Day Fourteen: To the Heart of Apeldoorn: (Year 14: 1981)

October 4, 2017

Flash Back to 1981:

Working on our little farm was clearly a family affair - as here you see Steve trying to catch a sheep but Jeremy and Dodie helping, with Josh in a backpack.

It was not all farm work though. We all went to Mexico that year, to a house Dodie's parents rented in San Miguel Allende.

Farming is a true family effort. Here it takes four members to corner a sheep. Bicycles of course are always a part of our lives.

Despite so much fun on the farm we did travel a bit. Mexico is as far as we typically got.

Fast forward to Netherlands, 2017:

Dodie was pretty excited today, demonstrating that not only can she now lift her leg, but on the stationary bike in the exercise room of this swank hotel, she can make the pedal go all the way around! Based on that our confidence is increasing that we will be out of here by .. Monday.

Believe or not, this leg is now looking pretty good.

We have yet to pick up or pay for the new bike. There was a flurry of re-thinking when a couple of people wrote to say there is a Bike Friday dealer in Amsterdam. But a quick phone call revealed that the shop no longer carries Fridays.

Back then to the original new bike. The shop's "Visa" machine turned out not to accept Visa, only debit cards. Our card from the bank in France is a debit card, but the machine still hated it. So that had me taking a quick lesson in "IBAN" and "BIC" codes, for direct transfer between banks and accounts. I set up a transfer to the bike shop's bank, but my (French) bank then admitted it would take them a week to get the funds moved. We don't have a week, Dodie is almost ready to go!

The shop then impressed me by deciding to just trust that we would make the payment. Of course we know that their faith is well founded, but for them it's a bit of a gamble. After all, we are foreigners hell bent on leaving the country! I hope they are not predicting that we could not get that far!

Dodie and bike, plus lots of great accessories. Not so fast lady, you still have to pay for that thing.

At the bakery by the bike shop. There is a heavy emphasis in Netherlands on apple cake. The while pastry rolls below are not marzipan, but sugar paste. An ordinary person can only tolerate about half of one (I know!).

I used the freedom given me by my working Friday to have a look at the heart of Apeldoorn. Traversing even more calm and leafy streets, I did arrive at the downtown area of pedestrian streets, the city hall, and market square. It was all very nice, but somehow subdued. Maybe it was that the narrow streets were not quite narrow enough, maybe it was that many stores were from chains, maybe it was a relative lack of outdoor cafes, or maybe the "crowds" were not big enough. Sheesh, what does this tourist want for the middle of a work day in the Fall! Anyway, trying hard to stay awake I glided back through leafy-land to our dead quiet hotel. Maybe I am going stir crazy?

We have now been here in the hotel long enough to recognize most staff, understand the routines, know what the really best stuff is at breakfast, etc. And we were touched today when one of them referred to us as "almost family". Though that's great, we are working hard to run away from home!

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