At Amsterdam Central Station, we had to wait for about one-half hour at the international ticket counter in order to get our rail passes verified (to begin our 30 days of rail travel). While waiting, a girl next to me struck up a conversation:
“Where are you from?”
--“The US”
“Where in the US?”
-- “Minnesota”
“Really? Me too. What city?”
-- “Minneapolis…Uptown”
“Wow! I go to the U and my boyfriend lives in Uptown”
Small world…
Ok, so we got our tickets validated and took a train to Haarlem (about 20 minutes west of Amsterdam). It is amazing how elaborate the train stations are, even in smaller cities. The Haarlem Station is no exception.
Haarlem train station 01
Once in Haarlem we took a bus to our hostel, which is north of the city center. The bus was 20 times better than a Minneapolis public bus. It had a flat panel screen that listed out the next 5 stops and the arrival time at each. With public transportation systems like these, I can see why a lot of people don’t drive. United States, take notes.
We checked into the hostel and immediately asked where we could rent bikes. Conveniently, we could do so right at the hostel. Our bikes looked brand new. They were red and black cruisers with a graffiti tag from the factory (for instant street cred). By the way, everyone rides cruisers in the Netherlands. I rarely saw mountain or road bikes except on the countryside. Also, people don’t dress in special gear to ride. They ride in whatever they are wearing: suits, casual clothes, party dresses, work ware…no spandex!
Haarlm 03
The cruisers are usually equipped with front and rear fenders and a chain guard, so you can wear pretty much anything and not have to worry about getting dirty. Also, we saw the craziest bicycle accessories: everything from dual child carriers to large front-end haulers. The Dutch can really accomplish anything with a bike. Actually, anyone can accomplish anything with a bike, we just choose not to.
We rode from our hostel, through a park, and to the city center. Everything is so beautiful. Again, there are full accommodations for bikes. The morning rush consisted of a stream of bicycles with the occasional automobile or scooter. The sounds were of birds chirping, light conversation among bicyclists and the slight creaking of pedals. Talk about quality of life. This is top notch!
Where do you go in the States for such serenity? Definitely not the city. Even on the countryside or at the lake, the peace is typically obliterated by the screaming sound of some type of recreational vehicle. Not to say that I haven’t experienced similar annoyances here. Motorized scooters are pervasive, and particularly annoying.
In the Netherlands, peace and serenity can be found in abundance in the countryside and in the city.
We had lunch at a sidewalk café, and then rode through Haarlem’s city center. There is a wonderful pedestrian zone (no automobiles allowed) in the heart of the city. In researching this trip, I copied some pages from a “cycling the Netherlands” book. This was to be our guide for the day. Our plan was to bike to Leiden (about 30 kilometers).
Haarlm 07
We biked toward the North Sea and were immediately lost. There are bike routes everywhere, so it was basically impossible to follow the particular route defined in the book. But, because there are routes everywhere, we were ok with being lost. We knew that we just had to ride in the general direction of Leiden and we would figure it out from there.
After leaving the city to the west, we encountered a deciduous forest and turned to the south. We came across a beautiful manor in a meadow. The only sounds were the chirping of birds. After about a kilometer, we came across some large sand dunes and an entrance to a park. We must have been pretty close to the beach, but we continued south.
Eventually we turned back towards the east and found ourselves in a suburban area. We came across a sign that said “Floride Route”. Since our ultimate goal for the day was to bike through fields of flowers, we figured that this might be a good route to take. We found ourselves on a path in the countryside next to a canal. There were ducks and swans and chickens and sheep and cows and look, there is a windmill. This was picturesque Dutch countryside…beautiful!
Haarlm Coutryside 09
After some time, we encountered these huge residential developments. They consisted of ultra-modern residences in a community surrounded by canals with bike paths and small parks every 3-4 houses. This must be a Holland-style suburb. Oh, and look, there is a train stop right over there. Hmmm…maybe I don’t detest all suburban forms. I could possibly live in something like this.
Biking 01
We continued on for some time and started to get tired. I also realized that this was the first time all year I had been in the sun over an hour, so I knew I would be sunburned. We found a train stop and discovered that we were several miles east of Leiden. We hadn’t found any tulip fields yet, but decided it was time to head back.
We caught a train at Niew Vinnep to Leiden, stopped over for a beer (Heineken, of course), then took another train up to Haarlem. About halfway there, we began to see endless fields of flowers. Surprisingly, there was a train stop in the heart of the fields, but otherwise it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
“Let’s get off and have a closer look”, I said. The sun was getting low, but Darcy agreed. We had to.
The town of Hillegom was a few kilometers to the east, but to the west was a floral wonderland, and there was a Fietspad (bike path) right through it. I will defer to the photographs to describe the scene. As you can image, it was spectacular! Extremely beautiful! There was a particular spot where there was a short dock reaching out in the canal. As I sat there with my feet dangling, a swan gracefully floated by, and a field of a million tulips was immediately across the canal, less than 20 meters away. This entire scene was against the backdrop of a hazy blue sky with a low sun, and the grey silhouette of a massive cathedral far off in the distance.
Back to the train stop, back to Haarlem, and back to the hostel. On our way back it was dark and we observed that everyone keeps their shades open for anyone to peer in. And really, there is nothing much to see, just regular people doing regular people things.
Back at the hostel we were placed in a dorm that could hold 10. We were the only occupants. As we went on with our business in our room, we kept the shades open since there really isn’t anything to see.
Click here to see all our Haarlem photos.
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