The Netherlands

We had a long day’s drive from our little marina to the Netherlands. We could have split the day and stayed somewhere along the way, but we had a dinner date we did not want to miss.

On our route we drove past places that would have been great for sightseeing; Lubeck, Hamburg, Bremen and so on. There is just no way to see all of Germany in one or two visits, it’s so vast. We’ll just have to make a plan to return.

On this travel day we set our sights on Groningen, a university town in north Holland. It is here we met up with Dulcinea Moran and her husband, Paddy. We have known Dulcinea since she was in middle school, a classmate of Zoe’s and later, college roommates. It was at Western that Dulcinea met Paddy. Together they have recently moved to Groningen where she will work to attain her Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Frank Mohr Institute. Paddy has recently found employment at a start-up company and they are both very excited about the opportunity to live, work and study in the Netherlands. We are very happy for them and It was great to spend time with them in their new town.

Paddy and Dulcinea
They picked out a fab restaurant for dinner, one that serves a variety of North African food. We shared wine from Morocco and Algeria, and enjoyed a few savory dishes as well. The company and conversation was wonderful, too!

Since we would only be in Groningen for one night, we decided to stay at a shipyard that was close to town, and, as luck would have it, a half a block away from IKEA! We needed a few things, but as you know, there is no such thing as a quick trip to IKEA, so we planned to have some breakfast there before beginning the long jaunt through the store. For the first time, we got only those few items we needed and nothing more. We are learning Bijou is not a Tardis and that our space is limited.

Our destination, Amsterdam, was just over an hour away, so we decided to take the long way ’round and go north, over the Afsluitdijk, a 32-kilometer long causeway connecting north Holland with the Friesland province. This way, we could also stop in to have lunch in Edam before continuing a bit further south to our campground in Amsterdam. The Afsluitdijk is just under 24 feet above sea level, which is practically a mountain in the Netherlands. As such, we didn’t get much in the way of a sea view, but it was a great driving route anyway.

We found a great place to park and decided to walk into town rather than take our bikes. We found a place to enjoy a cheesy lunch (when in Edam…) and then explored the town. With lots of canals, flowers and beautiful homes, there was a lot that grabbed our attention. One thing in particular, though, was a surprise find for us – our first Stolperstein.

Cheesy eggs and toast. Delish!

A Stolperstein, which literally means “stumbling stone” is a concrete block just under 4 inches square, with a brass plate attached. The information etched onto the brass plate commemorates an individual who fell victim to Nazi persecution. These blocks are installed in the pavement at the last place freely chosen by the individual, most often their home, but sometimes their school or place of work. The project was started by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992. As of December 2019, 75,000 Stolpersteine have been laid in multiple countries across Europe making it the world’s largest memorial.

Scenes from Edam. As we were walking along the canal, Steven stopped to take a photo and I stopped to wait for him. I just happened to look down and see this Stolperstein, our very first one! It was in front of a private residence.

We owe a big shout out and thanks to blog reader Carol who told us about the Stolpersteine project. She and her husband Mike traveled around Europe in their motorhome for a couple of years before returning to the UK. During their travels they made a point to search out Stolpersteine in the areas they visited. Some they sought out, others they simply stumbled across, as we did in Edam. They kept a gallery of all that they found, you can see it here. We’ve enjoyed learning about this project and plan to keep our eyes open for more as we travel.

We made the trip from Edam to our campsite in Amsterdam in a massive downpour, but by the time we got checked in and settled, the sun was out. Our campsite was in north Amsterdam, so to get to the city proper on our bikes we had to take a ferry. It was about a ten minute bike ride to the ferry, which took about five minutes to get us to the Central Station. That little ferry was the only place in Amsterdam we were required to wear a mask.

The skies opened up about three seconds after we stepped into Bijou from our walk in Edam!
This ferry does not take cars, only pedestrians, bikes and mopeds!

On our first day in town we signed up for a FreeDam Walking Tour. For two hours we walked all over learning the history and fun facts about the city. The Dutch are famous for being very tolerant people, but something our guide said really stuck with me. Sometimes that attitude works against them, and they become tolerant of the intolerant. That, apparently, is what happened when the Nazis invaded. As our guide described it, the Dutch said, well, they are going to win anyway, so why should we fight? I’m sure there was more to it than that, but he made a good point, I thought.

Our walking group and guide Sebastian. The rain came on and off in the beginning, then the sun came out.

Along with the laid-back attitude in Amsterdam comes Coffee Houses, where marijuana is sold openly, although it is still actually against the law. People smoke everywhere. Personally, I really don’t care who smokes or does not smoke pot, but I surely wish it smelled better.

We enjoyed our walking tour and learned a lot about the city. One thing that was really shocking to both of us was the amount of trash just laying about. This is not something we have seen much of in Europe, in fact, we are constantly talking about how clean all the cities are. This was especially so in even the little villages we walked through on the Camino, they were spotless! I have always equated cleanliness with civic pride, and sadly, we didn’t see much of that in Amsterdam. When I mentioned it to our walking guide, he blamed it on the tourists, but I can assure you it is not entirely a tourist issue. First, it was trashy outside of the touristy areas and second, there were not that many tourists around, at least compared to normal times. It was really jarring. The canals, though, were fairly debris free.

We talked over and over about which museums to visit, would we go to the Anne Frank house, and so on. Even though we have been in lots of big cities, we are trying to follow the COVID rules of social distancing and wearing masks. It’s been our experience that these precautions are really only followed in France and Germany but rarely elsewhere. In the Netherlands, you would not have known we are in the midst of a pandemic and it all got a little too free-wheeling for my comfort. So we decided to skip the museums and instead of visiting the Anne Frank house where she and her family hid from the Nazis, we would instead visit the neighborhood where they lived freely, and there we found the Stolpersteine placed in their honor. The home is still a private residence, but the Stolpersteine are easily seen on the sidewalk in front. Across the street was a small neighborhood park where we found a statue of Anne Frank. We found it to be quite moving.

You can see how the Stolpersteine are embedded in the sidewalk in front of the former family home, and a close-up.

We spent the majority of our time in the city on our bikes, where we rode through the parks and neighborhoods. We would find a place to park and lock them up, which wasn’t always easy, and then walk around. We visited the outdoor market, took a boat ride along the beautiful canals and enjoyed lots of good food. We really did enjoy Amsterdam, but we were looking forward to getting out into the country.

Getting an order of French fries at the market. Yummy!
The seating on our canal boat tour was marked off for social distancing, but it was not necessary! It was only us and one other couple !
Canal scenes in Amsterdam.

First, though, we wanted more cheesy goodness, so a stop in Gouda was on the route. We had specifically planned to arrive there on a Friday so that we could attend the cheese market. That didn’t work out so well because we soon found out the cheese market was actually on Thursday. Oh well. After a yummy lunch, we decided to leave Gouda and move on to our next stop. We had reservations at a little campsite near Oud-Alblas and contacted them to see if we could arrive a day early, which they said was fine. Our purpose for being at this place was twofold: one, it was out in the beautiful countryside and two, it was near the famous windmills of Kinderdijk. We had been keeping our eye on the weather and saw that our only chance for a sunny visit to Kinderdijk was the same day we were in Gouda, and that’s why we packed up and left.

Plenty of Gouda to eat even though there was no market. We had Gouda soup for lunch, it was fab! There was a wedding taking place at the church.

Once we had arrived at our campsite (more on that in a sec…) we hopped on our bikes and took off for the windmills. These windmills, 19 in all, were built in 1740 to drain the water from the polder where Kinderdijk sat at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. These days they are the largest concentration of old windmills, a UNESCO Heritage Site and one of the most visited places in all of the Netherlands. Our visit was sunny and sans tour buses, which made it all the more enjoyable.

Steven made two return visits to the windmills so he could shoot some evening cloud drama. This is the iconic windmill shot, but there were plenty more around.

About our campsite… as we were driving toward it we could see a beautiful windmill in the distance. We had no idea that once we parked up, it would be literally right outside our front windshield! This was not a water mill, but a flour mill, which was then sold in the little baking shop attached to the windmill.

When we don’t close our front shades overnight, the drop-down bed basically serves as our privacy curtain, but the fabric is not a blackout material. The problem with that is when the sun rises it gets very, very bright. On our first morning there I awoke to a loud, “womp! womp! womp!” and huge shadows casting darkness inside Bijou. It looked like a giant pterodactyl was flying by our window. But no, it was just the giant rotating windmill blades and the miller, doing his milling thang.

We got lost out in the countryside on one of our bike rides. It was beautiful!

As usual, we have tons of photos to share, so here are a few more.

This is an iconic view of the “dancing houses”. They are marked as a historical landmark in the Amstel neighborhood of Amsterdam.
Although we saw almost no one wearing masks in Amsterdam, social distancing was encouraged. This is on the grounds of the Rijksmuseum and it’s also shared by the Van Gogh Museum on the left in the bottom photo.
These little cars (Steven called them “half smart cars”) are all over Amsterdam. Bikes, however, are the choice mode of transport and this parking area in the lower left photo is pretty typical of the masses of bicycles. Linda stands beside one of the lesser racy shops in the city 🙂
Morning light, Steven’s favorite sculpture and the Asian food market where we stocked up on few things.
It was worth the 20km round trip to see the windmills in the sunset!
The view out our front window during a rainy day and the sunset at Kinderdijk as seen through Steven’s bicycle mirror.

NEXT UP: Bruges and Beyond!

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18 Comments

  1. Oh, goodness…. the Anne Frank things, so very poignant… u know, living in Oregon the END of the Oregon trail (well actually am in Central Oregon) and people’s migration West in the States, there are buildings maybe 100 years old…. maybe.. it is hard to keep old buildings unless people were really diligent in upkeep… i notice when going East (visits to Iowa) u get older homes and lots of brick buildings…. when traveling to Wash DC and the Fall trip i took to see the leaves, Conn, Maine, Mass, R.I., Vermont, New Hampshire, there were old homes/buildings… BUT seeing the things that you are seeing, Stevens pictures Are SO wonderful…. the old really huge buildings and those homes along the canals…. it is just so wonderful and lovely and want to thank you both so very much for sharing with us/me following along. Love, Love, Love when a new blog comes online!!! comes to my phone then get out the computer so i can see things in a bigger size… Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!

    1. 2chouters

      Thank you so much for your kind words. I know how much fun it is to follow along on someone else’s travels, we did it for years before we finally hit the road fulltime. We really appreciate you taking time to let us know that you are enjoying our posts.

    1. 2chouters

      How crazy is it that I was practically standing on my first one in Edam? If you had not told us about them I wouldn’t have even bothered looking at it, or tried to understand its meaning. And you are right, there are too many, and more every year. Also, I am really enjoying your blog, we will be traveling to many of the same places you did from Greece to Norway! If the borders stay open, that is!

      1. Carol

        We loved Norway and you can park pretty much anywhere. Will post some top tips re where to find electric for a hairdryer and where the hidden water tap is at Nordkapp when you arrive in the country! Loving your blogs and photos. Do look at http://www.ourtour.co.uk – they write a great blog and have stayed at many places across Europe.

        1. 2chouters

          I have practically live on Our Tour’s site, reading about their journeys and the advice they offer. Such a great resource, and good people, too. We’ll appreciate all the tips you have to offer! Keeping our fingers crossed for a year of open borders!

  2. Janet

    You guys are living my dream. So far, we only RV around the United States. I wonder if we could take our cats if we did this in Europe?
    When the pandemic is over you should try to go back to the Anne Frank house. It is one of the most memorable and moving sites we visited in Amsterdam. Also, the museums are fabulous!
    I love Steven’s photos and your narrative and look forward to every post. I forward them to my husband hoping they will help him decide to do this. He also loves to take photos.

    1. 2chouters

      Hi Janet, thanks for commenting. Yes, you can absolutely bring your kitties over here! Our friends we had dinner with in Groningen brought their kitty, and if you read Nina’s blog at Wheeling It, she has a whole post about bringing pets over! Fingers crossed one day soon the pandemic will be under control and we can all travel freely again!

  3. How delightful to meetup with your young friends – living the dream those two!! Still very beautiful, but surprising to hear Amsterdam is skunk-smelling and trashy as well. Even more surprising and alarming to see the lack of masks. Glad you took the smart route and went to Anne’s happier times house. Thanks for sharing the Stolpersteine project. As Carol commented, it’s sad there are so many. I applaud your use of all the proper names (you can’t possibly remember the proper spellings off the top of your head!) – I can’t pronounce any of them :-))) Love every photo, what a great story you’re getting to tell. The canals and windmills and amazing statue are top favs. Waking up to pterodactyls is definitely a new experience! Do the people in the header houses live at an angle inside?? They’re fun to look at though.

    1. 2chouters

      If you move your fingers over one on the keyboard and start typing, voila, instant Dutch! So many letters! And yeah, I did memorize all the spellings (no I didn’t…)

    1. 2chouters

      Thanks, Deb! We stayed just long enough in each town to sample the cheese, and it was worth it! Unfortunately, we didn’t buy any. But we are back in France now, so there’s lots to choose from here! Hope you guys are doing well.

  4. Tracy

    Steve’s canal and windmill pictures are amazing. What a bummer about the trash though. So glad you are able to explore and thanks for sharing with the rest of us who are stuck in place ❤️

    1. 2chouters

      Thanks, Tracy! We’re feeling pretty lucky to be out and about, but vulnerable at the same time because things change so quickly! But so far, so good!

  5. Colibaba’s

    Your photos make us want to return…such a beautiful city. The trash is surprising and a disappointment as there was non that we recall on our 2016 visit. Stay safe and healthy!

    1. 2chouters

      I am glad to read that others who visited did not experience the same as we did with regard to the trash. I makes me hopeful that it will be different on our next visit there. It is such a fab place with so much to see and do!

  6. Maria Ferreira

    Thank you for these beautiful pictures! They are pushing me to go back to Amsterdam. I was there in 1979, yes! Too long ago… But since I am moving soon from NYC to live in Spain I’ll have chance. I hope to see more traveling from both of you. Keep safe.

    1. 2chouters

      Thank you, Maria, and thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes, if you are moving to Spain, Amsterdam and all of Europe will be out you front door! Nothing is too far away!

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