Heemskirk, Haarlem, and Amsterdam....Netherlands

  The Netherlands for me was a place that had a relaxing atmosphere with a very hospitable citizenry that helped to make my visit most memorable. What made my trip extra special was visiting my friends Wilma, Isabel, and Sander who provided excellent hosting qualities. Upon arrival in Amsterdam, suffering from sleep deprivation (about 40 hours awake), I headed by train to my friends in Heemskirk via Haarlem.

                      

 While viewing the nice scenery out of the window I could not help but notice the thousands of bicycles attached to stands in many places.

                       

  One of the first things we did was go for a bike ride using the network of bike lanes that seemed to exist everywhere. We headed for the farms (it was a yearly farmers day) and there were hundreds of people riding their bikes; from tiny children to seniors in their 80's. We ate ice cream and watched sheep herding.....there was a great family atmosphere.

                        

 Heemskirk is a small steel mill town of about 35,000 surrounded by farms, many with sheep. I noticed quickly how expensive that it was to live in the Netherlands, the Dutch took a hit when the Guilder was replaced by the Euro.

   The next day I took the bus to the train station, then the train to Haarlem.

                                        

 The buses were so clean and the system runs smoothly with a monitor announcement for the next 4 stops. Haarlem is a great place to visit; the architecture around the city warrants many photo's, some buildings date back to the early 1600's or even earlier; the train station is over 100 years old. I took so many photo's of old churches, shops, apartments; and the city skyline, from the top of a building I could access. Sitting among those old buildings while listening to church bells and writing in my journal was memorable.

                         

                                         

 I did have a little problem on the way home, I tried to pronounce Wilma's street to bus drivers but my pronunciation was just not Dutch enough, so I loaded a few buses that did not take me in the right direction. Finally I showed yet another helpful bus driver the street written on a piece of paper and he steered me in the right direction and I got home.

    That night I went with Wilma to Zaandam and the small village of Zaame Schans where they have old Dutch windmills that dated back to the 1600's. One of the original uses for the windmills was to power chocolate factories and other sorts of commercial entities; cheese making is still common in this area and the Dutch are famous for their cheese and chocolate.

                      


  The next day I took the train to Amsterdam; the station was so busy with the World Cup being played in Germany, a lot of travelers flew to Amsterdam and headed south on the train. I was infatuated with the architecture in Amsterdam: I took so many photo's, it was hard to stop. Many of the over 400 year old buildings lean, most have some built-in sculptures and are fascinating to look at.


                           

The canals, that help to control flooding (about 25 % of the Netherlands is below sea level) make for a picturesque landscape; there are about 1200 bridges in Amsterdam.

                           

 I was sitting on a bridge writing in my journal when a tour guide was telling some tourists about the red light district and how it started about 700 years previous. Seamen used to arrive from the ships and the ladies would be lined up so the men could look at their teeth. If the ladies had teeth that were in good shape then they would be asked to lift up their dress. In those days very few people bathed, maybe once per month they would go to a bath house. It was explained that perfume became very popular to mask the odor of the women's body. So in my opinion Amsterdam is a great place for a tourist visit, it is clean, friendly, and historic (a Unesco site).

   The next day I walked and walked around Amsterdam before taking the train to the port city of Rotterdam. This city was unspectacular in comparison to Haarlem or Amsterdam because it got bombarded during the second world war; Rotterdam is 7 metres below sea level in some spots. The word Netherlands translates to low land and the word Holland refers to the woods, of which the north of the country used to be covered. Many times we think of the Dutch people coming from Holland.

    I flew to Italy from the Rotterdam airport and had my tour of Rome before returning to Wilma's. There was some action on the plane as one of the passengers was caught steeling from a ladies purse so we had to stay seated until the police took him off the plane. The next day Wilma, the kids and I went to watch the running race in town where small children started and then runners progressed to half-marathoners. It was a typical Dutch family oriented day; it was just so peaceful and friendly. That night I took the train to Amsterdam and took notice of the many wind farms with the tall turbines from which the Dutch get their power. I was to return to Wilma's once more after a trip to Sweden, little did I know that I was a day late arriving at the airport in Stockholm and had to buy a new ticket for Amsterdam. Poor Wilma had expected me to return the day earlier so I threw a twist into her plans.

   Yet again I took the familiar trip to Heemskirk, through Haarlem, to my friends place (whom I met in Australia 20 years before). Wilma really helped my arrivals and departures from the Netherlands go much more smoothly than if I would have done the tasks myself. The family friends I met in Heemskirk were very friendly, the children were awesome; and the lifestyle of the Dutch people in general is very appealing.