Northern Europe Barge and Bicycle Trip

Emails from Sue and Mati Kuuskmae

August 2007

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Date sent: Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:40:18 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: Bruges

I trust you got my earlier update today about the last leg of our bike journey.

Friday morning at 8AM, the remaining travellers(a few had left much earlier to catch flights) gathered on the deck of the Angeline to await our bus to the airport. Even though Sue and I were catching a train, it was easier to get a free bus ride and pick up a Bruges-bound train at the airport rather than get a taxi to the boat dock and from there to the nearby train station. The airport train connection was closer to our destination- Bruges, Belgium.

At Schiphol,Amsterdam's airport, Sue and I waited for our express train to Antwerp, Netherlands connecting to a local train to Bruges. After a wait of about 90 minutes or so, our Intercity train came in downstairs from the plane arrival area. We had booked first class as there was a weekend special , but the train was so crowded with little room for luggage that I wound up sitting sideways in a single seat so that I could accommodate my roll-on soft-sided bag. There was space for another bag behind my seat(last in the row); Sue sat further up. The train stopped mysteriously in some southbound city and when it took off again it was 15 minutes late and we missed our connection for Bruges in Antwerp. After another wait of about 90 minutes , Sue and I were on our way to Bruges.

The Bruges train was a local and took 75 minutes and 8 stops to reach there. We finally settled in the luxurious comfort of the Sofitel Hotel and went out walking. Sue and I had been here once before, but as she fondly reminds me, we stayed in a shoebox size room with barely enough room to turn around in. This hotel was luxurious. Mind you, we had been on a small boat for 2 weeks.

Bruges, for those of you who never have been there, is a perfectly preserved medieval town with most buildings in the historic center reaching back to the 1300s. Starting around 1500 the river access to the sea silted over and the town was forgotten by history thus emerging unscathed from all the European wars since then. But for the 300 years or so of its prime( see wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges ) period, it was a wealthy, important trading city. See this link for a photo tour: http://www.virtualbruges.be/

At this time of year, Bruges is still mobbed with tourists, mostly Europeans, but we walked ourselves until worn out. Fortunately the shops close at 6PM and then the streets are relatively deserted. We found a recommended Indian restaurant the first night and the second night, it was Italian cuisine we sought out. It was much nicer to walk around and see the old buildings, quaint curving streets with little canals(full of swans) all around.

Saturday, our whole day there, Sue and I bought a museum pass which allowed entry to 5 museums(nay, traveling is not for the weak of heart or foot; onward culture buffs). Among the highlights the Memling museum built in a hospital of the 13th Century, the Groeningmuseum, one of the most important small museums in the world, which covers six centuries of Belgian art from Jan Van Eyck to Magritte.

You can't go anywhere without practically tripping over a specialty chocolate shop. Try one on every corner and several in between. Sue and I behaved; we only bought six small chocolates.

It stays light later here, so we were out in daylight until almost 9PM when we retreated to our luxurious down beds. In the morning, below our hotel window, a local market of some kind was going on featuring everything from fruits and vegetables, to cutlery and shoes and live rabbits, yes, rabbits and did I mention chickens. I hope the rabbits were going to be sold as pets as they were incredibly cute. Sue walked around while I negotiated sending home a package of clothing from the bike trip that we no longer needed. That was amusing as I had picked up 3 different forms and a box the day before from the p.o., but wouldn't you know it, a 4th form was required. It all went well and the postal clerk was friendly and helpful(English-speaking; I could have spoken French but this is the non-French speaking part of Belgium and the locals prefer English) and the people on line behind me were patient.

This morning(Sunday) after breakfast, we packed up and took a taxi to the train station. This time our odyssey would require several changes of trains from Bruges, first in Antwerp-Berchem(not the main station), then Rotterdam Central connecting to a local to Delft.

On this journey, none of the stations had elevators and we always had a platform change and just 5 minutes or less to accomplish this . At one station, a young lady in her 20's offered to help with one of our bags but when she couldn't lift it( I shouldn't have bought that cheese in Terschelling), I struggled on first hefting one bag to the top and then going for another. Sue and I got on(in different cars) just as the whistle blew.

The train was packed and I got a fold-down seat in the corridor(which meant getting up and shifting bags in each station as people came on and departed) and Sue was inside nearby. This was first class and people were standing in the aisles all the way for the 1 hour, 20 minute ride to Rotterdam. Naturally at Rotterdam the switch to the local 13-minute ride to Delft was on another platform, but this time a nice young Explorer scout carried up one of our bags. Tomorrow morning we are taking the easy way out by getting a taxi to Schiphol Amsterdam airport for our flight to Basel, Switzerland.

Delft is an interesting, although commercial city, with its historic core most memorable to those of you familiar with Vermeer's The Girl With the Pearl Earring(painting, book and movie). The core is essentially unchanged since that time except for the beer cans floating in the canals and the motorcycles delivering pizza. I was impressed by the fact that locals get remote controls for their cars that control the metal barriers at the ends of the historic areas.

Tomorrow begins the next stage of our adventure: flying to Basel and meeting up with our jet-lagged California friends who are joining us on the journey down the Rhine to Antwerp(oh no, another train ride back to Amsterdam to catch our plane to LAX on Sept. 18th).

Mati

Date sent: Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:17:20 -0700 (PDT)

We left Urk by barge on Tuesday morning and needed a ride to Almere. This area is also reclaimed land from the sea, but unlike the Urk area which was developed without canals and consequently caused a great drop in marine related employment, Almere reclaimed and settled from 1950-67 is criss-crossed with canals and although tourism and recreation are popular, it is mainly a growing residential area, a planned city designed to frustrate cars(no straight line roads) and encourage bicycles and buses(separated straight lanes for them). Since it is mainly homes and newer ones at that, it is not particularly quaint.

Getting closer to Amsterdam, we stayed overnight Tuesday in Weesp, a beautiful old town with canals, scenic bridges and old houses. Our "short group" ride was 21 miles, the longgies did 30.

Finally on Wednesday, toughened by 2 weeks of cycling, newly bulging calf and thigh muscles glistening with sunblock(yes we had sun and no rain for 2 weeks), we were ready for our triumphant ride into Amsterdam through all its traffic(but with separate bike lanes throughout the city).

On our way into the city, we stopped at a small village along the River Amstel and visited a very old Jewish cemetery that was being restored. There were many elaborate but fading flat tombstones representing the old Jewish families of Amsterdam. Philosopher Spinoza's parent are buried here along with friends of Rembrandt. The inscriptions are not in Hebrew but bear the years in the Jewish calendar, e.g. 5425.

On interesting side note to our cycling is that many times I would be riding, sometimes as a "sweeper" at the end to make sure we didn't miss anyone, when some Dutch woman would pull up next to me and start asking questions about Bike and Barge and our itinerary, etc.

These fellow cyclists could spot our group because we had the bright yellow saddle bags emblazoned with the Bike and Barge Holland logo. They were very curious and all spoke excellent English.

Amsterdam and the Angeline met us early at 1PM and we relaxed. Sue and I went to a Laundromat some 10 blocks away in a local neighborhood conveniently next door to a sidewalk bar. After we figured out the complicated system(pick machine, load clothes, go to central coin machine, punch in number of washer, and go drink for the next 50 minutes: repeat for dry cycle).

After that we went to the library, which is about 10 stories high with a bar/restaurant roof garden, and probably 100 free internet computers to use at will--no problem with the homeless here.

That night there was a farewell dinner and some awards given out. The guides had made up little paper tulips with some saying about each of us. Sue was artistic Sue as she was always sketching. I was the helpful one always unloading the bikes or looking up info on the web as I had the only computer(except for the captain) on board. Hilde was dubbed "diesel Hilde" as she always kept going and never gave up.

Thursday was a free day so we went to a nearby in-water full-size reproduction of a 3-masted sailing ship from The Dutch East Indies Company. The crew was dressed in period costume and answered questions and even fired off a cannon. After that it was off to see the Botanical Gardens and the Rijksmuseum for more Rembrandt.

We ate at a Turkish restaurant and took a tram back for our last night aboard the Angeline. Some of us (your humble correspondent included) stayed up late draining the bottles of geneveer that we had purchased.

Friday morning a bus took us to Schiphol Airport where most flew out somewhere. Hilde and Carl went off to England for 5 weeks of driving (good luck with that). Sue and I purchased train tickets to Bruges , Belgium from Schiphol and from there our next installment will continue.

Mati and Sue

Date sent: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:47:29 -0700 (PDT)

Leeuwarden – Sneek- Lemmer-Urk

Since internet connections have been spotty the last few days, I may be repeating somewhat.

We spent 2 nights in Leeuwarden , the capital of Friesland, an interesting city home to both the ruling Orange dynasty of the Netherlands and also the birthplace of Mata Hari.

We visited the Frisian National Museum, which has the largest collection of antique silver in the country aside from Amsterdam’s state museum. It also has a wonderful collection of porcelain. Since this was where the Orange family originated(William of Orange and all that), the museum’s holdings were rich in portraits and furniture.

Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia, was also born here and the museum’s sole Rembrandt painting is a portrait of her.

In Leeuwarden we wandered the streets where the shoppers went. The Dutch love to shop, eat and drink(much like people everywhere). This city was more commercial and although it had a small historic district, it was not so quaint.

We accidentally discovered the red light district , right around the corner from the library, so one’s various lusts, both intellectual and physical could be satisfied in just a short space.

For lunch off the ship, we ate at a pannenkoeken restaurant, which was on a boat. These are crepe-like pancakes either with sweet filling or a ham and cheese or tomato, or any filling you like.

On Saturday morning, the short ride group took off on its 24-mile jaunt to Sneek (pronounced snake). I joined Carl and Hilde on this ride; Sue stayed behind with another lady Alma from Seattle. Her husband John has a bike club and several couples from their group were aboard for a 2nd tour on Bike and Barge Holland. They stayed on board as the boat was going to pass through several interesting canals and then a large lake.

As our group was having it’s lunch at a canal where the lake entered it, the Angeline came by and we were able to take pictures.

One of the so-called highlights of today’s ride(on a par with the preserved toe of the famous skate race winner). was a 17th century church where 4 mummies were found some time ago). In the middle of the church aisle was a register with cashier collecting a fee to enter the crypt directly behind her. Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly like the remnants of Tut’s tomb.

Sneek is a watersports center with lots of sailboats and large, expensive looking motor yachts coursing their way through the city’s main canal as diners and drinkers watch.

We took a city tour led by one of our guides as is our custom in each new city in the evening after dinner, and as it was a party weekend—SneekWeek—with lots of live bands and much public inebriation, some local youths said," Did you know it was a full moon tonight(It actually was) and proceeded to drop their pants. Apparently, our guide told us that they thought we were German tourists. Years ago, cars with German license plates were often vandalized when they came to the Netherlands, a carryover of bad feelings from World War II days. Now the Germans are more welcome and restaurants display menus in both Dutch and German. American or English tourists are rare here outside of Amsterdam or the tulip fields. In schools everyone learns English and German is no longer popular as a second language with the younger generation.

Sunday morning Sue was gently cajoled by Saskia our guide to join us for our ride to Lemmer. Our original plan was to split off from the group and use our map to guide us along, but we wound up riding 27 miles and stayed with the group through paved forest paths, over bridges, and wound up along the coast by a beach for lunch. The water is so shallow at the beach that you would have to get out 200 feet before the water would reach you hips. They were doing kite surfing here. The ride back was long and we made it but Sue felt that was all she needed to do as far as long distance bike riding.

The next day we sailed for Urk where Sue and I took a ride on our own along the dyke, which was not a big challenge. The land here is very flat farm land that was reclaimed from the sea by building dykes and then pumping the water out. It is called Polderland and is at a lower level than the sea. It was good to take in the sea air but we tired of the sheep and their leavings all over the road. We can never complain about dog poop on the Strand again. The sleepy town was fun to walk around, and we eventually found the bakery where we bought a small sample of several goodies. We walked around with Alma checking out the stores for items like soap and nail polish.

date Aug 28, 2007 7:32 AM

Leeuwarden – Sneek- Lemmer-Urk

Since internet connections have been spotty the last few days, I may be repeating somewhat.

We spent 2 nights in Leeuwarden , the capital of Friesland,an interesting city home to both the ruling Orange dynasty of the Netherlands and also the birthplace of Mata Hari.

We visited the Frisian National Museum, which has the largest collection of antique silver in the country aside from Amsterdam’s state museum. It also has a wonderful collection of porcelain. Since this was where the Orange family originated(William of Orange and all that), the museum’s holdings were rich in portraits and furniture.

Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia, was also born here and the museum’s sole Rembrandt painting is a portrait of her.

In Leeuwarden we wandered the streets where the shoppers went. The Dutch love to shop, eat and drink(much like people everywhere). This city was more commercial and although it had a small historic district, it was not so quaint.

We accidentally discovered the red light district , right around the corner from the library, so one’s various lusts, both intellectual and physical could be satisfied in just a short space.

For lunch off the ship, we ate at a pannenkoeken restaurant, which was on a boat. These are crepe-like pancakes either with sweet filling or a ham and cheese or tomato, or any filling you like.

On Saturday morning, the short ride group took off on its 24-mile jaunt to Sneek (pronounced snake). I joined Carl and Hilde on this ride; Sue stayed behind with another lady Alma from Seattle. Her husband John has a bike club and several couples from their group were aboard for a 2nd tour on Bike and Barge Holland. They stayed on board as the boat was going to pass through several interesting canals and then a large lake.

As our group was having it’s lunch at a canal where the lake entered it, the Angeline came by and we were able to take pictures.

One of the so-called highlights of today’s ride on a par with the preserved toe of the famous skate race winner). was a 17th century church where 4 mummies were found some time ago). In the middle of the church aisle was a register with cashier collecting a fee to enter the crypt directly behind her. Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly like the remnants of Tut’s tomb.

Sneek is a water sports center with lots of sailboats and large, expensive looking motor yachts coursing their way through the city’s main canal as diners and drinkers watch.

We took a city tour led by one of our guides as is our custom in each new city in the evening after dinner, and as it was a party weekend—SneekWeek—with lots of live bands and much public inebriation, some local youths said," Did you know it was a full moon tonight(It actually was) and proceeded to drop their pants. Apparently, our guide told us that they thought we were German tourists. Years ago, cars with German license plates were often vandalized when they came to the Netherlands, a carryover of bad feelings from World War II days. Now the Germans are more welcome and restaurants display menus in both Dutch and German. American or English tourists are rare here outside of Amsterdam or the tulip fields. In schools everyone learns English and German is no longer popular as a second language with the younger generation.

Sunday morning Sue was gently cajoled by Saskia our guide to join us for our ride to Lemmer. Our original plan was to split off from the group and use our map to guide us along, but we wound up riding 27 miles and stayed with the group through paved forest paths, over bridges, and wound up along the coast by a beach for lunch. The water is so shallow at the beach that you would have to get out 200 feet before the water would reach you hips. They were doing kite surfing here. The ride back was long and we made it but Sue felt that was all she needed to do as far as long distance bike riding.

The next day we sailed for Urk where Sue and I took a ride on our own along the dyke, which was not a big challenge. The land here is very flat farm land that was reclaimed from the sea by building dykes and then pumping the water out. It is called Polderland and is at a lower level than the sea. It was good to take in the sea air but we tired of the sheep and their leavings all over the road. We can never complain about dog poop on the Strand again. The sleepy town was fun to walk around, and we eventually found the bakery where we bought a small sample of several goodies. We walked around with Alma checking out the stores for items like soap and nail polish.

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After 2 nights in Leeuwarden, capital of Friesland and birthplace of Mata Hari as well as Rembrandt's wife, we cycled to Sneek(pronounced Snake on Saturday).

Sue stayed on boat while Carl, Hilde and I rode with the short ride group 23 miles to our destination.　 Sneek is a big nautical party town and at one point we were mooned by some young drunken locals who said did we know that it was a full moon(it actually was) and dropped their pants. They thought we were Germans. 　

On the way to Sneek we saw some old mummies found in a 17th century church crypt. 　

Yesterday(Sunday) Sue joined us for a marathon ride to Lemmer. The short ride group did 27 miles and we went through some paved trails through a forest and saw a 12 foot gigh cliff, a big deal in below sea level Netherlands.

Today we left Lemmer by boat for a 3-hour sail before we got off with the short ride group. Sue and I went off on our own and did only 10 miles as this area is all reclaimed from the sea land and is very boring--lots of sheep and sheep dip to bike through. 　

In Urk we had a tour by a man dressed in local costume. Urk used to be an island of fishermen until it was surrounded by reclaimed land. It still is on the inland sea and has the largest fishing fleet in Western Europe. 　

A bit tired now from the local liqueurs, I'll sign off

Mati

Date sent: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:11:02 -0700 (PDT)

Big news. Sue made an heroic 27-mile ride today from Sneek to Lemmer on our last day in Friesland.

Weather is beautiful with big puffy clouds and sunshine.

Last night walking around the city, our group was mooned by some young drunk locals as they thought we were Germans. 　

All these cities are big nautical summer holiday and party towns. The Dutch love the water, food and drink. 　

Mati

I wrote a much longer e-mail earlier, but the Microsoft gods made it disappear. I'll try to reconstruct it later.

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Date sent: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:17:37 -0700 (PDT)

A beautiful warm, sunny day greeted us as we disembarked from the Angeline in Harlingen after barging over from Terschelling. The crossing took 3 1/2 hours and we were back on the mainland again.

　Group 1, the "short ride"　ones (we would ride 23 miles total) including me, our guide and 7 others (Carl and Hilde included) headed off towards Franeker to see Eisa Eisinga's Planetarium. The ride of about 10 km took less than an hour.

　Eisa was a late 18th century "wool-carder" who in order to disprove a local minister's warning that the world was about to end because a local minister believed the sun and planets revolved around the earth still, built in his living room the world's first planetarium. It is 100% accurate and is still functioning and his model was the basis for other world planetariums. Instead of being concave, it worked on his flat ceiling with the sun and planets moving through an elaborate set of pulleys and gears in the attic.

　See link http://members.tripod.com/~robeik/

　The group including the fast riders who caught up to us then had a guided tour and explanation of the facility. The long group would ride close to 40 miles today.

　We had our "box lunches," the ones we prepare at breakfast, outside by the canal.　 Then we had some wonderful Dutch apple cake at a café. Sue who did not want to ride that distance, took the barge to Franeker with another lady and met us for the tour and lunch. Afterwards, Elaine and she took a 15-minute train ride to Leeuwarden, a bike ride that took us another 2 1/2 hours.

　It is actually hot and humid here and the city, the capital of Friesland, is not that exciting except for a small historic section where we will visit several museums (our choices) and hear a noontime organ concert.

　One of the more exciting things we will do here is laundry.　We have been in Holland　 9 days and there is a Laundromat that serves boats here. I forgot to mention that this is a do-it-yourself trip as far as maid service goes. You make your own bed each day, get new towels twice a week and new sheets once. Sue borrowed the ship's vacuum cleaner and tidies up our cabin and the central hallway of our section.

　All the travelers also help clear the tables after meals. It's a cooperative effort.

　Your Friesan correspondent

　Mati

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Date sent:         Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:19:52 -0700 (PDT)

Greetings from Friesland

A beautiful glorious day in Friesland on the North Sea: the sun is shining, the winds are strong (always against you when biking) and the temperatures balmy.

If you ever wondered why 90% of the Dutch ride bicycles, one very good explanation is the price of gasoline. Try $8.25/gallon for unleaded or $6.50 for diesel. The Dutch have bicycle lanes everywhere. They are clearly marked for opposing bike riders with their own sets of traffic signs and signals and cars/trucks respect cyclists’ rights. There are even bike lanes next to freeways with their own separate on and off ramps.

Last night we took a walking tour of West Terschilling where our barge is docked. It is a prosperous seaside town, now known more for tourism but it was a trading center for centuries. The English fought the Dutch 4 times in the 17th & 18th centuries. The British referred to the altercations as the Dutch Wars, and of course, the Dutch called them the English Wars. In 1666, this entire town was burned to the ground except for a church and lighthouse in the center of town which survived.

This is also the city where Willem Barents or Barentz (as he is called here), the Barents of Barents Sea fame was born. It was nice that he had a sea named after him, but to earn that distinction he had to freeze to death near the North Pole while searching for a shorter route to the Indies.

Today’s ride was quite short. The only scheduled event was a 7-mile ride to a dairy farm where we saw the cows barns (exciting, I know) which had robot operated stall cleaners. The farmer’s mother demonstrated cheese making. We were given samples of milk and buttermilk to taste, which tasted awful actually owing to the salt air covering the grass that the cows ate.

The farmer’s son ,who pretty much runs the place now and speaks excellent English( he took some dairy management classes in Canada near Toronto) explained the cow quota system (an EU regulation) based on cow manure (please try to stay awake). Anyway, you can only have so many cows per hectare. Just like buying carbon (or pollution offsets), a farmer can buy land elsewhere in the country and then add cows to his herd here, but land prices are skyrocketing here.

We also saw some Frisian horses on the farm and after an obligatory visit to the dairy’s gift shop where we purchased some cheese, we were free to do as we pleased for the rest of the day.

Sue, Hilde, Carl and I cycled back to the boat where we left our bikes and walked into town to look at the old brick buildings dating back to the years after the British torching of the town. The Dutch have the quaint custom here of not having shades or much in the way of curtains on their living room windows. This way, you can see them watching TV or sitting around reading. I asked our guide why this is so and she said it dates back centuries to the time that sailors and captains left home for sea and having an open window meant that there was nothing one had to hide—no hanky panky going on behind closed curtains.

Another funny note. We all know what a Dutch door is; well here it is not called that but rather a door that opens halfway.

One more story: all sorts of stuff from sunken ships washes ashore here. A few years ago a container ship went down that carried multiple  container loads of athletic shoes and tens of thousands of them washed up on the beaches of Terschilling. People scooped them up by the dozens; however, the shoes were not in pairs, neither in size, style or color. So on the internet (sort of like e-bay), local people tried to find mates for their shoes and even today flea markets sell these shoes.

Tomorrow when the tide lifts, we will ship out for Harlingen.

Mati

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Date sent: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:44:54 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Everyone

We are on the 3rd day of bike and barge in Holland and although there is a wireless network on board, it only works part of the time.

So here is a summary of the last 3-4 days.

 The Angeline is a 97-year old freight barge that has survived 2 world wars and has been converted to 14 cabins for cyclists. The boat is owned by Peter(Dutch)the captain and his wife Helen(English)who does all the cooking. They are assisted by her nephew from England who is a junior in college. Their son Alex, who is 8 lives on board as well.

Our fellow cyclists are mostly from two large groups: the first from a cycling club in Seattle and another cycling club from Minneapolis-St Paul, the Twin Cities. There are also a few couples from California, a single Canadian gal and our friends Carl and Hilde. And also a strange family from Oregon.

 We left Amsterdam Saturday afternoon and had a 18-mile warm up ride. As we hit a little rain, Sue slipped at one point and injured her knee(she has since recovered).

Dinner is served every night at 6:30 when the bell is rung. The food is delicious—something all freshly cooked every day.A pork roast one night, fish another and then pasta. Helen will cook up special dishes for non-fish and non-meat eaters. After dinner, people sit around reading, playing games or drinking. There is also a city walk in most cases. Except for last night when we were moored near a lock in the middle of the North Sea.

Breakfast is at 8 AM: cereal and fresh fruit, hard-boiled eggs, sometimes french toast. At breakfast, cold cuts and bread is put out so that you can make your own lunch.

We start riding at 9 sharp every day. Sunday, our first full day, we rode 28 miles thru farm fields(saw and smelled lots of cows) and on top of dikes and sometimes on roads. Day’s ride was 28 miles. All sun, 70 degrees. Sue stayed behind and walked in a village. 

Yesterday, Monday the slow group went another 28 miles. The long group went close to 50 each day. The routine is to stop for lunch that has been packed in your saddlebags. Also there are museums along the way.

 We have been in Friesland, which is the least populated area of the Netherlands. It is famous for its 200KM canal ice-skating race(a marathon) which has not been held since 1997 because of warm winters. So you do exciting things like visit the ice-skating museum which has the frozen toes of the winner of the 1984 race on display. I kid you not. 

Remember the Zuider Zee, the so-called Southern Sea, well, now is is the Islameer because it has been enclosed by dams from the North Sea and last night we had to go through a canal lock so that we could catch the tide to sail towards today’s island. In parts, it is less than 6 feet deep. 

Because it took us until 10:30 to arrive in Tscelling(an island in the North Sea), there was no long or short group today—everyone was to go on a 24-mile ride throgh some hilly dunes and country roads. 

But to help Sue’s knee recover, she and I separated from the group, got a detailed map from the guide(the island is only 30 KM long and 5Km wide) and went off on our own. I figure that we will do about 12 miles today. 

That’s all for now.

Mati

Maybe we can call it:　 red Light District Pre-trip

Sue and I got to Amsterdam at 7:30 AM on Thursday after a 10-hour easy non-stop flight from Los Angeles. With seat back individual movie screens, I watched 4 movies, some of which I can recommend: La Vie En Rose, Hula Girls but thumbs down on Blades of Glory and The 300.

We were able to check-in early at 9AM into our room at the Moevenpick which is right on the harbor with stunning views. Carl and Hilde had arrived the night before at 6PM. Their flight from LA was delayed by one hour and so they missed their connecting flight at Heathrow which has supertight longlines for security at terminals.( Warning to Rhine Cruise travellers going by British Air thru Heathrow: Your baggage will transfer automatically but expect lengthly lines clearing security in the next terminal bound for Basel).

Thursday was partially drizzly as we visited both the Van Gogh and Rembrandt museums(RijkMuseum). Crowds were also big as this is still peak summer travel season. Lots of families with kids whining about being dragged through museums.

The four of us had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant that Sue remembered from our last trip here 12 years ago.

Friday we took a tram furher out and walked back through interesting canal-lined neighborhoods and then to the redlight district where friendly ladies　 with not much in the way of clothes on waved to us(men only) through large windows. Carl tried to take a picture form 20 feet away but the unhappy hooker banged(poor choice of words ?)　on the window for him to stop.

Amsterdam is also an agricultural town with an interest in preserving seeds of many types. Anyone want us to bring back some sinsella seeds ? Also, lots of intersting odors emanating from coffee shops where no coffee was served and one had to be 18 to enter. Imagine the businee Starbucks would lose if you had to be 18 or older to get in. Then again, how many young people with backpacks do you see staggering out of our coffee shops.

We visited our barge, Angeline, late in the afternoon, had a dinner nearby and will board at noon Saturday.

　Mati

Our flight was fairly uneventful except for a small boy right in front of us who lost his cookies into a bag of some sorts but getting his undigested dinner all over his mother and the cabin floor.  I held a tissue to my nose and mouth after that.  It was a pretty easy flight and our seats had individual tv screens with about 50 movies to pick from.  I saw Hula Girls and La Vie en Rose.  Boy, did she have a horrible life...drugs and alcohol damaged.

We met Caarl and Hilde and visited the Van Gogh and State Museums, had a good Indonesian dinner at a spot we had been to once before when here and then walked all the way back towards our hotel, which took us along all the canals.  Rain is intermittent.  More later.