plain but plenty breakfast.  Once everyone had eaten, and the girls were prepped for the day, we headed off for the Vermeer Museum.  He lived out most of his life (1632-1675) in Delft, and almost all of his paintings are set in two small rooms of his house.  Both of us have long admired his work, re-kindled by the film "The Girl In The Pearl Earring."  So, this was a must-see on this trip.  His output wasn't that extensive, and his works are in museums around the world, so what we were seeing were reproductions. 

Not a problem; from several feet away I can't tell the difference.  The display materials were excellent, pointing out details and stories about each painting that made them much more interesting.  The 3rd floor showed modern interpretations of his style, while the 2nd floor had a setup of his imagined workshop, including a place to pose for a picture in the lighting style of his girl by a window.  Here's Isla doing her best impression.  Our girls were given a treasure hunt to keep the interested.  When they found all the objects, they got a cookie and a picture postcard.  An excellent museum!

 

Our next stop was the "new" church, which was quite plain when compared to Romance catholic churches, but it was lovely with its wood ceiling and 3,000 pipe organ.  Queen Wilhelmina commissioned 16 colored glass windows for the "altar" area, which in reality is a monument grave site for William of Orange and his progeny.  The relative plainness is because the Protestants, when they took over, stripped the interior of all the Catholic trappings.

The new church sits on the town square opposite the impressive town hall (below)
 

After the church, we had to bag out of our planned walk to the Delft Museum as Loni's back was hurting too much.  Back to the hotel for a rest, and more ibuprofen. She's concerned she won't be able to ride tomorrow, so we'll have to check with the tour company about transport. We stayed there the rest of the afternoon before joining the family for dinner at a place with an unpronounceable (and unspellable) name which offered a 3-course prix-compris meal that hit the spot.  Satays, penne pastas, prawn croquettes, custards with raspberry coulis, and you get the picture.  The only downer was they could not accept our credit or debit cards, so we had to scrape the bottoms of our collective wallets to pay the bill.  Before we returned to the hotel, we located and drained an ATM in case this was going to be a thing.

We checked with the tour about Loni, and they were not permitted to transport guests between destinations, and there would be an 30 euro charge by the baggage boys to haul her bike. Loni's transport would have to be by taxi.  Hmmm. Not all the way to Gouda.  She decided to tough it out, claiming she felt better.  We'll see.

 

"BACK" TO THE FUTURE

[Trip Date: June 23, 2019] 

Disaster strikes in the most unlikely of spots, with consequences that could not be foreseen at the time.  Who'd of thought an instant's mistake would lead to a world of hurt.  I say this with the benefit of hindsight, as I am writing this a full 1 1/2 year after the fact, and unfortunately have observed the effects on Loni's life.

We had a good night's sleep and decent breakfast.  No so elegant as the Staatz, but still very nice.  At 10 we met the family and DaeDae (hereafter DD) to start the ride to Delft where we will stay for two nights.  We took DD's shorter route option (37km) as our rookie bike muscles are protesting from yesterday's start.  All went well until we approached a footbridge that had a sharp 90 degree turn leading into it.  Loni & Meghan decided to walk it rather than risk the maneuver.  That was prudent.  Sadly, in getting off her bike, Loni got tangled and fell hard into a side wall, bending her back awkwardly and hearing a pop! pop! crack, followed by her back muscles seizing.  After a rest, she was ambulatory, but in severe pain in the back and the pubic bone.  The rest of us didn't learn how bad it was until later in the day, because she insisted she could go on, like the trouper she is.  She was going to need a diet of major ibuprofen for the rest of the trip.  This undoubtedly was an exacerbation of her crushed vertebra from her car-vs-pedestrian disaster earlier.  Again, as I write this, she continues to have almost constant pain, has had scans galore and pain specialist treatments with steroid shots, etc.  It is looking like surgery is in the offing, which isn't even possible in this height of the Covid pandemic.  She will soldier on, that's what she does.  

We made it to Delft without further incident, DD said his goodbyes and headed for the train station and, as our rooms weren't ready at the Royal bridges, we walked to the town square for ice cream.  John, Meghan, and the girls piled into a horse drawn carriage for a tour around the town while we were content to sit and watch the people in the square.

After the carriage ride, we checked into the hotel.  This is a very quirky place, and it's pretty clear it was cobbled together from 2 or 3 adjacent buildings without a lot of thought for integration.  The family's room was at the top (garret) level, while we ancients were given a ground (actually, sub-ground) floor one.  It was really a strange, although perfectly adequate, setup.  

On the other side of the wall is the reception desk.  I have no idea what the fireplace is all about or what this room was in an earlier life.  The wall to the right of the fireplace (not shown) has three steps which lead up to the door, which opens directly into the dining room, and immediately adjacent to one of the buffet bars.  I was originally concerned at check-in that this would be too noisy, but it turns out those brick walls and thick door did an excellent job of soundproofing.  Still, it felt a little weird to exit the room and be face-to-face with a stranger with a plate in his hand.  The wall to the left of the fan has a series of windows that are at about kneecap level of the pedestrians on the sidewalk right in front.  Thankfully there were blinds and curtains so we didn't feel we were in a fishbowl.  None of the windows opened, and there were no air ducts at all.  Apparently, the only fresh air it gets is when you open the door.  So, this ranks right up there with the strangest rooms we have occupied.

After Loni got a few winks, courtesy of the pain meds, it was time for dinner.  We decided to just stroll around and see what we encountered.  That turned out to be the De Delft, a canal boat restaurant.  Although an idyllic setting, the food was a little overcooked.  The appetizer tray, however, was a hit, as was the beer.  After a leisurely meal, the kids all went for a walk and we went for an early crash.  For Loni's sake, come on drugs!

 

PEDAL TO THE METAL

 Trip date:  June 22, 2019  [Click on a pic to enlarge]

We had an excellent Dutch breakfast at the hotel with fruit, yogurt, eggs to order, meats, cheeses, some really good croissants, and fresh squeezed OJ.  Afterwards, we collected our bags and went out front to meet with the tour manager, Elliot, and DaeDae ("DiDi"), our cycling guide.  We got fitted to our bikes and learned the rudimentaries of the shift mechanism, locks, etc, and got them set up for hauling the girls and the gear that we wanted to keep with us.  The tour had a van that hauled our main luggage to the next stop.  I wanted to make sure my many meds went with me as losing those would create major problems.  As it turned out, the luggage always arrived ahead of us, safe and sound, at each stop.  I was going to carry Isla (then 6 years old) and John was to haul Addie (4).  Meghan hadn't ridden in many years, and was not ready to deal with a passenger.  I've been used to Loni riding behind on the scoot for a decade, so wasn't too concerned.  Hah.  She and Loni would carry the side pouches with the water, packs, ponchos, etc.  Since those hung low down over the rear wheels, the center of gravity wasn't an issue.

We set out through the streets of Haarlem heading for the seacoast, and encountered a few true hills that we hadn't expected.  I think this first day had the most elevation changes of the trip.  Even these were moderate, but as none of us was a regular bike rider we huffed and puffed.  At one point, we stopped to allow the ladies to catch up.  I was standing astride the center bar of the bike when Isla shifted slightly to look back and the whole bike slowly tilted left.  There was no stopping it with just holding onto the handlebars, and we did a less than graceful sideways tumble with both of us tangled in the bike.  DaeDae hopped over and got us extricated.  I was more than a little embarrassed that we hadn't gone a couple of miles before I dumped us.    I was even worse when it happened again a few miles on.  Isla's pretty tall, so John and I switched girls and I got the lighter and lower Addie from then on.  No further problems.  We rode through green fields, hay fields, wild poppies, and along the sand dunes on the coast for about 15km, when we stopped for lunch at Tulum, a beach resort area.  A side of lumpia, a tuna sandwich, and beer!  The girls played in the sand while we got to know DaeDae a bit better.  He's a student studying International Law and is contemplating Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, etc.  You know which one we pumped for.  As we were to find out, he's incredibly up on American politics and put us to shame with his knowledge of U.S. affairs. 

After a liesurely lunch, we finished our total of 43km for this day in about 5 hours.  Not bad for we septo's.  We went through flat countryside with farms and lots of animals for the girls to spot, and through round-abouts that had bike lanes, to our destination of Leiden and the Golden Tulip Hotel.  Our only casualty was Meghan veering off course into a holly bush when she couldn't make a turn.  Some of the paths have quite narrow portions and sharp 90 degree turns where it's tricky to maneuver.  A scrape, a cut, and wounded pride was the score.  The hotel was a very modern, glass-faced building and was quite nice.  We all opted for nice, hot showers and afterward walked to the old part of town for dinner.  DaeDae took off on his bike to return by train to Haarlem for the night.  He'd return in the morning.

The city is a college town, featuring Leiden University, the oldest in Holland.  It boasts 13 Nobel prize winners and twins with Oxford.  It being summer break, we didn't see many students about, but there were hoards of folks at outdoor cafes.  We ended up at Scarlatti's for beer and comfort food along the Oude Rijn river, a branch of the Rhine delta.  Great for people and boat-watching.

A slow stroll back to the hotel, watch a little Women's World Cup, and ZZZZZ's for our bods.

HAARLEM

 Trip Date: June 21, 2019.  [Click on pics to enlarge]

We got a leisurely start as John & Meghan's 2-star Michelin dinner last night took 4 hours and they didn't finish until midnight!  Five courses with an "eating in the kitchen" theme so they could watch everything being prepared. Very nice!  Once we finished cereal and lugged the bags down that stairway, we waited out front for our van-taxi which would take us to the starting city for our bike tour, Haarlem.  An uneventful and unscenic trip, so no pics.  Our hotel was the Staats, a nifty boutique housed in an 1800's building.

 It was pretty weird inside our room, with the glass shower facing right into the room and an island sink plopped down in the middle.  Strange, but posh.  Stranger still was the menu of "options" one could order.  We did not.  The extra bed was for Isla for the night.

Haarlem is much more laid back than Amsterdam, much less crowded and frenetic.  We got here around 11:00, so after unpacking we went looking for a clothing store so I could get a shirt.  Found a nice store, and a nice shirt, at a gulp price, at least by my standards.  Oh well, Loni says it looks good on, and should be good for future trips as well.  Had lunch at another waffle/crepe place, not as gigantic as the last one.  We had scheduled another canal cruise, so we walked through the main plaza on our way there,

and along some small canals.  Our cruise turned out to be exactly what we avoided in Amsterdam.  Big long boat (not shown), covered over with glass ceilings (so plenty of hot sun, not so much breeze), and a recorded commentary that told us very little.  Mercifully, it only lasted 50 minutes.  But, it did have one very excellent feature.  They provided slices of real apple pie with whipped cream, and they were excellent.  The girls concurred.

Somewhat sated with pie, we returned to the hotel for a brief crash, then off to the main plaza for people watching and some beer (detect a theme here?).  On sunny evenings, there are zillions of folks out and communing.

We had dinner in a huge sushi restaurant just off the square.  Again, excellent.  We'd gotten most of the way back to the hotel when Loni realized she didn't have her RED HAT!  That hat, or its replacement, has been on her noggin for at least a decade of our travels.  It's how I locate her in crowds.  We hustled back and, thankfully, it was still there. That silly thing draws comments wherever we go, and she was very happy to get it back.

 

WE GOGH, GOGH, GOGH

 Trip Date: June 19-20, 2019

[Click on any pic to enlarge]

We managed to get some sleep last night, but it's always a challenge at the end of 30+ hours of being up, long flight, unfamiliar bed, and late night trolleys.  Breakfast at the flat, then a walk through a light-but-steady rain to the Van Gogh Museum, about a half hour slow stroll.  We all got wet, but dried out pretty quickly once inside.  This is a hot ticket, with timed entry by reservation only, so I had booked it online before leaving home.  Had a nice tour, and we agreed we liked his later works best, but it was all good.  This poster in the lobby was the only place we were allowed a photo, so selfie it is!

After the museum we walked some more and ended up at a Pizza restaurant for lunch.  Fortunately, the rain had stopped so we could eat al fresco.  Since John and the girls had left coatless, we hunted up a clothing store and John bought a very nice jacket.  Alas, we couldn't find anything suitable for the girls.  We returned to the flat for a rest before taking off for our 4:00 afternoon canal boat cruise.  Before leaving home, I had researched options for these cruises and found literally hundreds of them.  I wanted to avoid the long, glass-topped mega boats with dozens of passengers, and I found great reviews for a small, owner-operated one that had tons of enthusiastic reviews. They were right!  Rederij Paping is the operator, and Googling that will bring up his site and reviews on Trip Advisor.  (I tried to insert a link, but Blogger keeps screwing it up.)  That's our boat motoring off.

Our pilot was Bob, 60-something, who's been doing these tours for 20 years after ditching a career in tech in the Boston area.  He and his family live on a canal boat, and he is a real history buff.  We got a top-notch commentary as we cruised about.  A nice thing about a smaller boat is that we got to go in narrower passageways that the big guys miss.  Plus, being able to dialogue with your operator was a plus.

After the cruise (a little over 90 minutes), we had time to stroll a bit before dinner and stumbled upon a Dutch icon, the Tulip Museum.  I thought the ones outside were the prettiest.  Then it was time to look for a dinner place and we ended up at La Florita, eating outside at a linen-clad table.  Tongue appetizer (yum!), lamb tagliatelle for Loni and a turbot for me, with gelatto for dessert.

After a cereal breakfast the next morning, we went out walking again.  Amsterdam is a maze of streets and canals, and we made good use of Google maps' pedestrian views as we meandered.

We steered towards the De Hallen shopping area to window shop in its old warehouses/train station setting.  Best of all, we found a Dutch pancakes emporium which was something I had been lusting for.  Yes!  Loni and I split two dishes, one a savory ham & cheese, the other a sweet apple, almond, calvados and whipped cream wonder.  Call it a late breakfast.  Yeah.  Afterwards, more walking around until it was time for a beer break.

Refreshed, we continued exploring. 

One of the most extraordinary places in the center of Amsterdam can be found behind a door on Spuiplein. It leads to the Begijnhof (Beguinage), a medieval inner courtyard where the women of the Catholic sisterhood lived.  The place is amazingly serene in the middle of the bustle and crowds of Amsterdam. The Beguinage was established somewhere in the 14th century to house the Begijnen. These women lived like nuns but were more independent and had more freedom. The Catholic faith was banned in the 16th century, and the Begijnhof was the only Catholic institution that continued to exist because the houses were the private property of the women. The last Beguine died in 1972.  Loni is in front of the Englese Kerk (English Church) dating from the 1400's.

 

We'd had enough walking for the day, and retreated to the flat for some laundry and flop time.  Meghan and John went out to celebrate her recent promotion, so we took the girls out to Pastis, just a short walk away.  Again, great food beautifully served.  We are eating well in Amsterdam.  Back to the flat, bedtime stories for the girls, and to bed.  I discovered that I'd left one of my three super-travel shirts (wash and drip dry) at home.  Augh!  Can't get by for a month with just two, so more shopping in the offing.

Don't know whether this is just a very old abandonment or some sort of street art, but it seems symbolic of bike-crazy Holland: