Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike!

Ahhh, the easy life! Kicking back in a café on a cobblestoned square, tasting the local brew, watching people pose for pictures in front of a massive statue, craning your neck to look up at the insanely old and intricate cathedral and feeling just a little underdressed for the occasion.  What city, you ask? It could be almost anywhere, but one thing’s for sure: we’re definitely in Europe!

This particular square was incredible- the lovely Bruges!

We flew into Amsterdam and what a perfect city to kick off our Tour de Europe! The Dutch people sure are innovative and organized. You can tell just by looking at the place: perfectly manicured roads, buildings, landscapes. You can never get enough of the endless canal bridges bordered by old skinny buildings, housing cafés spilling out onto the streets. Everything looks picture perfect- even the sex stores and coffeeshops look posh! We were lucky enough to be able to stay with Chris’ friend Mel (and boyfriend Dugan) for the duration of our time in Amsterdam. This was perfect because it meant we had a) a free place to stay, b) someone familiar to show us around town, and c) a sweet as free tandem bike so we could join the masses while touring the city.  Awesome! We had good times watching the Euro Cup Final and having a picnic in the park.  They’re moving to Vancouver in August too so it’ll be cool to catch up back home!

This could have been taken anywhere in Amsterdam, all these canals and buildings look the same after a while!

All you can eat chicken and ribs - dee-lish!

We would highly recommend the free walking tours to anyone traveling in Europe’s main big cities. They are usually about 3 hours long and give a good background of knowledge and history of the area.  We learned about the true identity of Amsterdam (beyond the stereotypic sex and drugs), which is that the Dutch are all about two things: business and tolerance.  The East India Company led to Amsterdam being the first official stock exchange, for example, and made Amsterdam the wealthiest city in Europe ages ago. The tolerance comes with respect to, for example, the fact that though Catholicism was against the law it was still known to be practiced and tolerated as long as it wasn’t blatantly obvious.  Apparently the Dutch follow three basic guidelines for what they will tolerate: 1) is it good for business, 2) is it hurting anyone, and 3) is it discreet.  This is also the reason why even though marijuana is officially illegal in the country there are coffeeshops openly selling it all through Amsterdam.

Bikes decorate the streets everywhere in the Netherlands!

We also visited the red light district on the tour as well as one night when we were out with the NZ crew: Mel, Dugan, Regan and Chris.  The prostitutes are registered workers and tax-paying citizens but more interestingly, they’re beautiful (most of my hooker sightings have been around East Hastings, if you know what I mean)! It’s set up like window shopping – you walk down the street and take a look at the girls in the windows, then pick out one that you like for your 15 minutes of… entertainment of your choice! What a crazy different world, but clearly it works for them. Plus it’s a really cool thing to see! No pictures allowed in that area though… you’ll have to take my word for it!

This sculpture just randomly appeard in the Red Light District one day.  When the city tried to take it away the people protested as it was believed to appropriately represent the women of the red light district: firstly, the sculpted woman is anonymous, and secondly the lock put there shows that the women are free to work as they wish... thanks tour guide!

 Even though their national colour is orange, this place sure is green! Lots of parks surround the outskirts of Amsterdam and everyone has a bike kitted out with pannier bags, dog baskets and kiddie bike add-ons! We loved being able to bike everywhere, we are so over public transportation right now! Speaking of which, we detoured to Dusseldorf, Germany for a couple of days to hire a rental car and have our first couch surfing experience.  Both Chris and I have parents who ‘donkeys years’ ago did the classic Europe trip –buying a van and touring around in it with a bunch of buddies, sleeping on the side of the road however far you made it before your eyelids got overly heavy, eating cheap with a hunk of baguette and brie cheese as a snack from a local supermarket, c’est la vie! After having such a fab time van camping in NZ, we naturally wanted to travel the same way through Europe. We researched on the internet, emailed friends in the area, asked at information in Amsterdam. Short answer: it’s just not done anymore.  With the extensive train system in Europe and the complicated process for registering and insuring a vehicle if you aren’t a registered resident of the country, people just don’t bother. Not to mention the fact that it is illegal to freedom camp in many areas.  If you’re planning on doing this, it is possible, but you have to do it from the UK. So anyway, we rented a swank new Hyundai that is great on gas and just big enough that we can squeeze into the back to sleep for the night when needed. Well, it’s not the ultimate set-up, so we are couch-surfing our way through Europe! 

For those who aren’t familiar with couch surfing, basically it is an online community of avid travelers who are either in need of a place to stay or willing to let others stay at their place.  Not only is it a cheap night’s accommodation for those budget-conscious travelers, but it is also a great way to meet like-minded people from all corners of the world! We met Joe, our first CS host, in Dusseldorf and had a great first experience with him showing us all around the city and sharing a few good meals and drinks. It’s great to have a personal tour guide and be filled in on local foods and places that are not on the main tourist trail. Fun times!

A stroll along the Rhine in Dusseldorf with Joe, our awesome first CS host!

 

Pretty cool park walkway, the park benches are made of fluorescent lights!

Randomly we asked a bunch of Bavarian men in lederhosen for a picture - not sure why they gave me a potted plant to pose with, nor why they happened to have it at the bar with them.

 The other places we visited in the Netherlands were Haarlem, the Hague, Gouda and Kinderdijk.  What a beautiful country! It’s so manicured and scenic with farmland, windmills and sometimes even individual houses will have a small canal mini-moat surrounding them – not too shabby! Highlights include obviously Gouda, the hometown of the cheese! We got to taste test and bought a 3-year old hunk of Gouda, it was so good, ah! (Couldn’t help it) We also hit the beach town near the Hague, which was totally different and cool because the beach was lined with restaurants set up right down on the sand. In order to sleep in our car, Dugan and Chris had to take out the bottom part of the back seat, so every time we want to sleep in the car we need to put this giant seat in the front resting over the steering wheel and looking extremely conspicuous.  Not the most subtle situation. In the Hague we had our first exciting overnighter in our rental.  We got all set up and climbed into bed somewhat apprehensively, mostly just because no one does this in Europe! Well, we lasted all of five minutes before being blinded by the lights of a security car and being rather brusquely told to find a hotel.  We have a new method – we drive to a campground later at night so the gates are closed and then we park outside of the gates.   We can sleep easy without worrying about trouble because if someone says anything we can just say that we were fully planning on paying in the morning but arrived to late to check in. So far, so good!

On the coast of the Hague in the Netherlands, right before our sneaking van-camping experience!

This is an Escher drawing - a famous Dutch artist who combined 2D and 3D drawings.. above is one of our favorites!

I think Chris is in heaven, holding this giant Gouda in Gouda! Sweet!

This is Kinderdijk, a collection of old windmills that were used to collect excess water from the area (which is below sea-level) and deposit it back into the nearby river.

The beer-monacle Chris used is considerably less flattering than 'beer goggles!

In Belgium we had our second couch-surfing experience with Valerie, one of the friendliest people ever! We felt at home straight away and cooked some meals at home with her over our two night stay. We had a great plan all set out to explore Antwerp, but unfortunately it was raining like crazy the next day.  This meant all we could really do was check out a few of the different local brews in the area. Tough life! Valerie introduced us to Vla (a kind of Dutch pudding, delish!) and melting stroopwaffels by placing them on top of your tea cup.  We’ve been really watching our diets in Europe so far in case you couldn’t tell from everything we’ve had so far! Belgium would be about the worst place ever I think to try to be healthy.  I mean their best known foods are beer, chocolates, waffles and French fries! Is this my kind of heaven or hell? I can’t decide! Anyway, we left Antwerp after a second night at Valerie’s and checked out a couple of other Belgian cities on the way to Westvleteren, home of what is by many considered the best beer in the world, Westveleren 12⁰…! We hit up Ghent, where we bought a small box of Belgian chocolates to indulge in and hit up our first castle. We continued on to Bruges where we really didn’t spend much time, other than taking a few more pictures of canals and cathedrals! The beer in Westveleren didn’t disappoint and we indulged once again. When in Rome, right?

Fridge full of Belgian beer!

Enjoying Vla with our CS host Valerie. We had such an awesome time in Antwerp getting to know her. She is kick ass cool!

Check out the train station of Antwerp! Incredible!

Often named the "Best Beer in the World"!!

So on the European countdown so far:  Netherlands, check! Belgium, check!

It’s so easy to fall back into the familiarity of comfortable transportation options and western foods. Hard to believe that just a couple of short weeks ago we were in Thailand and then Egypt.  There are good aspects to both types of travel; in Asia traveling may be less comfortable but also day-to-day experiences are a lot more fascinating and you feel like you are constantly learning and opening your mind to new experiences.  In Europe, however, traveling is a lot more comfortable and there are more subtle cultural differences as you are traveling in another Westernized part of the world. So far we have been really happy with the balance and by doing walking tours and hitting up me essential tourist spots, we are still able to learn about the deep history of various European cities.  Our next stop will have a ton of history and culture to soak in we’re thinking,.. we hit up Paris next- time for me to brush up on my French!

We're definitely starting to wonder how long we'll be able to bounce from place to place before we get tired of moving around and decide to stay somewhere for a while...? We will see!

Lauren and Chris :)