Day 10 – sail from Utrecht to Breukelen (Brooklyn) then cycle to Amsterdam

We started out our day in Breukelen.  Apparently it’s the original Brooklyn and the one in NY was named after this one.  The Dutch traded Brooklyn to the British for Cape Town.  We crossed the original Brooklyn Bridge, a tiny little bridge that opens for boats to pass through.  A man uses a fishing pole with a small wooden shoe attached to swing out to the boats so they can pay their toll.

The bicycle traffic was pretty heavy today.  Lots of bike tours as one gets closer to Amsterdam.  There are round-abouts for bikes, special traffic lights for bicycles and the bikes get more time than people to cross.  Did I tell you about our bikes?  They’re high efficiency bikes, and the gear system is excellent.  Apart from the ‘seats’, the bikes are amazing.  When I choose my new bike in September I’ll have a better idea of what I want.  Also, I forgot to mention all the hand signals that our guide uses, plus the messages that need to be passed on ‘down the line’; for instance: “pole!”  This is the little dividing pole at intersections to keep cars out.  We thought it was a little redundant until Els told us about the accident last year, when a woman was so busy looking around she didn’t see it and broke three bones in her leg!  OK, so we’ll pass the message on!  A fist opening and closing means slow down and then a closed fist (raised arm of course), means we’re stopping.  The other verbal message to pass along is ‘no priority’, which means:  ‘check before you cross the street, don’t just follow blindly’.  Some cars are good about stopping and waiting, and others are impatient.  Small motorcycles are also allowed on the bike paths.   

Today was only 52 kms, and the morning was the hardest time for me.  We had a headwind of about 25-30 km.  After a nice latte at noon, I felt refreshed and the afternoon went by quickly.  But our butts were totally numb by the end of the day. 

We cycled along waterways all day – it was lovely.  We stopped for a few pictures and also for a cheese making tour.  It was a real farm, with all the smells and cows.  The calves are taken away from the mother after just a couple of days, and bottle fed because they need the mother’s milk.  We got to sample many different kinds of cheeses and learned how to properly store and cut it.  This of course is based on the type of cheese that has a ‘skin’.  Apparently it should be stored with the bread, not in a fridge.  We told her that wouldn’t work in our central heated homes.

One of the women organized the card and ‘tip’ for the staff here.  Tonight we’re in Amsterdam and will do a little walk around.  Tomorrow, right after breakfast we’ll walk to the train station (30 min) and then take the train to the airport.  Lisbon here we come!  I think we’re ready for heat.

Day 9 – Gorimchen to Vienan, then sail to Utrecht

It was another lovely day of cycling.  We started out in fog for the first hour.  It was about 16 degrees when we headed out.  Through the day the weather improved and by noon it was HOT.  Today we cycled through large farms, orchards and estates. The fruit trees made me think of the time Jesus said he would take off any branch that didn’t bear fruit.  The trees are tall and lean and LOADED with fruit.  In fact you see more fruit than foliage.   There were so many sheep farms and so many beautiful horses.  Lots of different kinds, but they all look well cared for.  The 55 km were much easier than the 35 yesterday; we had the wind behind us and we made more stops to sightsee. 

Here in Vienan we saw a real stork. It’s pouring rain right now; we made it back to the boat just before this storm started. We can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day of cycling and then Saturday we’re off to Lisbon.  We thought we’d only stay one night, but we think we might stay for two – get cleaned up, find a church and decide where we want to go next.  I want to find a massage therapist.

Carolyn, I’m using every tip and exercise you ever taught me and it’s really helping.  I feel very fit and capable. 

We went into Utrecht last night and walked around for a few hours.  The church bells ring every ¼ hour, 24/7, much to the delight of the people who live there!!!!  It’s a ‘dirty’ town, 200,000 – lots of graffiti and things are not so well kept as we’ve seen in the countryside.  It’s also a university town, so crowds of young people everywhere. 

FYI speed bumps are called drempels here.  Go Figure!  It certainly makes us think about the Rempels a lot.

Also, the Dutch language is very easy to figure out, when it’s written.  For instance our ‘good day’, is ‘goed dag’ in Dutch, which is ‘guten tag’ in German.  So, my Germanic roots are finally useful.  But not when it’s spoken.  Then I don’t have a clue.    

  

Day 8- Wilmstad to Gorimchen (pn Hhorkim)

What an interesting day!  I was the ‘sweeper’ (the rear guard), and what a workout!  You’re not supposed to leave anyone behind, but people want to stop for various reasons, to pee, to take off their jacket, to put on their jacket and then you have to go three times as fast to catch up.  Plus we had a head wind all day, about 25 km/hr.  Our guide was getting quite frustrated today b/c there was a lot of complaining and whining.  At one point we (myself and two ladies who were exhausted) were at least a km behind the main group.  I of course couldn’t leave them.  So, finally Els, our guide put the slow ones near the front, right behind her.  We had to make a 4 o’clock ferry.  We used the ferry 3 times today.  The ferry boat is equipped with a little ramp to cycle the bikes up and down.  Coming off one ferry, we saw two women who must have been at least 70.  Everyone cycles here.   

 Once again we cycled through pristine countryside and farms.  The Dutch are very clean and tidy people; their lawns look like they’ve been manicured with scissors.  The thatched roofs look sculpted and the farms are immaculate. 

There are lots of cows, sheep and horses.  Let me describe two different kinds of cows I saw.  One cow has the rear end of a pig, the head of a cow, the shoulders of a bull and an elongated body.  It must be bred for meat, but it is the oddest looking thing.  Yesterday there was a cow that was chocolate brown front and back with a two-foot white band around the middle.  But at least it looked like a cow.  

I don’t think there is any low fat anything here in the Netherlands.  The milk and yoghurt is all very creamy.  They love to use butter for all their cooking.  Delicious!  And the breads are yummy.  Fortunately we’re doing a lot of cycling.  Today we cycled only 35 km but tomorrow the plan is to cycle 55, then the barge will sail to Utrecht, after that there is only one day to get to Amsterdam.  We can’t believe we’ve already been away for one week.

Today was the first evening that we had nice weather.  We had dessert up on the deck and everyone’s spirits improved considerably.  We saw a ‘boat’ coming down the canal; it was made out of a wood pallet anchored onto 3 surf boards with a small 9hp motor.  There was a leather couch, plants and some kind of locker.  He came to the edge, picked up some friends, a pizza and took off again!  Apparently this is quite common here. 

 

Day 7

Another amazing day of cycling – in fact it was a day of ‘man’ or ‘woman’ against nature!  We finally had the ‘bad’ day forecast for Sunday – rain pretty well all day.  But, amazingly, we actually got hot while cycling.  At our lunch stop, Bruce found some cycling shorts and put them on – but he still felt numb after another hour.  Because of the rain our guide cut the tour short by 5 km, so we only cycled 45 km!!!  I loved the whole day, even with the rain.  There’s something about cycling with a group of people; you chat with different people during the day, and the countryside is very interesting. There are lots of cows, horses, chickens, and sheep.  It’s really interesting to cycle on top of the dikes and see the neat orderly farms below. 

The food on board is amazing.  We have a young chef on board.  Apparently he’s actually an artist, but can’t make a living at that yet, so he took cooking lessons.  He’s a very good cook.  Every night at dinner time he comes and tells us what the menu is and then says, ‘dessert is a surprise’.  We sit around a big table – all 16 of us, and the food is served ‘family style’; you can have as much as you want.  There’s been a few things we didn’t care for – but it’s really nice not having to even make a decision about what to eat. 

I’ll tell you a little about our shipmates.  From France, we have Jean-Louis (ret’d chemist), Michelle (artist) and their grandson Za-ka-REE(not Zachary).  They speak mostly French but are able to participate easily.  (Most people we’ve met so far, who live here, speak at least 2-4 languages.)  There is another couple from Canada – BC.  Ron (CPA) and Laurie (teacher); David (a diamond seller to tourists) and his wife Paula from the Bahamas - they’re the couple who cycled in Vietnam last year.  Jane is a solicitor from England and her partner Mark is a drama professor from Glasgow.  The honeymoon couple, David and Rose are from Spain. They’re the youngest couple here.   We have another Jane (teacher from Wales, now living in Hong Kong with her husband Yohan (originally from BC), now a professor of business in Hong Kong. So that’s our eclectic group – it keeps life very interesting. 

Day 5 and 6

As you can tell, we’ve been incommunicado since Saturday.  Our barge doesn’t have internet except for emergencies, so we have to wait until we get to a port that has free internet.  This port, Antewerpen, does have internet, but it’s too low to be of any use.  So, I guess we’ll take our laptop into ‘town’ tomorrow and try to find an internet café. 

This cycling trip, so far, has been everything I/we imagined.  It’s absolutely wonderful to cycle through the countryside.  The weather forecasters here have the same record as ours do back home – Sunday which was supposed to be terrible weather, it turned into a lovely day.  It was cold, but we still managed 55 kms .  Bruce  is having no trouble keeping up, in fact likes to ride right behind the guide if possible, b/c she’s quite the ‘quickest way from point A to B’ person.  I was concerned about being able to keep up, but I’m having no trouble.  We’re both having sore butts – 1 hour a day, doesn’t prepare one for 2-4 hours of cycling per day.  Bruce was quite pleased when our guide stopped us after the 1^st hour and told us to ‘’keep our blood sugar levels up”, so we wouldn’t get dizzy. 

Yesterday we went through small towns, farms, etc.  The trails are mostly fantastic, but we did cycle on gravel, wet mud, and the worst:  cobblestones (a free cellulite buster!)  Wow, that totally shakes everything up.  We’ve been cycling on top of dikes, beside dikes, and today we did a tour through a big city, with a lot of vehicle traffic and ‘rush hour bike traffic’!  It was a little challenging, to say the least.   For your information, if a road in Belgium is painted red, you can drive on it in a car, but bicycles have priority.  Also, we went to this place near Antewerpen, got into a huge elevator (it took 18 bicycles plus riders) rode down 31 meters (100 feet), then rode underneath the Schelde River for about ¼ mile, with three lanes (2 bicycle, 1 pedestrian),  another 100 feet, up the elevator to street level and were near the city town square.    We have one boy on the tour with his grandparents.  He’s 11 and he took a fall, b/c he always wants to be right behind the guide and as expected, he’s not too observant.  He weaves back and forth, rides through all puddles and holes – just usual boy stuff.  He’s doing quite well, for being the only child on a tour of adults.  We also have one honeymoon couple.    We told them there’s lots of advice if they need it. The rest of the couples are about our age.

Day 3 - continued

getting ready to go, the Swann in the background


We started out the day with more sight-seeing in Brugge.  We found the Church of the Blood – it’s supposed to contain a drop of Jesus’ blood, behind the silver altar.  It’s beautiful and I always find it moving to go into these churches; it’s still a testimony to the power of Jesus to withstand the erosion of the faith through some of these countries.

It was very exciting to actually get to our barge and see the Swann.  It’s not the QEII, but cozy, comfy and clean.  We cycled about 25 kms, then sat around for several hours.  We’ve met our group – it will be an interesting week!   One couple here cycled 700 kms from Saigon to Hanoi and said it was an absolutely amazing experience.  It took them 3 weeks. 

The supper was amazing, soup, salad, potatoes, roasted peppers, chicken wrapped in bacon on skewers and chocolate mousse (all homemade by our young chef)!  Our hostess explained that there is a moment of silence before we eat. 





The forecast to tomorrow is torrential rain, so we may or may not cycle.  I was praising God for this opportunity to cycle along the canal today.  I had no trouble keeping up. 

Day 3 - Brugge, Belgium

zoom in on the screen in the pic; me taking a pic

 It was so easy to figure out getting to Brugge, or as the Dutch pronounce it: Bruhhe.  The 3.5 hour train ride was great.   We accidentally sat in first class and then had to move to 2nd class - but all the seats were already taken.  After standing for about 1/2 hour some people left, so we had seats, but not together.  Bruce visited with a 22 year old dynamic born again, Dutch believer.  They had a great time of sharing.  I visited with a 28 year old Brazilian PHD student who had just been to London presenting his thesis on the benefits of exercise and cancer; the research has shown that it can prevent cancer and also that it is crucial in recovery.  They haven't yet been able to show why it is - but the results are conclusive, that it is very beneficial!  We exchanged names and email addresses.

On the ride here it was raining and cloudy, but all afternoon the sun shone and once again we walked around for about 2 hours.  We found the place where we will meet our barge tomorrow.  After coffee (thimble size & strong), served with a small piece of cake and a cookie, so the $3.75 price didn't seem too bad!  



a new business?



We were told Brugge was easy to navigate and we found it so!  A lovely old city - with signs on some buildings saying, '1717'!  It makes Canada seem like a 'teenager'.

Apparently, Brugge/Belgium is famous for fries and waffles, so we sampled some of that for supper - more walking!

  

Day 2 - Bicycles (Amsterdam)

Wow, what a day!  Our flight arrived right on time and we figured out how to get to our hotel via train, tram and walking a few blocks.  The hotel informed us that we could check-in early (noon vs 2pm), but that still left us with 1.5 hours to kill, literally!  We were dead on our feet.  We finally found a place to have tea and then went back and crashed in the lounge.  We both had slept only about 3 hours on the flight over.  There’s a 6 hour difference – so it was 8:45 when we arrived, but our bodies said:  1 am!

I haven’t been that tired in a long time – so we slept for 2 hours and then started walking (2 hours), a canal tour (75min), supper and now Bruce is asleep (a nap I hope b/c it’s only 7:30 pm)!  Mind you, he is the boss of bedtime, at least for himself.  He thinks I have too much energy.  (I just walked down to reception (69 mini steps).  I spanned the tread; I’d guess about 5 inches, very tiny.  Hang on to the banister going down!  Fortunately there is an elevator going up.  These are the old traditional hotels – high and narrow.  We’re on the fourth floor.  The window opens and there is only a narrow bar to keep you from falling out; fun.

So, the big thing here is bicycles!  I think the difference between here and home is that ours are built for leisure, theirs for life.  There are moms with two children, plus groceries and flowers; grandmothers; business men and women; women dressed to the nines; people texting and cycling; bicycles with wheel barrows in the middle (called fiesta bikes); 80% of the bikes have crates attached to the front for carrying; plastic covers protect the bike from rain; there are couples doubling, family bikes with a smaller seat in the rear (like a mini bike); bikes decorated with plastic flowers and boas; old bikes, new bikes; all bikes come with built in lights and the biggest thing of all – they’re flying along on their dedicated lanes, and look out for yourself, b/c they won’t stop for you! 

Another first, the bank in Amsterdam was not interested in helping us exchange our US cash, so I guess it’s coming home with us.  Also, the ‘fragrance’ of marijuana was everywhere – it’s legal here. 

We’ve met some interesting tourists  – a young woman and her daughter from Ireland.  She knew where Winnipeg was b/c her brother married a girl from our fair city and  in fact her sister-in-law is in Flin Flon right now, vacationing with her two daughters!  Go figure!  I met a nice woman from South Africa and a local who was willing to give us lots of info on our canal tour. 

Day 1 - Toronto airport

A lovely early start to our day - 4:17 am!!  Bruce was so eager, he walked over to Roblin Blvd to meet Teresa.  I just waited at home, with the luggage on the porch and decided to fill the bird feeder and replant something! 
The flight out of Winnipeg was uneventful, expect that I nearly caused a major incident while we were taxiing into to the TO airport.  I thought we'd 'arrived' and took off my seat belt and stood up!  Yikes - that caused heads to turn and eyes to pop!
Here's some 'good news' for you'all!  At the money exchange they wanted to charge us 18% to change US money to Canadian money - which means $200 US was worth only $163 Cdn.  We nixed that little transaction in a hurry and just bought Euors directly with Cdn. currency!  The last time that happened to me, was in Cuba, but there at least one could understand it - they strongly dislike the US.
So, Bruce has had a little nap, but it's pretty hard to sleep in this airport; too much action - pages, babies screaming,TV playing etc.  I'll sleep on the next plane.  Oh, yeah, another good piece of news, because we're here so early, and checked in early, we have exit row seats for the flight to Amsterdam!  Yeah!
I see a lot of Korean kids, probably on their way to home-stays!

















  

Day -1

I was awake at 4:17!  I'm not excited - yeah right!  The problem is that as soon as I wake up the tiniest little bit, my brain engages in all the things I have to do today!  LOTS  of laundry, of course and all the other little things; last gym, last time checking my friend's apt.; last time fertilizing the flower pots - you  get the idea.  I'm always a little anxious leaving mom & dad.
We did get to check into our flight to TO, and got our isle seats across from each other - that's our favorite.  A lovely massage this afternoon - to clear up some 'pain', then off to Carolyn's for supper!  What would we do without our wonderful family?

Day -2



On the QEII  Aug 2010

 It's 2 sleeps until d-day and the lists are multiplying.  When one is 'oldish' the lists are very interesting, meds, supports(a tennis ball to sit on - don't ask??), etc.  This time around we have to pack bicycle helmets as well and other assorted cycling paraphernalia.   Bruce wonders how many pairs of shoes to pack and with us each only taking one carry-on bag, it becomes a bit of a challenge choosing what to bring - fun though!  Then, we're so tired of the clothes we brought we have to go out and buy a new outfit to come home in! Fortunately, this time we don't have to pack dress up clothes, but the temperature in Belgium and Holland is 'cool' (low 20's) and Portugal and Spain is 'hot (low 30's).