A Day of Walking and Biking

A Day of Walking and Biking
August 31, 2006

We took about an hours walk into town,
stopping as we went here and there and ate
lunch outside at a the Dam Hotel

We took about an hours walk into town, stopping as we went here and there and ate lunch outside at a
the Dam Hotel in the main square taking in the views. It was another beautiful, sunny and warm day. We watched as boats went thru the locks and even saw one large bridge open for a boat. Even made our way across the tiny space of the lock which is everyday stuff for people here, but an adventure for us.

We really like Edam the town. It’s quiet and pretty at this time of year….just the kind of place that appeals to us. The Dutch houses are a different style than anything we have seen before. DaVinci joked about moving here and happened upon a real estate agency and we found out the homes’ average range is  from 700 to over a million Euros. He called it Holland’s Carmel, but that does not quite describe it either. It has a unique flavor, not quite like anything we have seen before. We hear from a native that there is wifi here, but we have not found it yet,altho we have not tried that hard. We tried at a bench along a canal and again at the hotel before we ate,but life became more important than internet. There is an internet place, so perhaps we will use that to check email and download.

One gets bike fever here as it is such a popular mode of transportation for people of every age. Its not unusual to see a 70 or 80 plus year old on a bike or a young dad or mom with two babies or kids in front and back seats. We have planned on buying bikes even before leaving,but have heard it is best to do that in rural France, altho we are open to finding a deal here and have asked at a few places. In the meantime we will rent.

So out first stop after eating and enjoying the scenery outside was finding a bicycle rental place. Since there are lots of cars and trucks that join bikers, we decided to just get two for now and ride Mozart on the back with dad in  a special child’s seat. We got saddle bags for mine for groceries,cameras and such. We did not have the saddle bags the first day, so it was quite a challenge getting lots of groceries plus our laptop home, but we made it.

The bikes are really great, comfortable and sturdy. My only fear is when the cars and trucks pass by, but luckily there are not many and they are very used to dealing with bikes and pedestrians. I have not been on a bike in years, but it comes back quickly and made the ride home much easier than the walk in. There are endless boats and water and always pretty scenes to observe which adds to the fun.

We are waiting on a few things; boxes that we sent to ourselves last April have not all arrived, ordering a special thing called a SOG for our toilet that the great folks we met at our first campsite (who had been full time Rving for six years) raved about, and getting our camera fixed. Inside a campsite, we pretty much just use the facilities, but they have almost never used a campsite in six years and always do free camping here which is quite popular, and the SOG is the best set up for that. The boxes have been a bummer, because they charged us as if we are going to sell our clothes, tho they charged nothing for our books. We have bunk beds in the back of this camper and that is what we use primarily for bag and box storage, altho there is space underneath as well where we have some.

This is the kind of spot we could stay forever, so the waiting is not a problem. It may goof up some future plans,but the joy of this kind of travel is the ability to play everything by ear. It’s a wonderful campsite at only 22 euros per night with every amenity anyone could want and lovely people. One friendly Dutch camper, gave us a whole bucket full of shampoo and dishwashing kind of products which his company makes. There seems to be mostly Dutch here and Mozart has made friends with quite a few of the kids.

When we got home from our day of exploring on our new rental bikes, we were ready to try out the swimming area and slide. The water was very cold at first, but soon quite refreshing as the weather has been quite warm and more muggy than we are use to as there is never unpleasant  humidity in California. You would not believe how fast Mozart zipped down that big slide….thrilling for her, but a little scary for mom. We both enjoyed the water fun and DaVinci (who hates cold water from his years of swim practice in it as a kid) enjoyed vicariously and took the video and pics. Then we made a yummy dinner together from our load of fresh groceries and finally Mozart and DaVinci watched the movie Holes while I typed a bit on this.