Week 25: Day trips in The Netherlands
Route: Amsterdam – Edam and Volendam, Amsterdam – Arnhem and Hogue Veluwe, Amsterdam – Haarlem
210 kilometers
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, I didn’t feel like doing much of
anything. It didn’t seem important or appropriate to go sightseeing anymore,
so we spent time close to our temporary home in Amsterdam.
After a few days, we were anxious to get back on our bikes, so we took a day
trip to Edam, a small town where Edam cheese was marketed and sold, and
Volendam, a fishing village now relying heavily on tourism. We didn’t even
mind riding in the cold, wet, windy weather because we knew we had a warm,
dry place to go to at the end of the day. It made all the difference in our
attitudes.
Our friend Jason came from Switzerland to visit, and we took the train to
Arnhem where we rented big, single-speed bikes for the ride to the Hogue Veluwe, The Netherland’s largest national park. The last time I rode a bike
like that, I was eight years old. Forgetting that I had to push the pedals
backward to break, I nearly crashed into Bob more than once.
The park was beautiful. Narrow bicycle paths wound through wind-swept fields
of purple heather and brown grass. We stopped at the Kröller-Müller Museum
to check out their excellent collection of Van Goghs, and managed to pedal
back to the train station before dark.
A few days later, Bob and I rode our bikes through Haarlem and then to the
North Sea coast. We still felt remarkably fast and nimble without our cases
rolling behind us. At the coast, we saw one lone surfer trying to paddle out
before getting swept too far down the beach by a strong rip tide. The
deserted beach and cold, rainy weather reminded me of our trips to Westport,
Washington last winter when we learned to surf for the first time.
Both of us started to miss home.
Week 26: The job search
Route: Amsterdam – Amersfoort, Amsterdam – Delft
0 kilometers
Bob and I had wanted to see a soccer match in Europe, but we never planned
ahead enough to time our arrival in a big city with a scheduled match. Now
that we were staying put in Amsterdam, we had a chance to go. I was
impressed with the enthusiasm the fans exhibited for their home team, Ajax,
and the number of security guards and police that surrounded the handful of
fans cheering for the visiting team.
It wasn’t much of a contest – Ajax won easily – but the game was too
fast-paced to be boring. We noticed a surprising lack of marketing and
general entertainment. Compared to a professional sports game in the States,
which typically has big screen televisions to show video clips, animated
graphics, music and frequent commentary, the Ajax soccer game was subdued.
But here, the fans cheered nearly constantly, without a moment’s rest. The
point was the game itself and the team, not the superficial entertainment.
It was a nice change.
At our friend’s house in Amersfoort, we met a neighbor who worked in the computer
industry, and Bob had an impromptu interview. The neighbor set up a meeting
with his brother-in-law, who owned a biotech computer company in Delft, and
after a long interview and some socializing at a company party, they offered
Bob a job.
Nothing would be official until the lawyers secured a work permit, but it
was exciting to see that Bob’s hard work had paid off, and that we might
soon realize our dream of living in another country.
With that prospect in mind, we began to look forward to returning home,
knowing that we might soon be back in The Netherlands.
Questions?
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