Haarlem to Zaandam

Our second day continued from Haarlem to Zaandam.  The day started out cloudy and a bit wet, but by the end of the day, the sky was very blue and a lovely day.  This was the day of the windmill.  We were able to visit some pretty neat villages.  This day we went past a number of windmills that tourists were able to visit.  It is called the Zaanse Schans.  We also had to catch our first ferry to cross the river.

Windmill in Haarlem (I apologize for the angle of the windmill.  I was taking it while on my bicycle.)

Crossing on the ferry

A couple of the windmills on the Zaanse Schans

Bicycling into Zaandam was a very pleasant experience.  We bicycled along one of the canals in the industrial section of Zaandam.  Zaandam is known for industrialization and one of it's products is cocoa.  Yes, we smelled cocoa off and on for a kilometer or so.  

Our hotel in Zaandam was located by the train station, but there were also a street where there were a number great shops for souvenirs or for regular shopping, like clothes, shoes, furniture, groceries and chocolate.   :)  

The headboards in the rooms were pictures of some sort of industrialization company.  There was a mini-picture outside the door.  It was an interesting decor decision.

I have never been to Zaandam, but I found it a pleasant place to visit.  I enjoy the little themes the tour company shares in the booklets we received each day.  It's a fun way to see a country.

Getting the bicycle tour started

One more picture I took in Utrecht.  It's a monument of Queen Wilhelmina.  She was the queen of The Netherlands when my parents lived there.  I don't know if it's a great representation of her, she looks sort of small and bundled in this statue.

Sunday, August 7th, we moved from Utrecht to Amsterdam.  We went to the hotel where our bicycles were.  This was a train ride to Amsterdam.

Central station in Amsterdam

Central Station in Amsterdam

Canal cruises

Sunday afternoon, we decided to try out our bicycles and took a bit of a ride down the road.

Monday morning, we had our maps ready to go.  Our destination was our hotel for Monday evening, in Haarlem.  

Our first stop was to see the Anne Frank House.  We did not have tickets to tour the house, but we decided to bicycle past it.  

Anne Frank House

Streets of Amsterdam

Along the way to Haarlem 

One garden, very beautiful

A beautiful day for a bicycle ride 

St Bravo Church in Haarlem

Market in the square

Stadhuis

One of the streets in Haarlem

In honour of those who were involved in The Resistance 1940-1945.

Haarlem station taken from my hotel room

Close up of Haarlem station

Our first day of bicycling was a great day.  The weather was wonderful and the scenery was quite beautiful.  I'm thankful for this opportunity to explore this country.  

Dutch food

One of the great things I've been able to enjoy is the food here.  Some of it brings back great memories from my childhood.  One of those foods is a sandwich with chocolate hagelslag.  Here's a picture of a half eaten sandwich...

Peanut butter and chocolate hagelslag sandwich

 Julie got me to try peanut butter with chocolate hagelslag.  It actually tastes pretty good.

Fish and chips aren't something I ate growing up a lot, but have come to love fish and chips.  

Joel and Julie had a typical dutch pannekoek for breakfast one day.  I had the typical English breakfast, which was two fried eggs, two pieces of toast, french fries, beans, bacon, sausages, and a salad.  Think that was enough for breakfast?  

I also had bitterballen or croquettes in the shape of balls.  Mustard is the sauce that many people dip the bitterballen in before biting them.  I, however, love to just eat them.  

The one thing we did almost daily was to stop at some sort of cafe for a coffee and some sort of snack.  The cafes here are quite quaint.  

Julie wasn't quite ready for a picture.  :)  

There were gevulde koek, botterkoek, droppies and other great foods.  Many trigger memories of growing up.  I will miss having access to these foods, but probably better for my health.  :)  

Vinkeveen

Growing up, I thought Langelaar was quite an usual last name.  I thought that anyone with the last name, Langelaar, would probably be related to me.  About 20 years ago, the internet became much more accessible to the public and Ad Langelaar contacted me to find out if our family lines crossed at all.   In 1998, I met Ad and Christa at the Dulles Airport in Virginia.  Since that time, Ad found out that we are not related, at least going back to the 1700's, but have kept in contact.
Ad and Christa saw that I was in the Netherlands and contacted me if we, Joel, Julie and I, wanted to meet up with them in Vinkeveen, where they have a boat, Nostalgie.

 We had a delicious dinner on shore prior to going on an a tour of the lake there in Vinkeveen.  

A polder 

Amsterdam in the distance.

Left to right, Winnie, Ad, Julie, Joel

The sun is setting

It was a very fun evening with Ad and Christa.  I am blessed that we remained in contact.  Thank you!

Utrecht to Amsterdam

So, Joel and Julie Holtrop reserved this Airbnb in Utrecht.  It was a great place to stay.  One can really get a feel for what it is like to live in Utrecht.  I also had the opportunity to work on the final assignments for my classes.  I spent the last two or three days using most of the day to research and work on finishing my assignments.  It wasn't all work though.  
On Wednesday, we rented a car and went to De Hoge Veluwe Natural Park.  It's a place where they have natural sand and steppe.  The park was owned by the Kroller family during the last century.  Mrs.  Kroller collected art and there was an exhibit of various art pieces along with a sculpture gardens. There was also an underground exhibit of the different animals and plant life that existed there in the dunes and steppe.  
They had bicycles you can use.  It made for a fun day of cycling and seeing the park.  

Julie

One of the walking paths.

Stopping for lunch

The hearth and grassland (ignore my finger).

Jachthuis Sint Hubertus, the former residence of the Kröller-Müllers,

This was one of the bicycle parking lots.

Entrance to the Kröller-Müller Museum 

Van Gogh art in the museum 

Joel and Julie in the distance in the sculpture garden

I have never stayed in a Airbnb before, but this was a fairly good experience.  It was nice to have your own "place" to be and make your own food and go to and from as you liked.  I have to admit, it was nice to have a place, other than a hotel room, to sit and work on assignments or do research.  Here are some more pictures of the house we stayed in.  

This was taken out of my bedroom window.  

The front of our Airbnb.

Mango, the cat was a part of the experience.

Yup, bought some beets, they're difficult to get in Tokyo.

One day, we went for a walk in the neighbourhood and found this park nearby.  We found these three interesting sculptures.  

We also went to the Rietveld Schröder House, but they made me put my bag away and I forgot to take any pictures.  You can find a link to their website here The Rietveld-Schroder House.
It has been a great vacation.  Next up, Vinkeveen and a boat ride with Ad and Christa Langelaar.