Hamburg & Holland

F.Y.I. - We have added photos to the More on Norway, Sweden & Copenhagen post.

We had intended to go directly from Berlin to Amsterdam but could not get a reservation for our bicycles so we decided to go to Hamburg instead. Originally we were planning on cycling from Copenhagen to Hamburg but going to Poland changed that. So we had cycle maps of Hamburg and thought we might ride from Hamburg all the way to Amsterdam. So we arrived in Hamburg on a rainy Friday afternoon and set out to find our maps that we had sent to an American Express office. We found the AmEx office and they directed us to another location where our package could be found. A whole bunch of things had gone wrong that day and both Heather and I were amazed that we had been so nice to each other all day. When we found our package at the AmEx office we were really excited that something had gone our way finally! But... we opened the package and the wrong damn maps were in it! My wonderful father had sent us exactly what we asked: "Please send the Hamburg to Amsterdam maps to Amsterdam and the Amsterdam to Zurich maps to Hamburg." Shit. Just one more failure in a long day of troubles.

Then it started really raining hard and we had no place to stay, no maps to cycle on towards Amsterdam and it was 8:00 at night. The closest campground was 50km out of town and there were no trains that would get us anywhere we wanted to go. So we booked a train to Amsterdam for Sunday morning and started looking for hotels. Heather asked at a few places and each time the clerk simply laughed and said that there weren't any rooms left in town. We didn't understand this until the 4th or 5th place we went and the lady behind the counter laughed really hard. Heather asked why she laugh and she told us that the largest bicycle race in Germany was this weekend. All hotels were booked within 20km of Hamburg. So we cycled to an area that I thought might be less desirable towards the industrial part of town. Heather managed to talk a clerk at this hotel we found into giving us the last room in town, so we booked it for two nights! We felt really lucky.

The next morning we got up and intended to cycle into Hamburg to check out the town and just have as relaxing a day as possible after the difficulties of the previous day. Of course, it starts raining really hard and we spend the morning watching CNN on TV since it is the only station in English. Around noon there was a break in the rain and we headed into Hamburg. We rode around for about 30 minutes before it started raining again but we just rode on. The center of Hamburg is actually a fairly nice place. It has canals and a nice square, lots of parks and trees. We wandered around town on our bicycles for a while looking for a place to sit down and relax. The sun eventually came out and we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon at a small food and drink festival near the town square.

Cycling in the rain in Hamburg


After hanging out all afternoon we headed to the town square to check out the bicycle race. The big race wasn't until Sunday morning but we did see the kids race and the special needs racers. There were vendor tents everywhere and we spent an hour or so just wandering through the crowd with our bicycles. People were really interested in our cycles because you can't get Surly's here very easily. We talked to a few folks and had a nice time checking out all the gear.

Watching the kids cycle race in Hamburg


Sunday we got up and caught the train to Amsterdam. We were met at the train station by Rena, a wonderful person that we were connected with through some folks we were planning on staying with in Rotterdam. Rena made us feel at home in her small Amsterdam apartment. We spent Monday riding around the city and in the afternoon went to the Van Gogh Museum. I have decided that I really like the Van Gogh stuff. No surprise I guess, everyone does I think. Tuesday we rode around the city some more, found the package that we had sent to the Amsterdam AmEx, hung out at a cafe on the square in the Red Light district and had a very pleasant day with great weather. That night we went out for South Indian food which was excellent and then Rena took us to the Red Light district to check out the scene. Very interesting but completely mellow which I didn't expect. I thought it would be one big party for some reason. Amsterdam is a great city that feels like a big town.

A canal in Amsterdam


Thursday morning we headed out of Amsterdam towards the coast. Holland has awesome bicycle paths and there are bicycles everywhere. Amsterdam is by far the best bicycle city we have seen and the countryside is no different. Almost every road has separate cycle lanes on each side of the road. There are signs everywhere with distances and separate stoplights. There are even bicycle land round-abouts. Really a nice place to cycle. We rode 60km (some of it in the rain) and ended up camping on the coast in a campground just outside the sunny town of Katwijk.

Opening a bottle of wine on the beach by our campsite


Thursday we awoke to beautiful sunshine, walked 10 meters to the busy cycle path that runs all along the coast of Holland, and headed south towards Rotterdam. The whole beach scene in Holland is wonderful since there aren't any cars for most of it. The whole of the coast is sand dunes which have been altered to provide a barrier to keep the sea water out. The dunes extend a kilometer or more inland and the only thing in the dunes are cycle paths. There are little towns every 10km or so but between towns you only see bicycles. No blasting stereos, no lowered cars with absurd mufflers driving around, only people on cycles heading to the beach. There are even huge bicycle parking lots!

The really nice cycle paths along the coast of the Netherlands


The mouth of the Rhine River! We will be cycling along (or near) the Rhine for the next month or so.


We followed the Rhine into Rotterdam and after 85 km of flat fietspad found the home where we are now staying. The couple we are staying with are avid cyclists and have done cycle trips all over the world including Chile, India, Iceland, USA, Hungary, Turkey, Pakistan, Africa, Australia, and many more. They have done enough cycling that they are now testing bicycles for a Dutch manufacturer and have a website where you can see some of the places they have been. They have some very nice bikes! Last night we had a wonderful dinner which Marco and Lisette cooked for us and enjoyed talking to them about their travels. We are finding out that the world is very small. Lisette works for ESRI, the company whose software I teach and use at the UW!

Today, Heather and I are washing our sleeping bags since Marco and Lisette have an electric dryer (the first we have seen in Europe), doing some work, and updating the blog. It is raining really hard outside so I think we will spend the day here working on our plans and then cycle out of town tomorrow either towards Brussels or along the Rhine.

Updating the blog in Rotterdam. Notice the photos on the wall from Marco and Lisette's cycle trip around the world.