Good bye Haarlem

This was our last day in Haarlem, and what a day. This was the day Holland beat Denmark 2-0 in the World Cup! We watched some of the game in our room, and the rest we heard out in the streets. We walked around the market square, listening to the game through the open doors of all the packed bars. All we had to do was listen for the huge "hurrah" from the orange-clad fans, and we'd know who scored. Yeah Holland.

steep stairs in the windmill

We went up and down four flights of these ladder stairs during our tour. More impressively, so did our almost 70 year old tour guide. Another fine example of a fit and actve Dutchman.

our tour guide at the windmill

Our tour guide was a retiree who is part of this group of volunteers who support the windmill. He loved this windmill and was very happy to teach us the mechanics of the mill, the history of the city, and much detail about the polders and the construction and deconstruction of these windmills. I was most surprised to learn that all over Holland, they would deconstruct and relocate windmills when they were no longer needed in one location. How efficient is that. And, no screws, nails or other hardwared are used, only beams with wooden pegs, to make it possible for the windmill to "move" without breaking. Very cool.

Windmill Adriaan in Haarlem

This is one of Rob's better pics, the windmill Adriaan in Haarlem. It was rebuilt in 2002 as a working mill museum and we had a very enjoyable tour.

Cool stretch bikes

We've seen many different types of bicycles, but this is one of my favourite designs. A child seat on the back, and room for several more children plus groceries in the front box makes this a vehicle that could replace a car. We've even see super stretch bikes with two child seats on the back and another on the bar in front of the cyclist. We've also seen several cyclists with a child standing on the back rack and loosely holding onto the parent's shoulders. No helmets of course. We've seen not one bicycle collision; everyone seems to understand these mysterious traffic laws. The closest we came to a collision was this morning on our bike ride when Rob and I missed a traffic light and rode into a stream of cycling traffic and got loudly sworn at by an angry Dad, with his small daughter glaring at us from her little seat behind him. Oh, and also the time I was studying my GPS and looking at the next turn and didn't realize I was on the left side on the bike path. I got called at "trut" by that angry cyclist. So much to learn. Oh, all the great photos are by Rob.

The story is true, apparently

The legend about the boy who stuck his finger in the dijk must be true, because here he is, at Madurodam.

Giants at the Schiphol airport

At Madurodam, Matthew and Sarah dwarfed the airplanes. We loved running through the many different displays.