Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...and boats, trams, metros, buses and bikes

 

We have shared the many positives of home exchange.  The downsides are not having a hotel handle room problems that come up, and not having a concierge planning out your day.  Fortunately, we have the homeowners available by text or email and they have been wonderful.  But it does mean that today I am home writing this post while I wait for the plumber to come and fix one of the toilets (fortunately there are three) while Jim is on the bike to get a cappuccino, some unscented laundry soap, and add euros to our chip cards for the public transportation.  And go to the ATM to get more euros.  When we were in Amsterdam in 2017 we were just in the city and were able to use our VISA card most anywhere.  But in Amstelveen and the smaller cities/towns it is often cash only (or credit cards from Netherlands bank I guess).  After the plumber finishes we plan to take a bike ride along the Amstel river and go out for Indonesian food.  The weather has been beautiful and the sun doesn't set until 9:30 p.m., so the day is long which is great for us.

The past two days have involved venturing beyond the Amsterdam area -we are saving most of the Amsterdam time for when Alex is with us.  And these two days were on the recommendation of our nephew, Ian, who spent some time in the Netherlands as part of a summer abroad course through his University of Arizona Engineering Program (hope I got that right!).

About a 90 minute drive from here, we spent Tuesday in Giethoorn.  It is located in the easter side of the Netherlands in a province called Overjissel and seemed to be mostly agriculture and, of course, many waterways.  Often referred to as "Venice of The Netherlands," it basically has no streets or roads.  Just canals, foot paths, and bridges that pass by charming thatch-roofed, farmhouse style homes.  The canals were built in the 17th century for farmers to transport their goods, with bridges designed to be high enough for their cargo piled boats to pass under.  

We were total tourists and rented an electric boat for two hours.  You can see Captain Jim above.  It was a little challenging at first and a bit like bumper cars, just on water. 

Hopefully this link will work to a video of the bumper boat in front of us as I haven't figured out how to post a video yet.. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AGvRIGcZWpxA_rZFM5wzbMzHlYs5jo9U/view?usp=drivesdk

We are smiling here because Jim has figured out how to navigate this boat through the narrow canals.

The canal opens up onto Lake Bovenwijde.  

After enjoying the easy-to-navigate open water we  crossed the lake to another canal which went around a nature preserve/marshland 

 

Back in the residential canals last stretch ended up being boat bumper to boat bumper traffic exacerbated by one woman who had no clue what she was doing.  But, just had to sit back and go with the flow.  Water flow that is...

Back to the title of this post, on Wednesday we covered the non-car, non-boat transportation in all of its forms.  We decided to spend they in Leiden (also recommended by nephew Ian) which is in South Holland province.  Jim researched our route from the bus-stop a few blocks from the house, to the Amsterdam Zuid station, then transfer to the Metro which took us to Amsterdam Central Train station.  Finally, a train ride to Leiden.

Look how we are beaming with pride having successfully arrived on the correct train!  But, as our train passed by the airport, which WAS the correct direction, I wondered if we had really needed to travel all the way to Amsterdam Central station, when the airport station is quite close to the house.  Reminder:  We learn from our mistakes!  The trip home was much quicker...taking a train directly to Amsterdam Zuid and then the bus home.

Leiden has the oldest university in the Netherlands, built in 1575 by William Orange, a year after he relieved the town from a year-long siege by the Spanish.  As a reward for their endurance, he offered the citizens of Leiden a choice:  build a university or abolish taxes.  They chose the university and the town became a center for intellectual and religious tolerance.

There are various canals feeding into the Old Rhine river (in photo above).  Jim found a yummy vegetarian restaurant right on the river and we enjoyed people/boat watching as we ate.

We are getting to know some Dutch, particularly "eten & drinken"

After lunch we walked through the town, enjoying the sights.  We walked through the University Arboretum (Hortus Botanicus Leiden) - the horticultural center where the tulip was first brought to Western Europe. No tulips this time of year, but beautiful and exotic nonetheless.

Jim looking like he consumed the magic shrinking "Drink Me"potion in Alice in Wonderland.

Pieterskerk (Above), St. Peters, was built in the 15th century.   In 1609 a group of about 300 English religious refugees arrived and became known as the Puritans. They feared they were going to lose their identity and in 1620 left for the "New World." It is the burial place of Puritan leader John Robinson.

A view of modern Leiden:

A final view of Leiden before we left for the more direct public transport trip home.

The plumber has come and gone and has left us with a functioning 2nd floor toilet!  

Off to our biking afternoon and dinner.