Bike Ride Around the Island

On Saturday morning, we headed out with our packed lunches to bike around the island. The ride started (and ended) at the red and white striped lighthouse, just outside the city of Hollum. The first 27 or so kilometers were down the west coast of the island through the sand dunes. The dunes are beautiful, wide, and grassy; the perfect habitat for the various birds and large jackrabbits we passed along the way.When we reached the other end of the island, we hopped off our bikes for a while and took a four kilometer hike through a nature preserve. The hike took us through a low land area that was mainly covered with sand and tall grasses.



The ride along the east side of the island was next to the dyke and through farmland. Of course, we stopped multiple times to pet the baby lambs. We also passed colonies of nesting geese and other water birds.




The complete loop around the island and a few detours totaled 60 kilometers for the day. We were happy to spend the rest of the afternoon reading in the sunshine at the hostel, waiting for dinner.

That Ameland Feeling

Matt and I just got back from spending our extended weekend (6 days of PTO! - Queen's Day, Labor Day, a weekend, and Liberation Day) on the island of Ameland in the northern Netherlands. The island was a perfect oasis to get away from it all and enjoy some time outside.


We stayed at a hostel just outside of Hollum, in the shadow of the lighthouse. The hostel offered an all-inclusive deal that included breakfast, packed lunches, dinner, bicycles, and a few tourist attractions. I was excited I didn't have to grocery shop or cook for a few days and Matt enjoyed eating three plates of dinner and getting to skip washing the dishes.

We made good use of the bicycles and the over 90 kilometers of bike paths on the island. The bike paths go over the entire island, through the dunes, along the dike, through pine forests, and connect the four island towns. Our 4 day riding total was over 160 kilometers, and that doesn't include the walking!

Bike Ride #2

On Sunday we took another bike ride through Limburg. We took a 40 km loop from Maastricht through Eijsden to Libeek and back to Maastricht.

We stopped just outside of Eijsden to wander around the grounds of the Eijsden Castle.

It took us an hour to ride uphill from Eijsden to Libeek. We wanted to see the vakwerk houses - the German style houses with the exposed dark beams and white-washed walls.

After looking at the houses we returned to Eijsden - in less than 15 minutes. It was all downhill on the way home. After coasting down the hills, we returned to Maastricht alongside the Maas River.

The rest of the pictures from the bike ride can be found here.

Bike Ride #1

We had originally planned to do a 90 km bike ride through the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium on Saturday morning. Our first obstacle was the weather - instead of heading out at 9am like we planned, we had to wait until 11:30 when the rain stopped.

After the sun started shining we took a 4 km ride out to St. Pieterberg - an old Roman fort on a hill. This is when we discovered all of Holland isn't flat; Limburg has hills. Big hills with steep ascents and descents. The 90 km plan was officially canceled.

After visiting the fort, we started a 40 km loop through Gulpen to Valkenburg and back to Maastricht. The countryside was beautiful and the hills added a nice change in scenery (and a burning feeling in our quads).

The first stop along the loop was the Nederlands American Cemetery and Memorial. It is a beautiful tribute to the soldiers that died during WWII, particularly those that gave their lives at Operation Market Garden.

Next we coasted down a large hill into the town of Gulpen - where they make the popular Gulpener Pilsner. We stopped for lunch at a local cafe and enjoyed mustard soup (a regional specialty), a melon and parmaham salad, and Gulpener Pilsner.

Next we climbed - and I mean climbed - out of Gulpen and headed to Valkenburg. On the way we took a little detour off-road to ride by the Oud Valkenburg Castle.

The town was too touristy for us - their was chintzy swag being sold on every corner - so we only stopped long enough to try Leeuw Pilsner - another local beer.

We got back to Maastricht just before the store hit and were treated to a view of complete double rainbows over the Maas River. How often does that happen?

We were exhausted after the ride and hung out in the boat's bar watching The Netherlands beat Scotland 3-0 in the a World Cup qualifier and playing Scrabble. It was a great day in Limburg.

You can see the rest of the pictures from the day here.

Tulip Bike Ride

We're breaking now from our regularly scheduled programming (a recap of Ireland and St. Patrick's Day) to bring you something completely different: pictures from our bike ride today through the tulips fields between Haarlem and Leiden.

We set out this morning on a 40km bike ride in abundant sunshine to see the tulip fields and Keukenhof Gardens. Even though the fields of tulips weren't quite blooming yet, many were colored with assortments of daffodils and crocuses.

About halfway through the bike ride, we pulled off to visit the amazing Keukenhof Gardens. While outside the tulips weren't yet in bloom, the huge conservatory buildings (named after Dutch royalty) housed a beautiful selection of tulips, crocuses, daffodils, orchids, and other flowers. The grounds of the gardens were magnificent and I can't wait to go back with my mom in a few weeks to see them in full bloom.

Of course, we also had to stop in the petting zoo to see the new baby lambs. Aren't they cute? The baby kids, as in goats, were a little more skittish and wouldn't let people pet them.

You can find the rest of our pictures from the bike ride here.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring

Today we rode our bikes to Den Haag to the Mauritshuis Museum to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring. The bike ride was wonderful; the air was crisp and the sun was shining. Tulip like wildflowers were just starting to bloom up along side the canals and paths to Den Haag.

This trip was inspired by my earlier viewing of the movie and visiting the Vermeer Center in Delft. After learning about Vermeer's life in Delft and his superior skill in painting light, I knew I had to see the famous painting in person. The painting is magnificent. The audio guide calls her the Mona Lisa of the Netherlands, but I think the Mona Lisa is the Girl with the Pearl Earring of Italy. She just shines on the canvas; the light and luminosity is amazing.
She may be the hallmark of the gallery, but the rest of the collection is quite impressive. The gallery houses two other paintings by Vermeer - a lovely landscape of Delft and one of his first works, Diana and her Nymphs. In addition, there are a dozen Rembrandts, a couple Ruebens and van Dyck (famous wedding portrait painters) and an interesting painting by Willem van Haecht. The painting, Apelles painting Campaspe, is a painting of hundreds of paintings - or an art gallery. The picture below isn't the same painting, but is done in the same style. The level of detail in the mini paintings was amazing - he had to be a master at many techniques.After we finished with the museum, we rode back to Delft enjoying the sunshine and flowers on the way.

Bikes Break Too

Matt discovered a completely flat tire on his bike last Thursday. After realizing our "All-In-One" tool wasn't up to the task of changing a tire on a bike with roller brakes, we happily paid the bike shop down the street €15 to change the tire. Unfortunately the cost of the tire and the tire change is equal to half the purchase price of the bike. I guess if anything worse goes bad you just buy a new bike...

37 Molens

Today dad and I took a 65+ kilometer bike ride around the middle of the Netherlands. Our goal was to see as many windmills as possible.

Our Route:

1. Gouda (pronounced How-dah)
2. Haastrecht
3. Vlist
4. Schoonhoven
5. Groot Ammers
6. Brandwijk
7. De Donk
8. Donkse Laagten (Natural Area)
9. Kinderdijk
10. Lots of Farm Land
11. Gouda
12. Bar

Enjoy the photos - they are straight out of an Impressionist Painting!


The last two photos are from Kinderdijk, a UNESCO cultural heritage site. There is a group of 19 windmills here that were built in the 1700s. These windmills are kept in working order and are on display on weekends during the summer months. Most of the windmills are currently inhabited by local residents.

Dad thought this was the best bike ride of the week. He really enjoyed seeing the farms and farm houses.

We saw at least 37 windmills during the course of our 5 hour bike ride. Wow!

Zeeland Bike Ride - Day Two

Day Two

This morning we got up early to walk along the North Sea before breakfast. It was beautiful - the dunes here are gorgeous. They are hilly, covered in grasses, shrubs, trees, and flowers, and quite wide; I am sure they are what the dunes in the US looked like before tourist hotels and shops were built over every square inch of them.

We started the 25 km ride back to Middelburg right after breakfast to avoid any rainstorms. The fietspad followed the dike along the North Sea; it was so windy that at times I swear I was going backwards.In Westkappelle we stopped to climb the church tower turned lighthouse.

Behind the tower was a WWII memorial to the townspeople that died when the Allied forces bombed the sea wall in 1944 in the hopes of flooding out the German defense.
After our ride, we rewarded ourselves with warm stroopwafels from the market in Middelburg.