Today we started on the real work of this vacation — cycling! We had a small breakfast on the boat, and were able to pack a sandwich for lunch. We had our bike orientation, and Susan was given an e-Bike, and I got a “traditional” bike. We headed out from Enkhuizen and mostly followed along the coastline.
It was a very windy day today, and we were fighting it most of the way, with occasional breaks provided by trees. We got lovely views of the water,
and saw lots of people taking advantage of the wind by kite boarding, and other wind/board sports.
We saw our boat, motoring to our meeting point
We got to the destination town, Medemblik, by around noon, and were able to watch our crew very impressively “park” the boat.
After that, we rode down the main street of the town, and found a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, came the obligatory ice cream, then we took a brief look at the local castle, where Matt and Susan showed off their balancing skills
before heading back to the boat.
The rest of the day was a pretty relaxed affair, for us anyway, but we got to see the crew navigate through a lock,
and a center-pivot swing bridge, which was pretty nifty. We were served dinner as the boat was nearing the island of Texel, where we will be for the next two nights.
Today, we woke up in Enkhuizen, and after a hotel breakfast, we walked around the town some, exploring the cute harbor town and marveling at the Dutch combination of streets and canals,
where bikes get the right of way in general, and the drivers seem actually aware of what’s going on around them. We watched sailboats with tall masts come down a canal, where a pedestrian bridge was drawn to accommodate them.
We found lunch at a cute restaurant, definitely in the touristy part of town, and we checked out the unique “Ship in a Bottle” museum.
We checked out a cheese shop
And even found an optical shop where Susan was able to get her sunglasses repaired (one of the screws was lost)
We picked up our luggage from the hotel, and carted it down to where our boat was moored, and were able to drop off our luggage there, which was handy. Along the way, we met up with some of our party, and Parke showed us the way to the boat.
By 4:00, our prescribed boarding time, almost all of the group had arrived. We were each shown our room,
and given time to unpack, and we re-gathered at 5:30 for the safety briefing. And by the time the safety briefing was done, it was time for dinner! We were served a lovely dinner and dessert, then most of the group went out for a walk around the town.
Tomorrow we will learn more about the bikes, and we will bike from Enkhuizen to Medemblik, where we will meet up with the boat again.
After a lovely, relaxed home breakfast with our hosts, Frank drove us to the train station in Kiel. But from there, it was all trains, all day. We boarded our first train in Kiel just after 10, which was supposed to take us to Hamburg. We were at the station early, and there was a train on the next track over, and an announcer said, “If you want to get to Hamburg earlier, go on that train.” Well, we should have listened, but we stuck with our original plan and schedule. About halfway there, there was an announcement to say that the train was not going to make it all the way, so we had to get off two stops early, and switch trains. Which meant a delay. By some miracle, the train we were meeting in Hamburg was also a bit delayed, so we were able to catch it. But we were not so lucky with the next connection, because that train, that would take us to Amsterdam, was not so late. So we missed that connection.
We went to the Deutsche Bahn office at the station, and explained the situation. The man there kindly told us that there was another train 2 hours later. When we asked if we could reserve seats (you are supposed to reserve seats on the ICE — InterCity Express — trains) on the later train, we were informed that this was impossible, since seats must be reserved the day before at the latest! The clerk didn’t seem to sense the disconnect between our missing the scheduled train due to a delay in the previous train and them not accommodating us. When asked if we could just board the train, we were told we must check with the conductor first! And he would decide if we could board the train.
Well, after considering many options (use “local” trains that don’t require a seat reservation, but which would get us in very late if all those connections worked; stay the night in a hotel and reserve seats on a train the next day; etc.) we decided to risk it and simply board the train, and either stand in the space between cars, or try to find 2 unclaimed seats near each other, which seemed unlikely since everything was telling us that all seats were reserved. In the end, we were able to find two unreserved seats across from each other (imagine that!), and were able to get to Amsterdam. From there, a local Nederlandse Spoorwegen train took us the final hour out to Enkhuizen, and we got to our hotel (4 minute walk from the train station) at 9:30, after eleven and a half hours of train travel (and station waiting).
Tomorrow will be an exciting day, after we lug our luggage to the boat! We board at 4:00 p.m., but stay in port for the night, after getting settled in, having whatever orientation is needed, getting fitted for our bikes, and having dinner together. We will do a little sightseeing in Enkhuizen before heading that way. Until then!
On Wednesday morning, we woke after a lovely restful night’s sleep, got a quick breakfast at a bakery across the street,
then checked out of the hotel, and walked with our luggage over to the train station, where we got on the train to Kiel, in the north of Germany.
When we arrived, the train station was decorated with sails, as Kiel is a big sailing town. Many of the 1972 Olympic water sport events were held there. Frank met us there, and brought us to their home, a few km from the center of town. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon catching up, and a brief outing back to town where we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed some gelato (are you sensing a theme?). For dinner, their two boys joined us, along with a girlfriend, and they prepared a grilled feast of meats and vegetables. We stuffed ourselves, and chatted until 11:00 p.m., catching the last part of the Argentina/England game. We were all rooting for England.
We had a relaxed morning on Thursday, and in the afternoon, they brought us back to the harbor and took us on a boat tour of the bay,
after which we stopped for a quick snack of coffee and cake. For dinner that night, we went to El M?venschiss (Seagull Poop)
restaurant for dinner, a favorite of our hosts. We had some traditional German fare — Wiener Schnitzel vom Kalb and Roastbeef vom Holsteiner Rind. We then walked along the harbor some more, and saw the Olympic torch
more boats
and stopped for a group photo
And then we went home and had a little schnapps, and got a good night sleep.
We are off to the Waddenzee! We are super excited to be embarking on one of our most exciting travel adventures — a sailing and biking trip in and around the Waddenzee. This was organized by a good friend who invited us and others, and our group now occupy 12 of the 14 cabins on the boat. Last we knew, they were not going to fill the other two, as they have another boat going around the same time, but I’m sure they would sell them as opposed to foregoing a sale.
But first we travel to Germany, to visit with friends who were the first tenants in our two family house. It was very nerve wracking to be a landlord for the first time, but the Wetters were the ideal tenants. They were kind, thoughtful, and ended up starting their family at the same time we were starting ours, so we had a lot in common. And when they moved back to Germany, they sold us their Audi A6 wagon at a discount — the most luxurious automobile we have ever owned. They have stopped by to say hello when they’ve been back in our part of the world, so we are returning the favor, except that they have agreed to host us for two days. We are excited to see their home town with them!
It was an epic day of travel for us, starting with an Uber ride to Logan airport scheduled for 2:00 p.m. We checked our two big bags (pretty much the first time we’ve done that!) and got on an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, where we had about a 2 hour break, and then got on our next flight to Amsterdam! First time in the Netherlands! Everything there went smoothly — baggage claim and customs — and then we got on a local train from the airport to downtown. We had a couple of hours before our scheduled train to Osnabrück, so we wheeled our ponderous “spinners” around the cobbled streets and sidewalks (almost as fun as it sounds) and had the smallest walking tour of downtown Amsterdam you can imagine.
Then we had “ham and cheese toasties” at Café Karpershoek, the oldest pub in Amsterdam which has been there since 1606!
While sitting outside, we watched with wonder at one of the craziest intersections I’ve seen, with pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, teeny cars on the bikeway, normal cars and trucks on the roadway, and streetcars, all negotiating a six or eight way conjunction with only a few close calls. Amazing, and a little frightening at the same time.
From Amsterdam we took the train to Osnabrück in Germany, and while the train had a twenty minute delay along the way, we managed to make the connecting train to Hamburg, which, happily, also had about a twenty minute delay. We arrived in Hamburg and crossed the street to the Hotel Reichshof where we were finally able to relax and put our feet up
at 6 p.m., about twenty-two hours after we left home. We showered, and then went to a nearby restaurant known for its German cuisine, took a small walk around that part of the city
(finding gelato along the way!), and finally got to bed at 10:30 when we settled in for a good night’s rest.
