Two years after Joni, we welcomed Laurie. Now a large family of four we moved into graduate student housing on the exotic west side of the university, leaving the "student ghetto" on the east side. This was still just an apartment, but it did not stop Joni from cycling, either in the house or out at our parents' places in the suburbs.
1972 brought us, and Joni, baby Laurie. A great year in our lives!
Our plan for today was simply to follow a track set forth for us by bikemap.net, over to Alkmaar which is about 50 km north west of Amsterdam. We chose Alkmaar just because we remembered it as an attractive town and I kind of like the name. On the other hand we picked up a pamphlet from the Hop On Hop Off bus people, that set out a circuit in the vicinity of Amsterdam that is much better thought out. The circuit takes people to a coastal fishing village, a cheese factory, a windmill area, and five or six other hot spots. Had we not already booked our next two nights we might have taken a day to follow that circuit.
The Hop On Hop Off circuit that looks like a good idea even for cyclists. "Lookout" on this map is just north of the Amsterdam train station.
As it was, even our careless (care free!) planning could not fail to please in this pleasant and interesting land.
We began, of course, in the city, joining the amazing flow of cyclists. At times I almost lost Dodie up ahead as she was submerged in the stream of bikes. I was impressed by how silent and efficient the flow of commuters was. In cars this would have been a noisy and for us, dangerous affair.
Our first stop was the several block long Albert Cuypstraat market. Unlike many markets it must have been set to start later, since we found only a few of the vendors set up and ready to go. We only stopped at a pretty standard postcard and tee shirt vendor and got some postcards. The vendor pointed out to us the wide selection he had of Amsterdam/Cycling tee shirts. When we declined to buy one based on not wanting to carry the weight over our whole coming trip, we had to explain where we were going. The man was very interested in this, and asked us some questions that were, I thought, quite revealing. One was whether there were bike ways for our route, and what would we do if there were not. Would we actually ever ride on an actual car road? The other revealing thing was the fact that the man really had no inkling of where things like the Rhine or the Mosel might be located. Although he was of East Indian extraction and obviously must have some world knowledge, it did not extend to Germany or I am guessing, much else in Europe.
Now we followed our track around the east end of Amsterdam and towards the north. This took us into neighbourhoods of apartment buildings and quite broad boulevards - in short, housing for the majority of middle to low income residents and workers. From our point of view, though this is not the most pleasant of scenic rides it was ok. e boulevards still had separated bike paths, and they had public transit lanes or tracks down the middle. How different from equivalent areas in other cities. Naples, Florida come to mind six to eight lanes of nothing but cars.
There is Dodie, almost lost in the Amsterdam bike traffic.
The true beauty and magic of the day's ride emerged as we ourselves left the city outskirts. Now we were in agricultural North Holland. It was flat green polder lands, dotted with clean and beautiful animals - sheep, Holstein cows, horses, and even the occasional llama, black swan, heron, and more. The crowds of bicycles of Amsterdam were gone, and it was all just purely relaxing bike path.
Here and in the following shots is a selection of the many animals we came across today.
The relaxation theme continued as we entered the small town of Ilpendam. This had small and neat houses and people who all greeted us as we passed by. But the main feature was quiet. There were basically no cars moving about and the whole place was still. Mmmmmm.
Look Avi and Violet, out here Top Ten Toys has been reduced to Top 1 Toys.
Beyond Ilpendam was Purmerend, one of the towns actually on the Hop On Hop Off itinerary. They said it would have fabulous boutique shopping, but actually it was pleasant but normal.
It was after Purmerend that the real fun and interest began for us. That is because we passed through the Beemster area - Middenbeemster, Nordbeemster,and a couple of others. Beemster is a famous name for cheese, and we often see it at high prices even in the Fred Meyer stores in Washington and Oregon. But Beemster also has some of the absolutely lovely giant farmhouses - brick main floors, with giant roofs made from tile or best, a combination of tile and thatch. Many of the houses are historic, having been built in the 1600's, and with signs in front describing their heritage status (in Dutch only, unfortunately).
We find the houses in the Beemsters to be extremely attractive. The high roofs come from a time when the lofts were used for hay storage. We also really like the roofs with thatch and tile combinations.
Between the Beemsters and Alkmaar we came to a museum that comprised a working (or at least, spinning) windmill, with two others nearby and a film describing how wndmills were used and how they worked. The mills in this area were used to drain a large lake, creating farm land. It took many mills - hundreds, to do that. They could also work in a series, to lift water extra high if needed, I think the three we saw at the museum site were actually part of four, close together, to achieve something like a big lift. We got to go inside the mill. It was very atmospheric, with lots of heavy timbers, and the smell of woodsmoke from the stove in the living quarters. The blades outside reach almost to the ground and move with a powerful swoosh swoosh. Wooden gear wheel convert the horizontal motion to a large vertical shaft that eventually turns a large Archimedes screw in the basement - moving the water. It was an impressive and powerful looking system. On the other hand, windmills in their hundreds have been replaced by a few electric powered modern day pumping stations.
From the windmills into Alkmaar was an easy cruise, and we found ourselves quickly in the area of picturesque narrow streets. Our hotel/hostel is right in the middle of this area. Called the King's Inn, it has a large central area of communal tables and a very clean if Spartan appearance. It will do fine. Meanwhile we have managed to link up with the Bairds, who started in Denmark this time, and will go out to meet them and find some food. The Bairds have done and blogged two dozen trips from all over the world!
We all decided to accept the 55 euro per couple cost of a traditional Indonesian rice table. There were about 15 dishes to it, comprising about four times as much as any of us would normally eat. We tried all the dishes but between us did not totally finish many, a surprisingly mature approach.When the restaurant staff started to put on their coats and leave, we stopped talking cycling and hit the street. The least mature one in the group brought the Bairds back to the Kings Hotel and bought coffee/tea and apple geback. It was only him that actually wanted the apple pastry. This type of eating is only for professionals!
