So this weekend we drove up to the Netherlands to visit Dr Mark and Rianne in Leiden (about half an hour out of Amsterdam). They may call it the land of windmills, but my overactive imagination had me expecting them here, there and everywhere. Admittedly, there were a lot (and a lot more if you include the wind farms), but most (all?) were of the decommissioned variety. Mostly there for good looks, and for a bit of fun on a Sunday. Novelty purposes only. Apparently they were put in place to keep the water table from flooding everything in sight (since there the groundwater level is so high/country is below sea level) and used to pump water around from A to B. Now I guess they have better methods of managing the water levels, and from what I hear it makes the engineers here quite the masters of water management.

We decided that to make the most of the weekend, we had better start a day early. And as such we headed off on Friday morning. On the way, we stopped in at a condemned town called Doel on drive to the Netherlands & spent some time roaming the streets. Apparently the town was scheduled to be demolished in order to expand the docks in the nearby harbour. However, a small contingency of locals refused to leave. And as a result, there is now a town that is (mostly) dead, except for the grizzled few that refuse to go (who keep surprisingly well kept abodes, in the midst of all the shambolic decay around them). The empty houses and streets are now a popular haunt for street artists, and we went to get a good look in the interests of some free entertainment. It was totally well worth the visit, and the graffiti on the whole, was quite good. There was even a few cafes still operational (probably catering to tourists on the weekend perhaps), so it was quite a weird mishmash of both deserted and not…  We saw a total of 7 people during our visit, and they were all also exploring the empty streets and taking photos (or contributing to the local artwork). It was a strange experience. Thanks again to Atlas Obscura, for another good (if odd) place to visit on our travels.

On the drive, we also stopped in at the Hague to check out the beach. It was freezing and windy as, and the sand was making a solid effort at biting holes in our legs. However, we couldn’t go past the prospect of visiting the Bondi Beach cafe, and so we enjoyed the sunshine and water views whilst ensconced behind a wind barrier, making the beach a much more comfortable visit than when we arrived. Good weather for the kite surfers, though, and they were out in force.

Eventually, we arrived in Leiden. Hung out with Dr Mark, Rianne and some of their friends in Leiden for dinner and all in all had a wonderful night out in quite a lovely town.

I explored the local bird sanctuary while Murray went out for a ride with Dr Mark and after we went into Amsterdam via train to do a bit of exploring. Unbelievably, the train pay station a) wouldn’t accept our credit cards to pay for the tickets and b) only took coins. So we had to pay nearly 40 euro in coins, to get our tickets. Needless to say, we didn’t have that sort of coinage, who would? Luckily the local convenience store clerk helped us out, although it felt pretty ridiculous asking for basically AUD $60 in coins (I can only imagine how cranky I’d be if at work if someone asked me for that). Retrospectively, that was quite an expensive train trip, but it was a nice ride through the countryside and it was lovely to see the flower fields from a higher vantage point.

When we arrived, the place was abuzz with thousands of people. As such, we spent the first hour or so more or less wading through a sea of tourists, moving at little over a crawl. It was certainly not quite the kind of experience I was looking for, and so perhaps my first impressions of Amsterdam may have been somewhat tainted by irritation at the sheer numbers of other tourists ambling along at snails pace. I had initially thought it might be nice to visit the Anne Frank museum or another of the many museums in the city, but it was simply way too busy, and any ideas of that sort of thing went right out the window.

As we didn’t have anything we really wanted to see, we spent the afternoon just walking about the town (doing our best not to freeze in the super chilly wind). We satisfied ourselves with checking out the local flower market (more like spring bulbs, not actual flowers) and the many cheese shops (much like the ubiquitous Belgian chocolate shops), and some of the local architecture (which like everywhere else, was mostly in a state of refurbishment).

The centre of town featured a carnival of sorts, with a range of thrill rides with bright flashing lights and noise. I don’t think it was a special event or anything, but it made for a pretty weird experience trying to appreciate the nearby town hall and cathedral whilst also seeing someone get slingshotted by a giant bungy at the same time. It took me several photos to get one without someone on a thrill ride somewhere in the shot.

I didn’t really have any expectations of what Amsterdam city might be like (and didn’t do much research prior to visiting). Turns out that the city is interwoven with canals. How about that. Guess that makes sense with the high groundwater situation. Needless to say, there were multitudes (of tourists) on the river also, exploring the city via canal boats. From what I hear, this is situation normal on the weekend.

It has been interesting to see how different the architecture in the Netherlands is compared to what we have seen in France and Belgium. The Netherlands definitely seems to be much more modern again than Belgium (and Belgium seemed more modern than France). Newer buildings, different building styles, and thousands of bikes. Thousands and thousands of bikes. I suspect everyone owns at least one, if not more bikes per person. And it makes sense, as the infrastructure here is totally focused on making riding a bike a safe and convenient alternative to driving (for people of all ages). Also helps when the land is uber flat. No hills to ride up (or down). Flat as a tack. Which means it is also quite windy (no surprises re. the windmill situation). It was strange walking through the crowded Amsterdam streets having to primarily avoid cyclists rather than cars.

Since it was so busy, we had thought it would be great to find a nice spot in the sun at a cafe, however it turned out to be more difficult than expected. There wasn’t a whole lot of warmth to be had if you weren’t in direct sunlight, and it seemed that every last bit of sunshine was already occupied by the hordes of people at all the cafes in town. We did eventually find a spot, and relaxed and watched the canal boats go by (and tourists, with souvenirs that they had purchased at the nearby public loo?). In the end, we tried to escape the crowds and ended up walking a couple of km out of the city centre to visit a local brewery instead. And the tourists evaporated (along with almost everyone else). We even spent a fair stint walking essentially on empty streets. However, it turned out there was more than a respectable contingency of people at the brewery. So we didn’t stay long. We deliberated over whether to stay in Amsterdam or just go home, since it seemed the day would have been better spent exploring the lovely local town of Leiden (where we were staying) instead. We voted to stay longer (as it was a pricey trip out) and eventually ended our day with dinner at a Himalayan restaurant and made our way home. Retrospectively, we probably should have visited Amsterdam on a weekday & perhaps we would have escaped the bedlam in town. Note to self: do touristy stuff on days not including the weekend, as masses of tourists can really stuff up your day.

Sunday was spent making our way home, with the first stop being the Keukenhof gardens. Every year from March to May the gardens present a spectacular display of spring bulbs, forming the second largest expo of its kind in the world. It was certainly epic, with more tulips, hyacinth, & daffodils than I have ever seen in one place. On top of that they had many other flowers on display, and it all got a bit overwhelming. Not to mention that this was also a tourist trap (clearly didn’t pay enough attention to that previous note to self). Bus loads upon bus loads of tourists were there (and we had arrived relatively early). When we eventually left, the traffic outside the entrance was utterly ridiculous. People endeavouring to go to visit the gardens essentially caused almost complete standstill to the traffic. Too bad if you weren’t planning on visiting the garden and just got stuck in it, because the traffic was backed up for kilometres. Epic traffic fail. Although maybe not so bad as some article I read about someone running out of petty in the Indooroopilly Westfield car park the other day because the exits get clogged with traffic on Sundays. Seriously?

On the way home, Murray took me to see some of the countryside that he had gone riding through, and the small towns and canals were stunning to see. Some areas are more affected by the high water table than others, and as a result there are places where many of the houses are completely surrounded by water, and accessible only via a small bridge to the property. It’s so beautiful. Many properties are not only surrounded by water, but also back onto a lake (lucky sods, they all get their own island to live on). Bit of a different take on the term “absolute waterfront”.

We visited the Brouwerij De Molen (The Mill) brewery for lunch on the way home, and I think this may have been the highlight of the weekend for Murray. Plenty of sour beer to find in their bottle shop (in the Netherlands, still), which has been a refreshing change from our experience thus far (it’s actually been much harder to find sour beer than expected, given that the area we are living in is the home of sour beer). We then visited 2 more breweries on the way home (three if you count the one that had already closed for the day), since it seems this whole countryside is riddled with them. It was interesting to have a sticky beak at the local breweries, and it was a shame that we missed going on a tour of the Trappist brewery that we visited. It is beyond strange to think that a major source of the finest beers produced are prepared by monks in an abbey in this day and age.

Finally we made it home. Thank goodness. Another road trip done and dusted and still in one piece.

 

Things we have noted thus far:

The wily Fantastic Mr Fox:

That’s probably more than enough on the weirdness that is the weekly food shop for now, I’m sure. However, there is plenty more where that came from…

The cycling (I freely admit that reading this is probably not exciting, but here goes anyway):

Next week:

 

 

 

So we escaped Atlanta on Friday afternoon and left on our way to Orlando. Since then, the last few days in the US were a bit of a blur. A lot was seen in a relatively short period of time:

We visited Savannah and explored the town – tourism there seems to be a big thing, with trolley buses, tour buses and (from what I’ve established, it must be obligatory) ghost tours. The ghost tours were on refurbished hearses with the roof raised…and troupe seating. Made it look more like a safari through the streets and cemeteries than a regular tour. Would have loved to have gone, if only to ride around in the hearse-safari-mobile. Tourists everywhere.

The town itself was very pretty, with historical buildings, cemeteries and cobbled paths along the riverside. Plenty of entertainers on every corner singing for their supper. However, Savannah also seems to host a large number of homeless living in the area, and while exploring we spotted a shanty town of sorts near the highway. It was pretty weird to see. There was almost a tent city located in the small forest where the entry ramp met the highway. I’ve never seen a homeless encampment like that, and certainly nothing so close to a major town. Bizarre.

…We checked out the marshy wetlands (surprisingly, not stinky), complete with going on an alligator spotting mission in a nature reserve. Saw more than 40 alligators on a very slow drive through the park. Some were babies/juveniles, some were definitely adults. Neither seemed interested in us. You could get out and walk/hike the reserve at any time. So with the disinterested alligators, I guess that’s a good thing. Over the weekend apparently they were holding a turkey shoot to reduce numbers in the park (with participation aimed at school age children!), so I was expecting to see a turkey or two.. But no. Maybe they knew the school kids were coming to get them and vamoosed.

 We also visited Brunswick and St Simons on our way down the coast and enjoyed some ridiculously delicious pastries and seafood (and local beer from Jacksonville, since apparently Florida sucks at craft beer). Our first look at the beach on the Florida coastline left a lot to be desired. They have got nothing on our beaches. Nothing. At. All.

 Disney World was quite the experience. So many (many, many) people. Apparently, to do Disney properly you should visit for upwards of a week. I can’t imagine spending a week in a theme park… And we certainly didn’t budget for a week (A week? Wowee kiss your wallet goodbye). We elected to visit just the Magic Kingdom, and only for one day. As it was, this part of Disney apparently pulls around 18 million people a year, meaning I was sharing my day with close to 50,000 other people. I can’t say that seemed inaccurate. The place was packed (and yet had enough space to be yet more packed…). We wandered around, did a few rides, watched a bit of the parades and other entertainment (..ate a giant turkey leg..) and at about 5pm gave up due to being wiped out (and being heartily sick of waiting 1hr in line for rides). We made our way to Disney Downtown, and enjoyed some of the entertainment on offer there before eventually making our way home. I had a great time.

 …What did I learn from my trip? Disney is certainly an epic destination. And more than one day is definitely advisable, if only so you can bail and have a nap before braving the crowds some more. The place is open to 1am!! If only I could have been bothered making it back in there from Disney Downtown, I’m sure some of the rides would have been more accessible (and kids hopefully in bed).

Our last day in the US was spent at a natural spring in Florida, where Murray went for a run and I explored the wetland trails. The place was beautiful, and I couldn’t help feeling more than a little jealous of the Floridians that get to enjoy these beautiful natural resources – there are over 1000 natural springs in Florida. Although, there are also alligators, and a baby alligator was definitely hanging out at the spring (and another on the path where Murray went running). Alligators aside, I still wanted to go swimming, but could not bring myself to dealing with wet clothes, wet hair etc and then flying. Murray did. I was jealous. I selected the “get eaten by midges” option instead (which at the time I was stoked as they were not itchy, but it later made me look like I had measles, and then became ridiculously itchy while on our flight to Paris).

We flew out of Orlando from the smallest international airport I have ever seen.

We flew in from Orlando, FL to Iceland as our stopover on the way to Paris. This first flight was uneventful, although it was a bit of an experience: flying in a tiny jet from a tiny airport from a summery destination to one that was decidedly frozen. Murray and I were wearing thongs. …Murray was also wearing board shorts… As you do, in -5C conditions. Thank goodness for central heating.

The second flight was a short, 3 hour affair, landing us in yet another tiny airport. …Where we discovered a distinct lack of customs. I can’t help but feel a bit like an invader, having not gone through any official process of entering the country (our entering process involved getting off the plane, getting our bags and then walking out the exit…). I guess our formal entry must have been in Iceland. There, the official in the booth next to us looked like he was on the warpath (he was a cranky-faced passport stamping machine) who ploughed through his line at least twice as fast as ours. Our official stamped our passports and waved us through. Pretty sure our complete communication consisted of a) hello & b) goodbye.

First impressions of Europe? I had no idea that there was so much countryside between towns (or that the towns would be so small and compact). We exited the airport (north of Paris) to find ourselves somewhere distinctly rural, on tiny roads leading us through tiny towns with tiny ancient-looking houses that look like they would be a historical attraction at home or in the US. Here, it’s just someone’s house.

The traffic lights and road signs are strange (the give way signs here are especially stupid), and Murray is not yet totally proficient at the driving on the right with the added joy of driving stick with the wrong hand. But so far, we have had no accidents. Huzzah (and fingers crossed for good measure).

Our first two days were spent in Le Meux, France. We did a little sightseeing in Compiegne and Pierrefonds, checking out the local Chateaux and other historical buildings. It’s like you can’t turn around without seeing something else with more history than I’m used to experiencing. We even went to a museum in Compiegne (not because we weren’t getting enough history, more because it was freezing and wet outside and we needed a break from being frozen).

 …I have already consumed a fair portion of my body weight in cheese. There is so much cheese and smallgoods at the supermarket, I don’t know what to do with myself. There are literally aisles upon aisles of cured meats and cheeses – it’s like going to Woolworths to find that all of the cold cases have now been relegated to just cheese and cured meats, and for good measure the fresh fruit and vegetable section were also converted. Makes for a difficult time deciding what cheese to try.

Our accommodation in Le Meux was very comfortable and convenient for a little bit of local exploration just out of Paris, however, it was also a smoking household. I never even considered investigating something like that when choosing somewhere to stay (it certainly wasn’t advertised one way or the other). Although, many people still smoke in France, so maybe I should have expected it. Currently, everything I own smells like smoke. It’s a pervasive smell that I had almost forgotten, being so spoiled in almost smoke-free Australia. Last time I smelled like this was as a uni student after a big night out prior to cigarettes being banned in nightclubs and eating establishments. I do not smell delicious (and I suspect I can kind of taste it). Yuck.

After our two days in France (we will be back there later), we headed off to Belgium:

We stayed in a hotel outside of Oudenaarde (in Belgium) for the Easter long weekend in order to catch some of the Tour De Flanders. For those who don’t follow any cycling: The Tour De Flanders is the Tour you may have seen for a minute on TV (between changing stations perhaps) where the cyclists ride the iconic cobblestone roads that feature prominently in the area. It’s nuts just to drive on, let alone ride a bike on. Apparently your arms (and then other appendages) go numb from being bounced around so much. It does not look in the least bit comfortable, and it can be slippery and muddy and generally hazardous to ride the cobbles. However, despite all that, this cobblestone thing is very popular. Murray was keen but somewhat dubious about riding it.

The weather over the weekend was cold and a bit miserable, much like the last couple of days in France. Murray fully intended to ride the Sportiv held on the Saturday, alongside some 16,000 other cyclists (at least 9000 of which were Brits, apparently). However, the weather on Saturday was horrible, and he abandoned ship early (returning home mostly frozen, seriously filthy & soaking wet). Over the weekend he still managed to get a ride in on the Friday, the ill-fated Sportiv on the Saturday, and another ride on the Sunday before we left to watch the Tour. Fortunately, on Sunday the weather was beautiful: Sunny, clear skies and much warmer (didn’t even need a jacket all the time). Dr Mark and Rianne made for excellent weekend riding companions (plus impromptu Dutch translators & great company in general). While they rode, I got in some blissful time in solitude. No regrets.