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Haarlem, The Netherlands - Angels of Haarlem September, 2008
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Hopping on a one hour express
train to Utrecht, about in the south of the Netherlands, we checked into
a rather bleak and uninspiring room at the Little Siam Hotel. Living up
to its name, the room was generously called little, when in fact it was
more like a closet with two single beds crammed into the available
spaces. At 55 euros, it was the cheapest place in this town, rather
depressing although it was only for one night. The next day, we moved to
the Strowis Hostel, an old 17th century building taken over
by an energetic group of volunteers and turned into alternative
accommodations with related cultural events. Our room was lovely, the
place was packed with young people, and we were overjoyed to have space
and not have to take turns changing into our clothes. Utrecht is a very cool city, with more bicycles than cars by about a 100 to 1 ratio, the streets ringed throughout by a series of canals with huge and obviously very old trees shading the banks with many old buildings turned into yuppiefied stores, cafes and bars. Very enchanting, it’s known as the shopping heart of Holland and it’s easy to see why, as you could spend a couple days doing window shopping at the many clothing, textile, galleries, kitchenware, furniture or book stores around town. At night the town explodes with activity as people crowd into the outdoor cafes and bars generously spread along the canal banks or cruise the canals on the many entertainment barges, perhaps catching an off key rendition of an Elvis song. Bicycles are everywhere as the principal means of transport, nothing fancy, just the plain old one speed bikes from my youth, with separate bike lanes running throughout town and further into the countryside. One needs to be careful crossing the street, first you cross the pedestrian lane, then look both ways in the bike lane, then the same for the bus lane, likewise for the car lane, then reverse the process to the other side – there’s always a lot of traffic, be it walkers, bikers, buses or cars. I always thought the Netherlands was a cool country, with the emphasis on outdoor activities, although everyone seems to be a smoker – ride a bike all day, then stopping for a beer and a smoke, seems like exclusionary behavior. Also, where else but Holland can you sit around in your hotel room eating those genuine trademark windmill cookies your mom always fed you when you were a kid – the kind with the windmill imprint on the front and the almonds embedded in the back. The Dutch are an interesting
group of people. Take for instance their liberating concession to
practicality, the outdoor latrine. Situated in the open plazas around
town, these molded plastic latrines look more like a high tech boat
anchor, but look closely and they are a 4 person latrine, all out in the
open for everyone to view as you take a tinkle. No such apparatuses for
the women however. They are also very liberal with red light districts,
cannabis bars and a surprising absence of police. As you walk down the
narrow alleyways, you’ll pass by narrow homes and apartments with large
front windows that encroach on the sidewalk, allowing outside light to
fill the rooms, at the same time allowing everyone to look in, as if
you’re looking at an Edward Hopper picture of a diner and the occupants
inside. Neat and tidy and very elegantly furnished, sleek with glossy
white enamel paint, it seems odd like the people are some sort of
exhibitionists, as you could stand and watch the people inside eat
dinner, watch TV or just sit around and talk or read the newspaper.
From Utrecht, we took a half hour train, accented nostalgically in periwinkle siding with lime green cushions, to Amsterdam where we stopped for the day before continuing on to Haarlem, about 20 minutes outside of town. We’ve been to Amsterdam a couple of times already, it’s a great city, but decided to try another area, especially since hotels are double the money here over the other smaller outlying areas. Besides, everyone that comes to the Netherlands goes to Amsterdam when there are other great destinations in the country that are frequently overlooked – like Utrecht and Haarlem. We did revisit the Rijksmuseum, one of the nicest ones around, with a significant number of Rembrandts on display, and walked around the town enjoying the fall weather with leaves fluttering about and the canals reflecting the many stone buildings. Very lovely, but at the same time, a little too touristy for us. Haarlem, maybe 15 minutes by train outside of Amsterdam, is a really cute little town, with all the trappings and sights of a Dutch village and few of the tourists. Staying at a lovely hotel in the main square, our double windowed room looks out on an ancient church and colorful old building, with loads of outdoor cafes ringing the perimeter. One brisk day we rented bikes and headed out to the coast, maybe a 10 mile loop, before deciding to ride up to Ijmuiden where our freighter boat, the Isadora, is scheduled to arrive today. Braving breezy headwinds we pedaled our way through the suburbs on delightful red brick bike lanes, enjoyably filled with families on their bikes out enjoying the very fall like day like ourselves. Cruising into the little town of Ijmuiden, we finally got headed in the direction of the harbor, where we saw this gigantic cruise ship anchored in the channel, Marge immediately thinking this is really the vessel we’re going back to America on, I’m thinking where the heck is my little Isadora. Turns out, the Isadora is delayed in another port and running a day late, so staying another night in Haarlem becomes a necessity, no problem, I like Haarlem.
So, after almost a year of
travel, we’ve just about come to the end as we enjoy the last days of
our freedom and head into an uncertain future. For me, I could turn
around and head back the way we came, continuing on for another year,
canvassing through places we bypassed and revisiting places we enjoyed,
while Marge is flipfloppingly torn between being rooted and being
upended. But our travel war chest is depleted for now and needs to be
replenished, so finding short term jobs will be a priority when we
return. Teaching English, joining the Peace Corps, living overseas in an
inexpensive Indonesian island are all possibilities while we still have
our health and energy and adventuresome nature. Then, who knows, traveling has always been in our blood, and the travel slow, see more method of our ploddingly overland route around the world has been more enriching than expected for the both of us. For us, staying in one hotel for a week at a time allowed us to become neighborhood dwellers temporarily – we frequented the local grocer, the local cafes, the internet guy and so one. Very rarely did we have stays of 1 or 2 nights. If you’re constantly moving around, you end up spending an inordinate amount of your precious time checking train/bus schedules, researching places to stay and reading about the next location. And on that note, I would never travel anywhere without our little ASUS EEE PC laptop, invaluable and really the only thing you need other than an ATM card and passport. Most surprising was how easily this was done given the scale of the undertaking – the hardest part is the decision to do it, after that, it all falls rather clearly into place. And certainly we’ve been lucky to keep our health and not have one bit of problem for the entire year, with everyday being a delight and positive experience. Maybe not so much luck, for we know from beyond certain people guard our flight, timely angels from above tirelessly securing two wandering souls, welcome sentinels from our last destination before heading home, the vigilant angels of Haarlem……
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My
irrational fear of flying was validated and fortified when the plane
burst into applause upon touching down in Einhoven, a small industrial
town in the south of the Netherlands. Surely, others on the plane were
also relieved to have landed safely, something maybe not so certain when
flying the crowded budget airline dominated skies of Europe.
Nonetheless, the flight was a delight with the cabin attendants intent
on selling as much overpriced food product as they could in the allotted
two hour flight time. With a Southwest style of cattle car loading, the
plane was jam packed with young kids having a good time as we were
loaded on to shuttle buses, transported to the tarmac and routed up
metal stairways unto the plane. Hey, disembarking on arrival, I felt
almost presidential as I stepped from the plane and slowly descended the
metal steps leading unto the asphalt tarmac. Celebrating its fifteen
minute premature arrival with a flaunting race track blast of the
trumpet, the last stressful hurdle of the trip was complete. 
Marge
is having some anxiety over our freighter trip, especially when the dock
master relayed that our trip may be delayed due to rough weather.
Nonetheless, we’re ready to go, the last of our hotel reservations being
booked through the 17th of September. Then we’ll board the
vessel, spend the night or two, and eventually be on our way on either
the 20th or 21st. We did find out there are two other French
passengers accompanying us on our voyage, so Marge is happy that there
are at least two other brave people in the world who would consider such
a trip. My main concern is whether to stock up on wine or beer or both. 
