Sorry folks, we missed yesterday. We were hopelessly lost and didn’t get back to the hotel until 9.30pm. We were on the way to the Jumbo supermarket and our friend got out her phone and Google mapped a route. It wasn’t very clear and we headed in the complete wrong direction. By the time we figured that out we were at least a 1/2 hour farther from our hotel. I have to say it was a pretty good walk and we got to see Antwerp in the early night time. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we had travel on foot just short of 20km over the day.
When we arrived I scooped a paper map from the front desk of the hotel. Ya paper. There was a walking ‘tour’ of the central part of Antwerp. 4km with a few side trips and a couple of times getting lost and a couple more. It was a really good way to see some of the must see places. A more ordered approach than the random method we usually employ.
Another not so normal adventure was lunch on the main square. Often the restaurants on the plein would be more expensive than a similar place one block off the square. But on the menu was mussels, one of the highlights of the Belgian cuisine. Debbie and I managed to consume a kilo of mussels in a garlic veggie broth. Our friend showed us the proper way to eat mussels which was more efficient than what we were doing.
The wear and tear of the tour meant we were ready for an afternoon nap and both of us indulged.
The end of the day saw us seated for dinner again on the main square. We left the hotel in search of a place to eat and it is not easy to find random restaurants. We decided on pizza and half way to the restaurant the skies opened up and it poured. Debbie and IB used Debbie’s heavy riding rain jacket as an umbrella and I had on my light rain coat so was protected. We all got half soaked. The rain made the pizza taste wonderful. On the way home we got lost as I mentioned above.
The thing a North American must learn is to look both ways twice when crossing the street. One to cross the bike road and once to cross the car road. The people in Antwerp obey the don’t walk lights to a tee, the little red man. You can be a side street with no traffic in sight either direction and you wait. The little green man is the cue to cross.
As far as I know Antwerp is not on any tourist agenda but I think it is worth a couple of days stopover. There maybe nothing earth shaking here but it is a has a good vibe and some places that require a look see.
Today we leave the Netherlands for a short foray into Belgium. But I have a couple of nagging comments about the Dutch. It is a culture of mini dogs. There are a ton of people out walking their dogs but 99% of those dogs are no taller than a foot (30 cm for you younger folks). We presume this is due to the size of the people’s residence. No room for a St. Bernard.
The second thing is a bit odd but here it goes. The Dutch have amazing toilet paper. It is the same quality as those paper napkins that you keep and only bring out when you have guests.
Last, but this is not strictly a Dutch thing. I am sure I mentioned this when we travelled through Denmark. I hate cobbles. Our asphalt roads in Alberta can be rough but to pedal over cobbles after 5 hours in the saddle is horrible. Shaking and bouncing about, your forward progression slows and it is just generally uncomfortable.
Antwerp Central Station
We crossed the border in Belgium today and you notice things have changed. The canals have disappeared. Lot of green countryside but no water. There are only about 1/2 as many bike riders. Yes it is still a biking culture but the numbers are down a little. In general the bike ‘roads’ are not kept to the same standard as north of the border. At least not on the first part of our journey here.
When we arrive at Schipol we met a couple from our home town that was going to spend a month riding around most Belgium. When we told them we were starting in Amsterdam she mentioned they and pedalled about the Netherlands a few years ago. Her strongest memory was the wind was forever a head wind. I kind of thought bad luck and we can do OK with a bit of wind. The last two days have been the wind from hell. Yesterday we spend about 4 hours into a 30+km wind. OK we made it. Today we start out with a mild tail wind. All good. about 11am the wind changes direction and again we are head on into a 30+km wind. I’m kinda hope’n our luck changes sometime and we can ride with the wind.
Our intro to Antwerp was quite uninspiring. We road on bike paths but through a heavy industrial area. I think it was near the port so big machines and trucks, huge warehouses, big yards of storage and transfer of goods. We then travelled along some heavily used arterial roads, again not the first impression that makes one think you have arrived in Eden. Finally we get to the main square. Quite a stunning place but crowded and maybe not the place for a couple of North American bike riders to have to manoeuvre through.
We are spending the next two days off our bikes, wandering around Antwerp.
Today is our longest ride during the trip. We are on the road by 8:45 after a hearty breakfast at the hotel. We want to ride through the National Park de Biesbosch, a delta full of plants, animals and birds.
It takes us 45 minutes to ride to the ferry and arrive just as the ferry is pulling in from the other side. It is a car ferry, so about five cars drive on and three bikes, two of them ours. It costs us 2.84 Euros for both of us for the crossing.
Biesbosch National Park
Riding along the bike trail south, we see fields, both cultivated and non cultivated. Along the waterways are herons and ducks and we hear birds we cannot identify. There are cows here too! Not quite our idea of a national park, but it is peaceful here. It is very quiet as it is a Monday and only mid morning. Our destination is another ferry dock on the south end. As we ride up to the dock we see that the small ferry is about 2/3 of the way across the water.
‘t leeuweveerke ferry
This ferry ‘t Leeuweveerke is a solar powered ferry, run by volunteers, that holds only 12 people, only bikes allowed and no motorized bikes or vehicles. The ferry does have batteries, just in case, and it does not run on bad weather days. We notice how quiet the ride is. Murray and I are its only passengers for the 15 minute crossing. This ferry cost us 11 Euros.
‘t leeuweveerke ferry
We ride onward. Today is the first day that the wind is strong, really strong. We ride into the wind all day long. Murray sacrifices himself and rides in front so I can draft behind him. We ride this way all the way to Bergen op Zoom. When we turn a corner and the wind shifts, sometimes I get blown off the back and have to call out to WAIT!
In one section of the ride we ride by huge oak trees lining the road. I’m sure there was more than a hundred oak trees! I have never seen so many, ever. The crunching under our tires is tiny acorns that have fallen on to the path.
Remember me saying that we thought the geese were flocking? Today we saw 3 or 4 large vees of geese flying overhead. Yup, they are migrating!
We are both hurting for the last 5 kms as we ride into the center of Bergen op Zoom and are thankful when we reach the hotel. We are staying at the Hotel de Draak, the oldest hotel in Bergen op Zoom, having been built prior to 1400, and survived two city fires. The hotel sits on the market square, where all the action is.
Debbie uses the word ‘action’ a little loosely. This is the sleepiest town we have visited. I don’t think there is much for a tourist to do here. A couple of European old buildings and that’s about it. A few locals are around but not very crowded. I still think it is a village worth one night stop over.
Today is Sunday and the road riders are out in force. Our route follows roads and a carless path which seems to be a favourite ride for these riders. They whiz by us and we rue our heavy loads and miss our road bikes that are at home.
Outside Gouda
We ride in true countryside today. Large fields going in all directions. The farm yards are compact and tidy, no derelict out buildings here. Cows are numerous and so are the geese. We think the geese must be gathering up for a flight south, just like in North America.
We are finding the Dutch people very friendly. They are willing to chat with two curious Canadians. We have also come across Mexican, Polish and Irish folks all heading to the F1 race in Zandvoort.
Kinderdijk Windmills
Today, our major stop is to see the Kinderdijk windmills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are 19 windmills built around the late 1700s for water management in the area. We enjoy stopping for photos and even eat our lunch in view of one of the windmills.
Kinderdijk Windmill
There is a party on the grounds of the church today in Dordrecht. Rock in the Park, with a rock band, food trucks and a small market. We desperately need food so we gobble down some fries. Dordrecht is quieter than Gouda but the streets are just as lovely. Many of the shops are ateliers, artist workspaces in the back of the shop and a small store in the front. It seems to be a very artistic town.
It’s pouring rain when we get up. The forecast says it should stop around 9:00 or 10:00. By the time we are ready to go, it has miraculously stopped raining. The heavy duty rain gear stays in the pannier. We manage to stay dry and warm all day long.
Leaving the hotel vicinity is easy. We are using Komoot as a navigation app. The female voice instructs us to turn right here and left there. We have to get used to her instructions and how the bike paths work as a couple of times her saying turn right here, then left then right, confuses Murray (who is leading), and we have to stop, turn around and try again. By the end of the day’s ride, he has it figured out with a combo of voice instruction, blue line on the map and bike path reality.
The bike paths are mostly red in colour. The pedestrian path is pavement colour so there is a separation. There is usually a hedge or curb separating the road, and cars, and the bike path. Occasionally the bike path is a shoulder of the road with a dashed line as the separator.
We wiggle waggle through residential, light industrial and farm areas. There are canals everywhere. Sometimes with ducks or geese, a few swans and one heron(!) floating on or standing in the water. A town called Woerden is our lunch stop. We park ourselves on a bench next to what happens to be a church. Next thing we know we are chatting with a local woman, then her kids and then her husband. The best kind of lunch stop.
Our next stop is Oudewater where there is a witch weighing museum. Apparently, if you were accused of being a witch, you could get weighed and if your weight was within a “normal” range, you were declared not a witch. Luckily, neither Murray or I are witches, and I have a certificate to prove it!
Witch weigh scale
From Oudewater to Gouda is only 15 km. Lesson learned today…..make sure Murray’s phone is 100% charged in the morning. We pulled up to the hotel with only 3% battery left on his phone. Phew!
After checking into our hotel, parking and locking the bikes and showering, we go for a walk in Gouda. It is Saturday, the market is in full swing and there are people everywhere. The market sells fruits, veggies, meats, purses, clothes and, yes, cheese!
Gouda’s Saturday Market
Every larger town has a Stadhuis, or town hall. Gouda’s is quite impressive.
Stadhuis in Gouda
Supper is Thai. By the time we exit the restaurant, the market is shut down and the streets are quiet. Gouda is a lovely town full of unique shops and sights.
We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday morning, shuttled to the hotel, put bikes together, unpacked two suitcases into our numerous pannier piles, ate supper and collapsed.
Slept in this morning as our internal clocks are still in MDT. We have chores to do today so we force ourselves out of bed and get to it.
Amsterdam Central Station
A shuttle ride and then a train ride takes us to the Amsterdam Central Train Station. We walk down Rokin Street looking for a Vodofone shop, to buy SIM cards, and a Geldmaat ATM to get some cash. After a some blocks and a few wrong turns we find both.
We line our panniers with plastic bags in case of torrential rain. I inadvertently only brought four bags instead of eight, so our third chore is to find a super market large enough to sell plastic garbage bags. This is the hardest chore to accomplish. We have 7-Eleven stores at home. In Amsterdam there are Albert Heijn stores, selling mostly quick prep meals or ready to eat items. It reminded me of the stores in Japan that sold similar items. We finally are directed to a larger Albert Heijn shop and find what we need.
Tushinski Theatre in Art Deco
With our chores done, we can now play tourist. We wander past an art deco theatre, stroll along canals and end up at the Stedelijk Museum, a contemporary art and design museum. I like the “old” stuff – Picasso, Mondrian, Kandinsky. The “new” stuff sometimes makes me want to discuss “What exactly is art?”
We were warned about the bicycles and to watch out for them. They are everywhere, and don’t always follow the rules, so we look both ways before crossing a bike path or road. They seem to go very fast in congested areas. All sorts ride bikes – young women in short skirts and high boots, guys in wide jeans and sneakers, old people, young people. The bikes are not fancy, mostly dark colours, sit up straight kinda bikes.
An Amsterdam Canal
Fries are very popular here. NOT French fries, just fries. Served in a paper cone with a large dollop of sauce (ketchup for me) on the top. We sample this staple and enjoy every bite. Another popular food item is waffles. Decorated, iced, served over tea. We haven’t sampled waffles yet, but it is on the list!
We are now back at the hotel, listening to it pour rain outside. We will pack the panniers tonight as tomorrow, we hop on the bikes and head to Gouda.
On this day in 2018 we were riding our bikes through Denmark. I have been rereading our posts from the Denmark bike trip as, in a few days, we are heading to The Netherlands and Belgium with our bikes. Definitely NOT Have Carry On Will Travel.
Murray has always wanted to go to Bruges, Belgium and finally decided it was time to go. “Oh, let’s ride our bikes there!” We are flying into Amsterdam, putting our bikes back together and riding on a route from Amsterdam to Gouda to Antwerp to Brussels to Ghent to Bruges to The Hague and back to Amsterdam. There are stops in small towns along the way. Our longest ride is about 64 km, our shortest is about 35 km. The most number of days of riding in a row, so far, is four. We do have some slush days to move things around, so we have some leeway.
Our first big stop is in Antwerp where we are meeting our German friend I. We will spend two full days exploring Antwerp and catching up with her. We are also spending extra days in Brussels, Bruges and The Hague. Our list of sites to see includes many art museums, as we love the old masters and modern art.
I have used the packing lists from our Denmark trip to organize for this trip. We have 7 piles downstairs, all labelled – 4 for the panniers, 1 for Murray’s handlebar bag and two piles for bikes clothes we will be wearing. Oh, and another one for airplane stuff and bike tools that will stay in Amsterdam.
We have calculated how much weight both should be carrying and the split between front and back panniers. We test load up the panniers, weigh them, redistribute and then create a final packing list sorted by pannier. I will use this list to sort clothes and gear after we arrive in Amsterdam. It saves so much time and mental capacity. Once the list is made, we unpack everything and repack it into our suitcases, which will also carry the panniers and the bike racks.
We spend an afternoon tuning, cleaning and packing the bikes.
We have packed the suitcases and are basically ready to go. Next stop….Amsterdam.
I love the Gold Coast. The weather, the vibe, the ocean and especially the beach.
Just before we left Edmonton, Gold Coast got hit by the edge of Cyclone Alfred. Our son, M, kept in touch and was preparing the house for the storm. Cleared the rain gutters, put away all the deck furniture and toys, put the garbage bins inside and caulked the windows. The authorities had requested that all residents shelter in place, so M worked from home and D and V stayed home.
When the storm hit, the winds were up to about 110 kph. The wind alternated with rain. The area around M’s house received about 600 mm of rain. Their house is on a canal and has a highish bank from the house level to the canal. The water level was up over the 4’ fence at the bottom of the hill and had crept 1/3 of the way up the hill. That’s a lot of water! Fortunately, the house sustained no damage.
Others were not so fortunate. About 66,000 properties lost power. Numerous trees that came down on property, causing damage. City parks had trees down everywhere. M told us city crews were driving around picking up garbage bins that had blown away of blown into the canals. The clean up is almost done now.
The new narrower beach
The biggest area affected by the cyclone is the beautiful beach along the coast. Before the storm, there was a headwall (dune if you like) above the beach with sand ramps down to the beach and the water. This headwall got hammered and in some spots, the drop down to the beach was 20 feet. The ramps disappeared and sand on the beach also disappeared into the ocean. It is estimated that 4.0 million cubic meters of sand was lost along the whole Gold Coast beach. What was a nice wide beach is now a narrow beach about half the width. M says the sand is sitting just off the beach, making for great waves that the surfers are enjoying. The sand will eventually get pushed back onto the beach by the waves and tides, but it will take years. A dredging company has been hired for a 6 month contract to dredge as much sand up as possible. In that time they will only be able to gather a fraction of what was displaced. Bulldozers have replaced the ramps and Gold Coasters are once again enjoying their beach lifestyle and I am able to walk the beach that I love.
The last time I was in Melbourne was in 1998. At the time I thought it had more of a ‘British’ influence than the other big cities in Australia. My impression now is it is a lot more, say, cosmopolitan. It is still an ‘arty’ city, there is just that kind of awareness.
Downtown Melbourne has more than its share of restaurants. Most are tucked in an alley or on a quieter street and all have outdoor seating. Like in Europe, hosts stand where the pedestrians pass and try to lure you into their establishment. The majority of these eating establishments have a good number of folks in their seats so are at least making ends meet.
Considering its size, the traffic in Melbourne is not too bad. It seems to move and we have seen no traffic jams. For the most part the drivers obey the red lights and are polite to pedestrians. Pedestrians are in turn polite to the drivers. Generally, the people only cross at intersections and wait patiently at the curb until the little green man walk light appears. On the smaller streets, the ‘lanes’, it is OK to jay walk but on those streets the traffic is extremely light.
The days we were in the city, there were quite a few tourists. I think the fact that it was a school holiday in Victoria was the reason for the Australian tourists. There also were a good number of Asians wandering about in large groups following a guide with an obvious sign on a tall stick. A tip for those who might visit Melbourne; don’t bother with the free on/off downtown tourist tram. It is free which is enticing, but the time we got on it was so crowded we were crammed in like a Japanese train and because we were standing we could not see anything out the windows. We rode it for 2 stops and got off. We didn’t try again.
I thought it was just the Gold Coast but after walking around Melbourne I think all of Australia must be booming. There is so much construction. High rise cranes are part of the city’s fabric and visible no matter where you turn your gaze. There are workers dressed in the standard work uniform of a bight yellow jacket on every street we walk down.
Have a cursory look at the landscape and you would think Melbourne is a flat city. Although the elevation gain is not much, Debbie and I walk up and down hills most of the day. The only real flat walk is along the south shore river walk.
I’m not sure where Australians store their garbage when they are out and about, but Melbourne is a very clean city. There is no accumulation of garbage anywhere, not even in vacant lots. The odd thing is there are not many garbage cans around. I would carry an empty Coke bottle for at least 2 blocks before I could get rid of it. Recycle bins are even more rare. Sometimes the garbage buckets were paired with recycle bins but not often.
The din in the city is quite loud. It may be because of the reverb in the canyons created by all the tall buildings. Debbie and I had to use our very load outdoor voices to communicate. The loudest of all the places we encountered was the covered train platforms at the Southern Cross Station. The volume knob was turned so high instead of using the tables provided we went outside and sat on a public stairway to eat our lunch.
As mentioned before Melbourne respects its history and has kept a good number of its old buildings. This philosophy is also practiced when it comes to the network of streets established as the city grew. The old lanes and alleyways have been turned into boutique type retail and restaurant areas. Again, referencing our city of Edmonton those old buildings are torn down, the alleys are obliterated and the entire block is filled in with high density office and residential buildings that frankly have no character what so ever. The populating of the Melbourne alleys is not only funky but it makes those areas safe to traverse and totally fun to explore.
Melbourne has a network of bike lanes similar to Edmonton’s with dedicated lanes along the side of busy streets and some areas bikes and peds only. This is a city with rideable weather 365 days of the year and still there are not enough riders to justify the amount of city space and money spent given to those bike specific areas. I saw more bikes than at home but, sorry, neither city will become a Copenhagen or Amsterdam.
I don’t wander the downtown streets at home much so it is a little hard to make a proper comparison but there are a lot of smokers in Melbourne. It was not too surprising to see older people standing in the alleys puffing away but what was a little disturbing was the number of young ladies that were headed here or there vaping. I thought the anti smoking campaigns of the last couple of decades were effective, but I guess not.
Melbourne is a big city with all the big city characters. It sure makes for good people watching. A few times each day, Debbie and I sit on one of the street side benches and watch the world go by. Most people are within the realm of ‘normal’. But every 50th person is a bit ‘eccentric’. Some clothing is really out there. Each of the eccentric people have their own style and it is exemplified in the clothing they wear.
I don’t know how far and wide the idea spreads but at least in the South Pacific the measurement of a pizza is different than in North America. Twice on this trip we have asked a server “How big is the pizza?.” This was in two different countries. Both times the answer was 6 pieces. When I use my hands to indicate what is the diameter of the pizza they looked baffled.
Another unusual practice we encountered at the hotel is a $20 food and beverage credit just for leaving the ‘Do not make up the room’ sign on the door. We don’t find the make up of the room every day a necessity and in fact we rarely use the service. It was a nice surprise to find we would receive a rebate.
One last Kusama
I like Melbourne. It has a good vibe. I don’t know what would be the cause of the good feeling but it is there. My spidey sense didn’t tingle once and in fact I felt comfortable where we were. It is a safe and welcoming place, definitely a place to visit when in Australia.
Today is the day we go to the art show that was the underlying reason for us to hop on a plane and head to Melbourne. Yayoi Kusama has a retrospective show of her works at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). We think it’s smart to arrive in the morning to avoid the crowds. Approaching the entrance we note there is something special ahead. The trees are all wrapped in polka dot fabric.
Eek! We are in the door before 10am and the place is already crawling. The lobby is buzzing and there are more teasers before you enter the show itself. 1400 mirrored balls are placed in groups on the floor, reflecting the surroundings over and over and over. The line in the exhibit area moves slowly but there are no pauses. Inside it is a constant milling of people. It is busy but we are still able to see every piece hung on the wall and every installation.
Debbie writes…..Yayoi Kusama is in her nineties now. Her art career started in Japan as a young person. She eventually moved to New York and spent about 15 years there before moving back to Japan. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that she became a world wide name. Her pumpkins, with the polka dots, have always been her signature pieces, along with the infinity rooms. One of her quotes said “our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos”, and that really speaks to me.
The dots are of course the highlight. The first infinity room, which was on display at the Venice Biennale, has a mirror box with several pumpkin lanterns in it. A small window allowed visual access. It is the first mind blowing vision. There are several references to pumpkins. Ms Kusama found working with pumpkins therapeutic and used them in her work on and off for her entire career. There are a few more mirror rooms each with its own interest but the first and last one were the most spectacular. The last box has hanging spheres with LED lights that were reflected to infinity. The other highlight was sinuous inflatable yellow tubes with black polka dots spanning the room’s walls, also finished in yellow with black polka dots.
Most of the rest of the day we spent touring other exhibits in the NGV International and the NGV Australia. There is a good show of Impressionism on the second floor of the International gallery. Well worth the visit. There was also a good number of other famous artists display. Salvador Dali’s ‘Marilyn Monroe’s Lips’ might have been the most unusual piece. There are pieces from the Bauhaus, works by Andy Warhol, Manet, Rodin and a whole list of others. The NGV Australia did not have the outstanding pieces the International had but we enjoyed what it had to offer as well. After close to 4 hours of wandering gallery floors we were ready to set a course back to the hotel and rest. It was an anticipated day and I think it lived up to our expectations.
If you get a chance to see Yayoi Kusama’s art, set aside an hour or two and see what she has created. It’s wonderful!
