Dolly's Bike Blog

(I wrote this on Wednesday before internet faded….still having problems with photo upload.)

We got underway before 9 am, just in time to join some of the commuter bicycle traffic as we traversed Den Haag headed south.  With many turns and lots of traffic, it is unnerving for both of us, Don negotiating all of the other bicycles, me trying to keep us along the pink line.  We survived…

It was only 8 miles to Delft, where we had planned to visit the Museum Prinsenhof, which didn’t open until 11 am (we arrived before 10 am).  Instead we went to the Oude Kerk (old church built around 1250, rebuilt 1450; beautiful photo exhibit with poems about the Creation), where we were serenaded by beautiful organ music.  The ticket to that church also entitled us to a free cup of coffee along the canal, and to view the Nieuwe Kerk (built 1396-1496, where Dutch royal family members are buried).  I climbed the 371 steps to the top of the tower for a great view of the city.

By now, it was noon, the wind was picking up and we decided to bypass the Museum to continue south.  As we approached Maassluis and the major waterway into Rotterdam, we were surrounded by windmills, some of the some traditional style, others the modern wind turbines.

We took a ferry across to Rozenburg, full size now with a bus on board as well as cars, pedestrians and other cyclists.  There were still 3 other canals to cross, these via bridges, before we arrived in Brielle.

There is a story about our accommodations tonight, a local B & B.  When Tulip Cycling double-checked the reservations, the owner had decided to take vacation. Peter pleaded and arrangements were made for the proprietor of the ice cream shop across the street to let us into the B & B for the night – so we are alone.  Someone will come at 7:30 am to bring us breakfast. Quiet town and we have made ourselves at home (buying salads for dinner at the local store and eating while watching soccer).

Directly behind the B & B is the History Museum.  While we missed the one in Delft, we learned all about the importance of Brielle, the Eighty Years War, William of Orange, Prince Maurice, and the Peace of Munster.

More bridge crossings tomorrow, hopefully with less wind.

We missed the King!  We had heard that the King and Queen would be parading to the Parliament on the third Tuesday of September, but, alas, we didn’t see them.  Timing is everything!

We left Gouda yesterday, biking 27 miles to get to Den Haag.  Similar green fields and canals to the previous days.  We did have another “road block”, this time sheep.  Then in the distance, we saw a strange tube, with an opening high in the sky.  At our coffee break, we asked a Dutch bike tourist and found out it was a ski “resort” http://www.snowworld.com.  Who would guess such a flat country would have a ski “resort?”

We entered Den Haag just at the lunch hour – what a mass of pedestrians and bikers, but we made it unscathed to our hotel, Mosaic Hotel, a wonderful boutique hotel about a mile outside the Centrum.

After showers, we walked back to the town center, only to discover that the Parliament Building had no tours as they were preparing for the events today.  We did visit the Mauritshuis, the nation’s picture gallery with works of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens among others.

Next order of importance was to find a laundry.  We discovered those are not plentiful in Holland – the front desk found one 15 minutes away.  Don seemed confident that there might be one closer and we asked someone at the local grocery store, no luck.  Then we asked a lady walking on the street toward the grocery.  She, of course, spoke perfect English, and, upon finding our dilemma, insisted that we do our laundry at her house in the neighborhood.

Frederique and Dick and their daughter Jona and their St. Bernard live in a lovely townhouse with a small garden in the back.  The laundry was on the third floor and we stuffed in our bike shorts and several jerseys.  An hour and a half later, we returned to retrieve our clean shorts and wonder at the serendipity of this hospitality.

No rush this morning as our plans were to ride to the beach, wander a bit, then maybe watch the procession of the TV.  We did ride to the beach (Scheveningen), wandered around the Kurhaus, then back in town we visited the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice.  We managed to get somewhat into the blocked traffic, and doing so, got to see some of the calvary honor guard.

Once the procession was over, we visited the Escher Museum, located in the palace of the late Queen Emma.  What an amazing artist of wood cut prints and lithographs, dominated by optical illusions and perspective!

Just in case King Wilhelm-Alexander was strolling the grounds, we biked past the royal palace, where the procession had begun earlier in the day.

Our wandering today was 15.82 miles. (I’ll upload today’s photos another day.)