Come Along on a Bike Ride with US, Won't You?

 

Riding along the canals on our way to visit Delft

Monday, April 18, 2022


Today is our first full day of riding, after our "taste" of Rotterdam yesterday, where we tried out our bikes and figured out how to manage intersections, bike lanes, shark teeth and zebra crossings (markings on the pavement indicating who needs to stop and who has right of way.)

We planned to visit Delft, the Hague, the beach at Scheveningen, the North Sea dunescape and end up in Leiden.  Our planned distance was about 50 km - but we ended up doing 60 (37 miles).

We started the trip in Schiedam, from our boat, the Aurora, after a hearty breakfast.  We had our helmets (-surprise to us -- none of the natives wears bike helmets in the Netherlands -- not even kids-),  our water bottles, our panniers to carry our stuff.  We were ready.

These bikes were great for riding - although the electric pedal assist that I had was quite heavy.

We began our day with a lovely breakfast, including eggs and bacon.  Yum.

We started biking from the Aurora - so this was our first site in the morning

Michael puzzling about the traffic lights in Schiedam.

Our group is small - 6 bikers today.  Two of us are using electric assist bikes, the rest, including Michael, are on regular touring bikes.  Our leader, Willem, goes first and we follow him in a line, as we don't have maps or GPS for where we are going.

The town of Schiedam was fairly busy, with many street crossings, cars, other bikers and pedestrians.  It's a national holiday (day after Easter) and also the first sunny, warm day they've had in a while, so lots of people are out and about.

It was fun to ride through the neighborhoods and check out the houses and gardens. There are many blooming trees - crabapples, Japanese cherry trees, etc.  Lots of "pink".  And the flowering bulbs are blooming in their pretty little street side gardens.

So many flowering trees - the streets seemed "pink" from all the color.

Typical house next to a small canal

Lots of blooms decorating everyone's green space

As we left Schiedam and headed for Delft, our path became more pastoral and rural.  It was fun to see the farms and the larger canals.  We saw lots of waterfowl, sheep and horses.  We saw a stork (brings good luck) and a few great blue herons.

Pretty house along a small canal, with a swan and lots of tulips a-blooming.

What's not to love about biking along tracks like this??

A typical bridge crossing a canal - and a Michelin star restaurant on the left.

The baby lambs are out in force - so cute to see them frolic like little jumping beans.

Our weather was perfect - sunny and in the low 60's.

This is the approximate route of our full days ride - 60 km along a good part of southern Holland.

Tilting at Windmills in My Imagination

View of the Nolet Distilleries brewery from our boat.

Sunday, April 17, 2022

The Netherlands still has many working windmills, and I'm a bit obsessed with finding them, and photographing them when possible.  We had a wonderful visit to Kinderdijk a dozen years ago, where they have 19 working windmills from the 18th Century and three pumping stations.  I also love the grace and beauty of the large white wind  turbines that are found throughout the countryside (and in Indiana and Illinois and our own back yard in Middleton!)

In less than 24 hours, I have seen more than a dozen.  Most exciting, our Aurora boat is docked right under a working windmill that generates electricity for Nolet Distilleries, which produces Ketel One and other Dutch genevir - versions of gin.  The wind mill is new and serves as a wind turbine to generate electricity for the distillery.

Windmills on the drive between Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Wind turbine windmill at the Nolet Distillery

Nolet Distillery windmill viewed from the Aurora

Getting ready for our afternoon bike ride.

Zigzag clouds in the sky - wonder what makes those?

Nighttime reflexions on the Schiedam canal.

Welcoming Dinner aboard the Aurora

Lovely place setting for our first dinner

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Our group of eight returned from our first bicycling foray out to the big city of Rotterdam at about 7 PM.  We chatted and relaxed and unpacked while waiting for dinner.

Karina does the cooking and is an impressive chef.  Her assistant, Andre, invited us to be seated and poured us a glass of white wine, Sancerre, from France.  It was my first time tasting this varietal and I really enjoyed it. 

Karina served us shrimp cocktail as an appetizer, with a main course of fish - royal dorade and salmon with boiled potatoes and vegetable, and an Eton mess for dessert.  Eton mess is made from strawberries, meringue and whipped cream, and is reportedly Prince William's favorite dessert.

We enjoyed talking and getting to know one another - and yikes! - it was 10 PM when we finished.  We have a big day of cycling tomorrow to get ready for.  Time for bed!

Our dinner table awaits our group of eight travelers

Haven't had Sancerre before - really enjoyed it

A tasty shrimp cocktail for starters

Our fish themed dinner - royal dorade and salmon

An Eton mess - created at the English school of Eton - light and delicious

The dining room was filled with the fragrance of Easter lilies and roses. So nice.

And below, a fond farewell to our Amsterdam Hotel Estherea, which served a lovely breakfast this morning.

Breakfast room filled with sunlight at the Hotel Estherea

A delicious breakfast to start the day.

Biking in Rotterdam - a Very Modern City

 

De Markthal - the market hall - constructed in 2014

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Our group of eight took our first bike ride this afternoon.  We all wanted to test out our bikes to be sure we will be good to go for the rest of the week.  My rental is an electric bike, Michael is using a traditional road bike.  It's about a 20 KM round trip from where our boat is docked to central Rotterdam. So we all put on our helmets, adjusted our seats and set off following our leader, Willum.

The pedal-assist electric bike is a dream - really not much needed on the flat terrain.  It's similar to my Trek electric bike, so I felt very comfortable.  What was less comfortable was cycling through downtown Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands.  The bike paths are great, and well marked, but it was a very crowded Easter Sunday, with lots of bicycles and motor scooters, and we stopped many, many times for the lights as we traversed the more densely populated part of the city.

 Euromast - a 600 foot observation tower constructed in 1960 for the Floriade (flower festival)

Rotterdam is charming, and I'd love to spend more time there.  It has specifically chosen to be a city of modern architecture - and there are some beautiful examples that we were able to see on our brief sojourn.  Its story starts sadly - it had been a beautiful canaled city, similar to Amsterdam with an historic center.  During WW II, Hitler tried to capture the port of Rotterdam for the use of the Nazi's, with hopes of a short campaign.  However, the Nazi troops met much stiffer resistance from the Dutch militia, and he decided to bomb the city of Rotterdam to get them to surrender.  On May 14, 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed the central city, destroying it, including killing 900 civilians and demolishing the homes of 80,000 Rotterdam residents.

During the rebuilding in the 50s and 60s, the city made a conscious decision to replan the city center with a focus on modern styled architecture.  We cycled by a number of the highlights of Rotterdam's modern treasures, and I was captivated.

 Ossip Zadkine's statue De Verwoeste Stad (The Destroyed City) is a commemoration of the May 14 bombing

De Markthal is a central market surrounded by about 200 apartments

This is how one of the tourist guides describes the Markthal:

"A place for anyone who loves good food, Markthal is home to almost a hundred fresh food stalls, shop units, and restaurants, as well as over 200 apartments. 

Opened in 2014, it’s built near the very place where Rotterdam was first founded in 1270. Visiting Markthal is therefore not just a culinary delight, but also a journey through time —  literally. As you go down the escalators and into the car park, you can see various medieval objects that were discovered during construction. 

Its walls and ceiling are covered with images of giant flying fruits, flowers, and insects. This gigantic artwork — titled Horn of Plenty and created by the artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam —  is one of the biggest in the world and covers an area of about 11,000 square meters. "

The Horn of Plenty on the interior of the Markthal - windows belong to the co-located apartments

This apartment tower is known as The Pencil and is next to the rows of Cube Houses

Designed by Piet Blom, the Kijk Kubus is supposed to look like an urban forest of tree houses

The apartments have horizontal floors, so may not be so difficult to live in.

The modern esthetic built around the location of the original Rotterdam dam (1200's)

We next road to the Delfshaven area of Rotterdam to see the Oude of Pelgrimvaderskert - the Old Pilgrim Father's Church.  Below is the story from Wikipedia:

"In 1608, a group of English Dissenters fled to the Netherlands, having left the Church of England a few years before and founded their own religious community.

After living in Leiden for eleven years, they decided to become Pilgrims and cross to America, where they might worship God in their own way and still be Englishmen.  Their boat, the Speedwell, left Delfshaven, on July 21 1620, bound for America."

The Olde Pilgrim's Fathers Church

Views of the canals in Delfshaven

Riding back to the Aurora on the Schiedemsweg bike path

Following Michael - he's not too far ahead!