June 13, 2014. Last Cycling Day: Pumerend to Amsterdam: Another 50K Day.

After another great sleep in my comfortable bunk, I awoke to another day of bright sunshine. The weather for this trip has been great. Bike shorts, t shirt and sandals have been my biking attire. We have panniers on our bikes in which we carry our lunches and additional clothing such as rain jackets and light sweaters. Sweaters were not needed this morning.

      

Our first stop today was Edam, known as the city of cheese. We visited a cheese shop, a candy shop and the Edam Museum. Of particular interest in the museum was a painting of a girl who was 9 feet tall. Although I cannot remember her name, I do remember that she could clean the gutters without use of a ladder and that her parents took her to fairs to put her on display to make money. She died at the ripe old age of 17.

We stopped for coffee in Volendam, a touristy fishing village. There were lots of little shops there selling souvenir type things, including t shirts, wooden shoes as well as lots of cheese. 

We stopped at a cheese farm where we heard about how  cheese is made and also got to taste many varieties of cheese; some from cow milk, some from goat milk and some from sheep milk. Many cheeses in The Netherlands are eaten with mustard and so we got to try a variety of mustards as well. 

Our lunch stop was on a grassy slope, just off the side of the road. Here, we sampled the cheeses that were purchased at the cheese factory, starting with mild cheese and ending with very old cheese.

          

We continued along the coastline of the IJssel Lake and ended up in Amsterdam where we started our trip seven days ago. After dinner we walked to the city centre where we took a canal tour on a canal boat. 

            

Since The Netherlands was playing Spain in a World Cup game tonight, the bars and restaurants were crowded and the streets were filled with people wearing orange shirts. Back aboard The Jelmar, the skipper had set up a screen in the main salon so that we could watch the game. The Netherlands won the game which resulted in a lot of celebrating throughout the city. 

We all part company tomorrow morning after breakfast. It has been a great Highlights of Holland Bike and Barge tour with a wonderful group of people. We have experienced a lot and cycled a long way...close to 400 kilometers!

                           

June 12, 2014. Another 50K Ride.

We left the ship at the normal time of 9 am and headed west. At around 11 we stopped at a windmill museum in Schermerhorn. This windmill and the other windmills in the area were all used for pumping water. Considering that this area of Holland is between 1 and 4 meters below sea level, it has been quite a feat of engineering to drain water and to keep it out. Of the original 52 drainage  mills used for 300 years 11 remain today and can still be used. However three modern pumping stations now do all the work. Being inside the windmill, getting a history of how these complicated machines came to be and how they work, made for a very enjoyable morning.

                                

Cycling at times below sea level and then above sea level we headed for the historic town of Hoorn which was once an important port and centre of trade. Today, tourism is its main industry. There are lots of tall ships moored here, reminiscent of the town's past. 

Hoorn is also a town where one can buy the herring that is a traditional Dutch food. It is eaten raw with some raw onion. I purchased some at a sidewalk cafe and gave it a try. There were no bones and since it was very fresh, there was no "fishy" taste. In fact, the texture was somewhat like soft butter. One piece was enough for me. It is not something I would buy again, but at least I tried it! 

After leaving Hoorn we pedaled along the coast and had great views of the IJsselmeer Lake. We passed many fields of sheep today as well as many other types of farms. It seems like any land that is not used for a city or town, is used for agricultural purposes. I have never seen so many cows and sheep as I have seen in The Netherlands.

We arrived at the Jelmar (our barge) at around 5 with just enough time for a shower and coffee before dinner. Everyone looks forward to Christiana's dinners. She is a great cook and every meal she has prepared has been spectacular.

A city stroll seems to be what we do after dinner each night and tonight was no exception. 

June 10, 2014. Haarlem to Alkmaar.

Some people call this country Holland, while others call it The Netherlands. In truth, there are two provinces; North Holland and South Holland and together, these two provinces make up the country, properly called The Netherlands. Even though the flag is composed of red, white and blue horizontal stripes, orange is a colour you see everywhere, because orange is the colour adopted by the Netherlands sports teams.

Today we started our bike ride at 8:50, through the city of Haarlem. Bike lanes and directional signs for bikes are everywhere. There are even traffic lights with bike symbols on them especially for the bike lanes and so at an intersection you see the walk symbol, regular traffic lights and lights for bikes. Most bikers drive very fast, which at first was very intimidating, but now I am quite comfortable in the traffic with the zillion other bikes.

      

After leaving the city we cycled to Spaarndam where we stopped to take pictures of the statue of Hans Brinker, the legendary boy who saved the town by plugging a leak in the dyke with his hand. We then crossed the North Sea canal by ferry and cycled to the Zaanse Schans, an historic village with windmills, museums and other traditional Dutch buildings. It was neat to go inside a working windmill and not only see how it worked but to hear the blades of the mill going around in the wind.

        

We stopped at a quaint little town where we ate our picnic lunches in the park, and then found a coffee shop to sit for a bit and enjoy a soft seat. We crossed another canal by ferry and rode the rest of the afternoon through farmlands. The last 15K were tough as we had too pedal against the wind, ending our 55K ride in Alkmaar where our ship The Jelmar was docked. Peter, our guide, said that we rode over 50K today.

After another delicious three course meal, our guide got out the map and gave us a preview of tomorrow's ride. We will get the weather forecast at breakfast tomorrow morning before we ride another 50K.

June 11, 2014. Day 5 of Bike and Barge: 55K

Today while the boat stayed in Alkmaar, we rode in a north westerly direction until we reached the North Sea. We biked through a pine forest, a barren dune area and across a dyke. Along the way we stopped in Bergen for coffee and bought some cheese and licorice...yummy!

 We also stopped in the dunes to take pictures. At the beach we watched a ship pumping sand and water towards the shore to make a sandbar. The purpose of the sandbar is to protect the dyke. We rode on to village of Petten where we sat atop the dyke and ate our lunch as we gazed out at the North Sea. We visited a small museum in Petten that tells the story of a big storm in 1953 and the subsequent building of the dyke.

        

Everyone seemed to find  the ride back to Alkmaar tough today as we all complained about sore bums when we stopped for a rest. However, the warm sun shone on us all day, the wind was light and we were rewarded with yet another delicious meal when the dinner bell rang on the ship.

         

A walk through the old part of town capped off another fabulous day in The Netherlands.

June 9, 2014. Leiden to Haarlem

The first part of today's ride took us to the seaside resort of Katwijk and then up and down over the dunes to Zandvoort. Since it is a holiday in The Netherlands and a very hot day (29), the beach was packed. We had some free time here and so ate our lunch and then put our toes in the North Sea; just toes because the water was very cold.

The last leg of the ride was a bit tough, not because of the hills, but because of the hot sun. Needless to say, we were all happy to see our vessel, the Jelmar, tied up in a canal in Harrlem. 

After showers, some down time to relax with a beverage we enjoyed a delicious three course meal. Our cook does an excellent job, especially with her appetizers, and salads. After dinner we went on a walking tour of this very old town. Walking the cobblestone streets and looking at old churches, former merchants' homes and watching boats motoring up and down the canals is a great way to rest the biking muscles...particularly the rear.

Tomorrow we head to the cheese town of Alkmaar.

This is an awesome trip!

June 8, 2014. Day 2 of bike and barge: Kudelstaart to Leiden.

We biked 65k today and all 12 of can still stand; however, sitting is a different story. The ride was tough on the rear but otherwise an easy ride, with paved, mostly level bike paths and frequent five minute stops.

We started out at 9 am in heavy mist, wearing rain jackets. By around 11 the rain stopped and so did we; at a delightful coffee shop that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The countryside we saw today was just beautiful. We passed many sheep farms, dairy farms windmills and quaint little villages and towns where we bumped over cobblestone streets. Of particular interest was to notice that we might be cycling below sea level for a time and the boats in the canals would be above us and then we would be above sea level and all the cows would be grazing in fields below sea level. 

We stopped at a picnic site for lunch around 1:30 and ate what we had packed for ourselves in the morning. Forty- five minutes later we were on our way again. It got very hot and so layers were peeled off. I was grateful to be wearing bike shorts, not only for the extra padding, but because they dried quickly and don't hold the heat. 

We are riding with a great group of people who were all happy to see the sign that Leiden, 3k. The Jelmar was a welcome sight. Hot showers, coffee for some, beer for others and some socializing under the umbrella on deck was a great way to relax before dinner.

A walk around this university town is on the agenda for this evening...for those who can stay awake, of course.

June 7, 2014. Day One of Bike and Barge Tour

We joined our vessel the Jelmar at around noon. After being shown to our cabin, we unpacked and joined the other passengers on deck. We are a small group; only 12...one from Spain, two from Italy, two from the US, three from Germany, and four Canadians. Our guide is from France, our skipper from the Netherlands and our cook who is also the deckhand is also from the Netherlands. The common language is English so that is the language that will be used throughout the trip.

It took a long time to get out of Amsterdam as we had to wait for many bridges to open, lots of traffic in the canals and even a lock to go through. The boat ride through the canal and on the Amstel River was very interesting. We saw some gorgeous houseboats, beautiful gardens and lots of people out in boats of various shapes and sizes out for a Saturday cruise. 

We docked in a small town called Kudelstaart. After dinner we got fitted on our bikes and went for a short 10k ride to make sure everything worked well and that everyone could keep the pace and follow the leader. We stopped several times for minor adjustments, but other than that, everything went smoothly. We rode beside fields of sheep, cows, flower greenhouses and quaint homes with thatched roofs.

Everyone is heading to bed early tonight as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, about 55k.

June 6, 2014. Museum Day in Amsterdam.

We started our day with a visit to the Rijksmuseum which first opened its doors to the public in 1800. One could spend the entire day exploring the four floors of the beautiful building which contains masterpieces by artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and many of their contemporaries, along with a truly exceptional collection of antique objects and a vast collection of prints and drawings. The Rijksmuseum houses art from 1100 up to 1950. We were surprised when we looked at the time as we approached the exit as we realized that we spent almost four hours at the Rijksmuseum.

After a late lunch we headed for the Van Gogh Museum. Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum maintains the world’s largest collection of the works of one of the world’s most popular artists- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), his paintings, drawings and letters, along with the art of his contemporaries. The museum houses more than 200 Van Gogh paintings and 500 of his drawings. The material  is organized chronologically into five periods, each representing a different period of his life and work. Vincent painted for a mere 10 years. Plagued with mental illness, he cut off a piece of his ear, suffered several breakdowns, checked himself in to a mental institution and died because of a self inflicted gunshot wound. We spent over three hours at Vincent's and came away with, "Wow, that was awesome"!

Tomorrow we board the Jelmar and begin our 8 day bike and barge tour of Holland.

June 5, 2014. Walking Amsterdam.

After breakfast at the hotel we set out to ride the hop on hop off bus to the city centre. We visited the Gassan Diamond Factory and took a 30 minute guided tour. We watched diamonds being polished and learned about the various cuts and colours of these precious stones. We saw diamonds worth up to €50,000 and our group of about 10 people got to handle diamond rings, watches and earrings. Of course, the exit was through the retail part of the factory. Since we were not interested in making a purchase we availed ourselves of their free coffee.

We walked to a shopping area, found a small grocery store and bought some fruit and Dutch licorice to take along for nourishment on our walk. Everything is more expensive here than it is at home.

Next we walked to the Red Light District to see the 800 year old Old Church (Oude Kerk), Amsterdam's oldest building. The area was very crowded today with lots of American high school groups around along with the many bicycles, scooters and cars. It amazes me that we haven't witnessed a single accident. Looking both ways has become looking all ways before crossing a street in Amsterdam.

Even though the city map looks easy to follow, we got lost walking to the Anne Frank House. In fact we walked about 2 kilometers in the wrong direction before we realized our mistake. After another 45 minutes of walking we arrived at the Anne Frank. Haus. Fortunately I had purchased tickets online and so we didn't have to wait in the very long line to get in.

                              

If you have ever read The Diary of Anne Frank you know the importance of this museum. Anne and her family lived in hiding in the annex of this house for two years before someone betrayed them and the Nazis came and took them away to Auschwitz. All perished in the prison camp except for Anne's father who later honored his daughter's memory by fulfilling her desire to be a published author. Needless to say, visiting this museum is a solemn occasion. 

Our next long walk was through several districts including The Jordaan, Liedesplein and the Museum and Fashion District. We strolled along canals, window shopped and made our way back to our hotel where we rested for a bit before heading out to The Seafood Bar for dinner.

We probably walked about 20 kilometers today. Tomorrow we will visit two museums in our neighbourhood; The Van Gogh and The Rijksmuseum.

June 4, 2014. Amsterdam.

Staying awake last night to compensate for the 5 hour time change was not as tough as I thought it would be. However, getting up this morning for breakfast was difficult. Breakfast is from 7 to 10 at our hotel and so waking up at 9:30 (4:30 am at home) meant jumping out of bed to get to the breakfast room before the doors closed. It was worth the rush as the great coffee, eggs, cheese, fruit and yogurt made for a great start to the day.

One of the things we like to do in a foreign, big city is buy tickets for a hop on, hop on bus as the audio tour, numerous stops and unlimited use for 24 hours makes for a great way to get an overview of the city. We caught the bus at around 10:30 and got off and on for the rest of the day, stopping at numerous locations and doing lots and lots of walking. 

We visited Dam square, walked along zillions of canals, found ourselves in the Red Light District where we saw women sitting in their windows, had coffee at one of the many coffee shops, saw other coffee shops where the aroma of marijuana wafted out of the doors, spent time in the ultra modern library, ate fish and chips (chips are served with mayonnaise here), walked through Vondelpark and returned to our hotel around 8:30

The sound of bike bells are everywhere. It is truly amazing to see a woman driving her bike with two kids on board; one in a kid car type seat, in front of the handlebars and one in another seat behind her, and no one is wearing a helmet. We learned today bike theft with over 60,000 stolen each year is the number one crime in Amsterdam.

Tomorrow: Anne Frank House for sure.

June 2 - 3, 2014. Off to Amsterdam.

I got so frustrated with the continuous rain last May and June that I swore that I would make plans to get away during Nova Scotia's rainy season this year. As I investigated places to go, The Netherlands became more and more appealing with lots to see and do not only in Amsterdam but in other areas of the country. In short, I booked an 8 day Highlights of Holland bike and barge tour along with 4 days in Amsterdam.

We flew to Amsterdam via Reykjavik and so got to see Iceland from the air and from the airport. The tourism information about Iceland makes it sound like a great place to visit....someday.

We took a shuttle from the airport in Amsterdam to our hotel. Our room is very small but oh so cool. For example, there are quotes on the walls, and the electricity only works when you are in the room. Everything in the room seems new, including the shower.

     

It was so tempting to just take a nap since we had been traveling for 10 overnight hours on very little sleep, but we needed to stay awake as long as possible to help adjust to crossing 5 hours worth of time zones. We went for a long walk, ate a good meal and walked some more. 

Bikes are everywhere in this city. Apparently there are four times as many bikes on the streets as there are cars. There are lanes designated for bikes but pedestrians have to keep a watchful eye on both car and bike traffic as the cyclists ride along at a good clip.

Our walk took us past several places we plan to visit over the next few days, including the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and Vondelpark. We strolled along a canal, stopped to admire some artwork on display on the Museum Plein sat on a bench and people watch and then walked back to our funky hotel.