Knooppunt zero

Yesterday rode out to Marken, northeast of Amsterdam along the lake created when the ZuiderZee was dammed and the land reclaimed, creating polders: flat, below sea level meadows.

Got caught by the showers in the distance -- first time riding in rain since Skye.

"Knooppunt" means junction, and for biking it identifies locations on the Dutch bicycle path system where different routes intersect. To find your way you just need to write down the sequence of KP numbers you need to follow, assuming you have the bike map showing routes. For the most part the paths are marked, but not always clearly, missing signs or with obscurely placed ones. True to form I manage to get lost in Dutch cities as readily as in English ones.

But today I was able to navigate to Schiphol airport to box up my bike in one of the boxes they sell there and leave in storage overnight until tomorrow's flight.

And so this knooppunt marks the final entry, the terminus for this blog.

Cycling Dutch

I expected to be impressed by the Dutch approach to bicycling, but the experience has been overwhelming. Everyone cycles, and, it appears to my overly cautious eye, they all are so nonchalant about it. The madcap flow of bikes in Amsterdam requires constant vigilance if you are an unwary tourist, on foot or on bike. But even when sharing the roads with cars the Dutch go right ahead as if they own the road, which effectively they do, since if a collision with a car occurs the motorist is automatically at fault. And many cyclists seem to be focusing more on their cell phones than their surroundings, at speed; sheer mayhem when you throw in all the motorbikes zipping along in the same lane.
Madness, but it works, because the Dutch have built the infrastructure to make it all so reasonable and apparently safe, given how many kids I see on their own bikes or the younger ones riding in all sorts of carriers on the parent's bikes. Nirvana.

Shelves with bike ("fietsen") maps and guides.

Signs for bike paths; the numbers refer to junctions where the next sign post will be.

Bike lanes on rural road, squeezing the car lane.

A bike storage "breadbox" design

Barges for bike parking in Amsterdam

Multilevel overflow parking outside train station's underground garage for bikes

Bike shop featuring kid trikes 

And another colorful display

Arnhem and Nijmegen

Eastern Netherlands actually has some small hills, and important bridges -- as in World War II and a bridge too far. Several museums commemorate this mess of a battle, the overly ambitious 1944 attempt to seize river crossings and swing north around the Siegfried line into Germany and possibly end the war quickly. Instead, the Arnhem Rhine bridge proved too far, the Allies were stopped with great casualties, and Dutch civilians suffered another 8 months of occupation and the "hunger winter" -- their punishment for welcoming this potential liberation.

On a happier note Nijmegen has the Velorama National Bicycle museum with an amazing collection of antique bicycles, tricycles, quadcycles, and even 19th century rollerblades. Astounding design and material variations, with evolving emphasis on cushioning the ride  -- earliest bikes were called boneshakers after all. 

Ladies Bentwood model from 1897.

3 person quad, 1890's.

North of Arnhem is a large national park of forest, barren heath and even sand dunes, with bike and walking paths. This being the Netherlands, the park has 1700 bicycles available to use for free.

In the middle of this strange landscape is the Kroller-Muller art museum featuring a large collection of modern European art, particularly Van Gogh, and a large outdoor sculpture garden. 

Haarlem

Haarlem has a great brewpub in a former church, the Jopenkerk.

Ok, Haarlem also has more than beer: the Frans Hals museum, housed in the former almshouse Hals lived in during his destitute last years.

And the gothic Grote Kerk, with a spectacular organ instead of beer fermenters.

And a funky print shop.

Delft

Favorite town so far. Tower of the old church is truly leaning, but stable. Noticed a few bikes decaying in the shallow canals; the green is not scum but rather cress-like plants eaten by the ducks.

View from "new" church tower, 376 steps.

Zeeland, Netherlands southwest coast

Flood control barriers, end point of a stage in the Tour de France in 2015.

Spanish frigate and swans.

Dutch snapshots

This is such a lovely, friendly, wonderful, fun, flat country, and even the weather is cooperating. Now down on the southwest coast after 5 amazing days in Amsterdam. Too much to say about it all, and only my first week.