Through the Window of a Train

We decide to spend Monday and Tuesday in Amsterdam. We catch the bus to the train station and get stuck in rush hour traffic: bikes! Bikes with wheelbarrow buckets for kids to ride in; bikes with kiddie seats on the front or back or both; bikes with crates on the front - wooden crates, plastic crates, crates with artificial flowers woven into the cracks; bikes with saddle bags; bikes with a passenger sitting sideways on the rear storage rack.

The window of a train is a moving frame for peoples' lives. All along the train tracks are snippets of a culture.

In Netherlands, wide canals, not fences, keep the animals in their pastures. Sheep, goats, horses and cows graze through the grass as swans, geese, ducks and coots swim in the water along side them. Eggs have hatched, and so chicks follow their mothers through the grass and waters.

At each train station, the biking culture is emphasized. There are only small parking lots but hundreds of bikes crammed together - locked to racks, lamp posts, benches, barbed wire and chainlink fences. Some people simply loop their chain through the bicycle's front tire and frame when there is no more rack space. At Den Haag Central train station, there is a two-level locker (think parking deck) for bikes.

Also, scattered along the countryside are what I first thought were communiy gardens. But as we passed by more of them, I realized that they were more like community yards. Andrew dubbed them "delocalized centralized" yards. I suppose they are places for the city dwellers to enjoy their own personal piece of greenspace. Many of the "yards" had small greenhouse structures attached to them. But some of these structures seemed to be more like kitchens or screened-in front porches. Some of the yards had small plastic kiddie slides and playhouses. Many people were enjoying an evening with their dogs.

* * * * *

In Amsterdam, the tourist crowd is almost overwhelming. We visit a few museums and enjoy lunches by the canals. But we spend most of the two days wandering through the streets, along the canals and sometimes through the clouds of reefer smoke hovering outside the doors and windows of the infamous coffeeshops. The canal-side houses are tall, skinny; some tilting foward, others crookedly to the side. It is amazing to think of how some of these homes were build up on the tiny lot between two already established buildings.

Once we get outside the city center, the canals become more crowded with houseboats. Most have small gardens somewhere on their decks. Some even have sofas and sculpture art displayed. The houseboats seem more permanent than not. Each has a "house" number displayed somewhere along the road/canal side. There are also some gates or flower arches which act as front doors. Gas and electric lines run from the road to each boat.  Most of the houseboats look too tall to go under any of the bridges.

Houseboats in the canal

Cappucchino and fresh orange juice
along the canal

A canal

Windmill on a schoolhouse

* * * * *

We decide to bike around Den Haag again on our last day (Wednesday) in Holland. We follow the paths through hundreds of acres of sand dunes just north of the city. The landscape reminds me of the Badlands out west in the US. There's just a lot more green.

Bike parking lot near the beach

Dunes in Den Haag

The beach

Then, after a hike to the gorgeous and texturally intricate Japanese Garden, Andrew and I stop by the grocery store: we are making dinner for Aunt Dodie (fajitas). And we don't forget stroopwaffels; Alyssa brought some home from her trip last summer and Andrew and I have decided that we need more. After a pleasant dinner full of conversation, Andrew and I make some last minute train and hotel reservations and pack for the next leg of our journey - to Cochem, Germany via Luxembourg City. Procrastination for the win!

The Netherlands, Part 1

Azaleas, rhododendrons, tulips and daffodils have long been dead back home in North Carolina.  Here the end of their blooming season is just beginning.  And so we wandered through Keukenhof Gardens, among the colorful patches full of the famous Dutch flowers.  Tulips of every imaginable color - I had always wondered whether there were flowers with green petals.  There were even grape hyacinths that I have only ever seen growing wild in Grandma's yard.  Unfortunately, we were too late to see the fields full of tulips flowers.  Overwhelming rows upon rows of color.  We saw how it should look on the postcards and we were jealous.  Andrew finally found a "labyrinth" to wander.  There were also buildings full of orchids and lilies.  The smell of the lilies slapped us in the face.

Tulips and Grape Hyacinths

Andrew's favorite flower

Tulip patch

Go NC State!

Yesterday we biked through Den Haag.  Everyone bikes here.  Apparently you can get away with pretty much anything if you are riding a bike - so, Andrew and I are considering robbing a bank (wink, wink).  Bikes have the right-of-way almost everywhere and there are even bike traffic lights!  Bikes are the main form of transportation for locals.  Makes me miss downtown Raleigh.

Andrew with the bikes

We spent the morning wandering through the Escher museum.  Really interesting stuff.  Andrew said that his mind hurt by the end though.  Then we wandered about the town, biked past the Peace Palace, and ended up on the beach where we enjoyed some frites (french fries) in a cone and then tested the waters of the North Sea.  Just our feet though.  And it wasn't that bad after the couple seconds it took to go numb.

Outside the Peace Palace

Standing in the North Sea

Today, after a brunch of pannekoeken (Dutch egg pancakes), Aunt Dodie took us to Delft.  Cute little Dutch town.  Aunt Dodie told us that during the summer when the duck weed abounds, kids fall into the canals because they think it is a grassy surface.  Also, in regards to the canals, I would not want to try parking beside them - a tree in front, a bike rack behind, and a canal full of water on the side - seems like a tricky maneuver.  Walking back to the car, we got to see a twist bridge.  The bridge pivoted open from one end like a door.  And then all the boats in the canal that had piled up at their red traffic light went through while a traffic jam of bikers waited on each side of the bridge.  We also went to the Royal Delftware factory and museum.  Interesting stuff.  Expensive stuff!

Canal parking in Delft

City gate in Delft

We are having a little trouble adjusting to the time here.  It stays light until 10:30 at night, so our minds are not ready for bed until mid-morning.  And then, of course, we sleep through our alarms...slamming them on snooze, throwing them under the bed, or muffling them under our pillows.  So many of our days have been late starts.  And now, goodnight.  We are off to Amsterdam tomorrow.  Hopefully we will be able to wake up early and catch our train!