Bikes, trains, and boats oh my!

Our stay in Amsterdam was extended by one extra day, because of the busy train schedule. We intended to leave Amsterdam on Tuesday, but there was no room left in the bicycle car to Copenhagen. Fortunately Thijs, our magic Dutchman, didn't mind us staying an extra day. Amsterdam is by my estimation the most bicycle friendly city I have ever experienced. By this I mean that in Amsterdam, the bicycle is equivalent to the car. Everyone who lives in Amsterdam uses them to get to work, to go out in the evening, to pick up their groceries... everything people use cars for in the US. In addition, the majority of the streets in the downtown area are only single lane and brick or stone paved. On these, bikes and cars have equal right of way, and because the speeds are so slow, there is little danger of getting run over. On larger streets, almost without exception, there are separate bicycle lanes, and often these are divided from the car traffic by a curb or barrier of some sort. There are bicycle signals at all intersections, and there are bicycle street signs as well. I was really impressed by these- because it is one of the things missing from Seattle's bicycle network. Only regular, local cyclists know the most bike-friendly routes from point A to point B in Seattle. We made it all the way to the Amsterdam Central Train Station from the coast (a ride of about 20 miles) just by following the signs!

There was a bit of a surpising downside to all of this bicycling heaven, and that was that we kept getting in th way of local bikers! We would pause at an intersection to try and get our bearings, and the cyclist behind us would shout at us for stopping suddenly in the middle of the bike lane. Our host laughed at us and said you can always tell who is local on a bike, because they are going somewhere as fast as they can (safely, of course), and the tourists are riding slowly, staring left and right! Our last afternoon in Amsterdam, he took us on a little bike tour to his favorite neighborhoods, so I can assume we were not too embarassing. He also took us to another squatter bar, where his friend (also named Thijs) was playing music. It was quite nice, sort of Norah Jones/Jamie Cullem style jazz with humourous Dutch lyrics. Afterward we went to another Jazz club that also had live music, this time with 5 person a latin/samba combo packed into a very tiny back corner stage.



Our train from Amsterdam to Copenhagen was uneventful. We took one of the famous night trains- it left the station shortly after 7:00 PM, and arrived in Copenhagen at about 10:00 the next morning. Our first task in Copenhagen was to book our ferry to Oslo. We tried to get a train, but, according to the station clerk "is not possible!" Fortunately, we had researched the ferry that also travels from Copenhagen to Oslo, so we tried to book for that day (this was Thursday, July 10) but again there was nothing available for that day. So we booked ourselves a spot on the Friday ferry, and set about seeing Copenhagen. We first rode to the ferry terminal, to try and get on the waiting list, but even that was full, despite the fact that the ferry is not a simple car ferry, like those that leave from the docks in Seattle. No, this ferry is nothing short of a cruise ship with cars in the hold. The rest of Copenhagen was reminscent of Amsterdam, but a little more spread out.


We rode around Copenhagen a bit more, and then found ourselves a campsite at a bonafide European campground. We definitely stuck out like a sore thumb! There were no trees in our assigned camping site, so we rigged what I call our "low-rider" shelter. We simply lay one of the housses on the ground for a ground cloth, and turning our bikes upside down to use as braces, stretch the rainfly from one of the hammocks across as a "tent," The end result is quite low to the ground, but large enough to cover both of us in our sleeping bags, and because our bike bags are waterproof, that's all we need to stay dry. Our set up, however, did not exactly blend in with the locals. In the words one stranger muttered in amazement (and a French accent) as he walked by our set-up, "minimalist extreme!" Surrounding us in the campsite were tents the size of garden sheds, RV's, and barbeques the size of small dining tables. In the morning, I even saw a couple staying in the next tent over using their electric kettle!

I have been told that Europeans think of camping as a very different experience than Americans. First of all, camping is not something done in the wilderness, because there is not wilderness in Europe. The whole countryside is too densly populated. Instead, camping is done with style and luxury in these sort of camping parks, often times near a beach or lake. The Europeas value their luxuries while on holiday, even when engaging in something so rustic as "camping," and so they bring their cheese graters, pepper grinders and wine coolers with them in large of accomodations as possible. Families will return to the same campgrounds every summer and stay for a number of weeks, and the campground becomes one big party. One-night campers such as ourselves are a bit anomalous, and the fact that we barely had a tent increased our alienness. The crowning jewel in our bizarre stay was that it POURED rain, almost all night. Fortunately, we didn't get wet, but our shelter looked a bit worse for wear when we packed up in the morning (while all our neighbors ate breakfasts of bacon & eggs & coffee from their cafe tables!).

When we finally escaped the nightmare campground, we dropped our bags in the luggage lockers at the ferry terminal, and went to the Danish Resistance Museum. It was a very interesting (and free!) museum of the Danish Resistance to Nazi occupation during the second World War, and we spent most of our day there. (We also ate Danish corndogs... yum?)

And now, we write to you from the 10th deck of the M.s. Pearl of Scandinavia, our cruise shi- er- ferry. I say cruise ship, because it's the most elaborate ferry I've ever been on. It has two decks of pure entertainment (in their words, "an ocean of entertainment"), including 9 restaurants, 3 music clubs, duty free "sea shops," 3 family friendly venues, a cinema, and a conference center! All for additional cost, of course. We're of to explore the coffee bar! Ciao for now!

The dunes of Holland and Amsterdam

The way from Brugge to Amsterdam has been filled with many things: police, rain, and sand would be primary among them. Our route took us along the more industrial coastal sections of the Netherlands beginning with the huge (and when I say huge, I mean HUUUUUUGE) ships that we saw passing through some of the canals. There don't seem to be any locks here, like canals in Seattle or Illinois, but there are a lot of bridges, and these huge (did I mention that these were HUUUUUUGE?) ships have to pass under them, so we were stopped to let them through the draw bridges. We also were privledged to witness Holland's finest as they practiced rescuing survivors from a simulated shipwreck. This was in the evening of our second day after leaving Brugge. We rode into a "camping" park where we laid out our housses (the big bags Meghan made for our bikes that have been multi-purpose picnic blankets and ground tarps) and our picnic food. While we set up, below us in the marina area a medium sized ship dropped anchor smack dab in the center of the channel. Shortly afterwards, police vehicles began pulling into the camping park, and stopping at the far end. After a while, it ceased to be just police vehicles, and cars full of people began arriving. People came on bikes and by foot. As the crowd assembled, we watched through our binocculars as the small police boats zipped back and forth from shore to the stopped ship. The ship dropped one of its life rafts into the water, and the crowd of people on the deck began to don orange survival suits. About this time, we deduced that this must be some sort of training exercise, not a real emergency. Sure enough, the people on deck jumped overboard in twos and threes, and the police boats (all four of them!) zoomed about (rather inefficiently from our persepective) picking them up.



When the excitement wound down, all of the bystanders left, but the police remained, and we decided to put up our rain fly and sleep. After only an hour or so, we were awakened by none other than a man in an official uniform who informed us that we were not allowed to sleep here in the "camping park," and in fact there was nowhere we could camp on the entire island. So what to do? We packed our bags back up, rode across the sea wall leading off the island, where, after several hours of searching for another appropriate site, we just plopped down at the edge of a farmers field and dozed uncomfortably until morning.

The next days of travel were less eventful. Although we have had rain almost every day (or night) we have stayed completely dry, except for getting wet deliberately on Holland's finest public beaches. The downside to these luxurious days at the shore is that we are still full of sand- in our ears, our hair, and our belongings.



Departing the coast and passing through Haarlem, we arrived in Amsterdam... twice. Let me explain: we were making great progress on the bikes, exceeding our goal of 50 miles per day, arriving in Katwijk two days before our expected arrival in Amsterdam. We didn't want to bother our couchsurfing host by calling a day early, but we were so excited to make it into the city (which would mark the completion of the first major leg of our trip). Our deal was to spend a day at the beach then decide what to do from there... camp another night or head in. So, we ended up lounging on the beach in Noordwijk until the weather turned, then we pedalled into Amsterdam, optimistic that we might be able to sleep in the train station until noon on Sunday, when our host was expecting us. As we arrived at the train station (the Centraal Station), it was pretty clear that we wouldn't be sleeping there. This venture did award us with our first view of the magnitude of bike-centricity that Amsterdam boasts. The Centraal Station has a three-story bike garage, literally jam packed with what must have been ten thousand bikes. And this is only the free garage... surrounding the station are a number of enormous bike stations with 24 hour security and mini bike repair stands. We will be going back to the station while we are staying, so hopefully I can get a picture of the sea of bicycles (called fiets in dutch).

Having been rejected by the station, and not wanting to pay for a hostel or hotel, we traced our steps back out of town (waaaay back out of town), and found another campsite near a community garden ("People's Patch").

Finding our way back into town the next day, we had breakfast in a nice park then checked in to our first successful couchsurfing spot. We are staying with a great guy named Thijs, who is very friendly and fun to talk to. He's very knowledgeable about the history of Amsterdam, and he explained the enormous sea walls that line the coast of the the Netherlands. These mechanical beasts were erected to prevent flooding of the lowlands during storm surges, and having taken our bikes across a number of them, I can assure you they are very large and impressive.




Thijs is writing his master's thesis now, but he took the time last night to take us out to a few favorite night spots. One of the places we went to was a bar in central Amsterdam that operates in an abandoned building. Apparently in Amsterdam, if a property is left vacant for more than one year anyone can claim it by changing the locks and putting stuff inside so that it looks like you live there. Today we hope to get out on the town again and perhap visit the Van Gogh museum and a few of the parks. (I'm a little bit disappointed that we missed out on the M.C. Escher museum in The Hague a few days ago).

Belgium!

Belgium is far and away the best place in Europe, according to Meghan. Even their most popular tourist destination, Brugge (prounounced Brooj), where I am writing from, is the friendliest, cutest, sunniest, most delicious place on the planet. All that and we have only been here one day. Let me explain...

We left Paris by train four days ago. After a short ride, we arrived in Bologne sur Mer, where it was overcast and very windy. Fortunately the wind was at our backs, and gave us a little help as we rode along the hilliest section of the coast we had seen so far. It was very "North Sea" with the steel gray skies and little white caps out to see, and the coastline full of rocks and tall, coarse grasses. That first day we rode through three or four tiny villages- hamlets, really- each one with red tile roofs, a boulongerie (bakery), and a boucherie (butcher shop) as well as a hotel. Our evenings were spent finding a place to camp. The "Camp Sites" in Europe are actually RV parks... not exacly what we want. So, we end up camping "sauvage", or "wild", which means just hiding in the trees between towns. Possibly illegal, but no one really cares.

Navigating in France was a bit diffiult, because there are no marked bike routes as far as we could tell. We simply hugged the coast the entire time, getting lost only a couple of times in the larger towns (Curse you, Calais and Dunkerque!!!).

We met up along the boardwalk in Dunkerque with four Belgians who were in France for a weekend getaway on their bicycles. After chatting a bit, they guided us quickly into Belgium, which, compared to France, is a bicycle wonderland. All the way through Belgium there are well-labelled bike routes that are very scenic and calm. We made our way into Brugge, which is possibly the most beautiful town we have ever seen. Highly recommended. The "old town" is preseved somewhat as a Unesco World Heritage site. To give that some meanaing, other Unesco sites are usually just buildings... this is the ENTIRE TOWN! The buildings are beautiful, and the cobblestone streets are filled with people on bicycles, young and old.

When we arrived in Brugge, we immediately came across a hostel offering Internet access. As I was checking my email and couchsurfing requests, Meghan made friends with two awesome old ladies at the bar, who proceeded to chat in that adorable old lady way. When they learned that we didn't have a place to stay, they jumped on their mobile phones (and their telephone books!) and called up a friend who runs a "pensioner" or a guestroom. This woman was just as adorable and chatty, and we got a whole apartment for just 50 Euros per night! Breakfast was extra, but well worth it, because Monique was a great story teller, and knew lots about Brugge, travelling and language, three of our favorite topics.

After two days fo exploring this beautiful city by foot, bike and boat, we've packed our bags with Belgian cherries and waffles from the market, and we're headed toward Amsterdam. We've met a few more riders headed south who say the way ahead is beautiful and relaxed, so we're excited to be back on the bikes! It may be a few days before we post again, but be sure we'll have lots of stories!

And please leave us some comments- we're eager to hear from you guys too- we miss you, Mom(s) & and Dad(s)!

P.S. In no particular order, here are some photos from Belgium (and Brugge in particular... just ask if you would like to know more about them!)

Around and out of Paris (late post)

(So we actually left paris a few days ago, but the Internet situation makes things a bit difficult, so here's what we wrote while there)

Our time here in Paris was short and a bit hectic, but we managed to see quite a bit of the central area, including a few of the required Paris sights. Of course, we visited the Eiffel Tower, which is amazing not only because of its size, but the elegance of the metalwork. We also went past the Arc de Triomphe. Granted, it's very interesting in and of itself, but what we were more entertained by was the traffic circling the Arc. We have found during our time here that traffic in Paris borders on chaos, and near the arch there are hundreds of cars, motorcycles, scooters and bicycles entering and leaving with no apparent lane markings or signalling. One just pushes their way into the crowd and is quick on the brake (and gas) pedals. Remarkably, there is not as much horn-honking as one might expect, and I haven't yet seen any fender benders, although we have heard plenty of sirens.



Down the road a little ways, we entered the garden that greets the Louvre, and proceeded to amuse a waiter at a small outdoor cafe by ordering a single Perrier to share (to our defense, we had four litres of water in our camelbaks, so we didn't need any more water). We also shared a savory crepe (with ham, cheese and mushrooms) and ganache (chocolate and toasted almonds) which were both delicious. Exploration of the Louvre itself will wait until our second pass through Paris, with Meghan's mom in September.

The highlight of Paris, for us, came Thursday night when we met up with Marie, who is the girlfriend of Zach's brother, Jacob. The other night when we were unable to find a hostel online, Marie came through and found us a spot in a small hotel for about the same price as a shared room in a hostel. (about 50 Euros per night) (Marie is the Best!) Although we could not stay with her, because she had other guests at the time, we were able to have dinner together at a brasserie, which is a like a bar/cafe that serves simple French cuisine. Meghan ate confit du canard, which is duck, and Will ate calamar, which looked like onion rings, but had some sort of seafood in the center. It was a delicious and wonderful evening, sitting on the terrace, talking about traveling, language, food, and laughing at our pathetic attempts at French pronounciation.

We will get to see Marie again, when we return to Paris in September at the end of our trip.

On the Road

This is a very brief post because I am stealing WiFi from a random hotel here in Loon-Plage, and the connection is not very strong. There will be a more thorough post all about our days in Paris, and the first few days of our ride when we find more stable Internet. We are now beginning our third day on the road with bikes. We did about 10 miles the first day, and 40 the second day (because we keep waking up late!). We are expecting to do 50 each day from here on out. We have had two great camping spots, and haven't had any trouble with the bicycles yet (though the wind has been fierce at times). We are following the coast all the way up and expect to arrive in Amsterdam next Sunday (a week from today). The Belgian border is coming up very soon and we are debating whether or not to ride into Bruges. Perhaps the Internet will be better there. Until then....

Oops! Oui! Oui!

Bonjour! Greetings from Paris! We arrived early this morning after a long and cramped flight. It was fun to listen to the stewardesses switch between English and French. Of course, once we stepped off the tarmac everyone yammered at us in French, and we quickly put our two clutch phrases to good use. "Parlez-vous anglais?" (Do you speak English?) and "Je ne parl pas francais." (I don't speak French) The usual American in Paris hilarity has surrounded the whole process, beginning with the drive to the airport.

Being good travelers, we left home with plenty of time. About an hour into the drive, we landed in the traffic jam caused by a tragic (fatal) accident on route 80. After a good long while, we got fed up with sitting in the car and watching the smoke billow, so we climbed out and made friends with our fellow stuck drivers, including a beautiful, 14 year-old, trucking daschund named Molly Mae. Our previously plentiful lead time was quickly being eaten up, and so we executed a highly practical (and highly illegal!) 3-point turn about and drove the wrong way down the shoulder past all the stopped cars! (Many thanks to Meghan's Mom!)

We made it to O'hare without further incident, but with little time to spare. In our rush to check in and get through security, we left behind two valuable (but not vital) bags. One contained our lunches, and the other contained all the lights from our bicycles.

Speaking of bicycles... The last bit of excitement that has accompanied our arrival in Paris is that our bikes did not arrive with us. We made it through O'hare security in a flash (it puts Sea-Tac to shame!) and even had enough time during our connection in Minneapolis to grab a bite to eat. But our bikes were not so fortunate, and when we picked up our luggage, the bikes were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, Northwest Airlines contracts their baggage services in Paris through Air France, which has really good customer service. It was a bit complicated to file the claim, because we did not have any lodging arranged yet, and in order to deliver the bikes, the airline needed an address. We scrambled to find a hostel, and found a room with just the second place we tried, called the Oops! Hostel, where I am writing from. It is a friendly place, with really helpful staff, LOTS of American travellers, a beautiful curving staircase that goes up all 6 stories, and a boulangerie (bakery) just across the street. (And free wireless!)

We have had a bit of a rest and some food, and that makes it seem much more adventurous than it did in the moment. When it was all happening we were anxious, sleep deprived, frustrated and crabby. Now, we're much more relaxed, and just recieved word that our bikes should be delivered tonight. Yay!

Graduating, Packing, and Flying

Well, I am officially graduated from Seattle University. The commencement ceremony was held on Sunday the 15th at Qwest field and involved the reading of approximately 1,000 names, which doesn't warrant any further detail. My parents came to Seattle, following on the heels of cousin Randy's wedding in Salt Lake City. Despite our frantic errand running and packing, I think they managed to have a good time and see a bit more of Seattle.

Speaking of packing, I think I should make a brief note about the inner workings of a three month European bike trip, at least from my amateur perspective. Touring equipment falls into two basic categories: bikes and stuff. Because we are biking, stuff is minimal, all fitting into four Ortlieb bicycle panniers (two a piece), plus a few extras. We packed necessities like Chacos, rechargable batteries, a few changes of underwear and books to read. Items left behind include: 1 small raised bed garden chock full of lettuce, spinach and beets; 1 iPod (deemed too large & cumbersome to bring along), and 0 books (I managed to sqeeze every book I possibly could into our panniers). Both bags are chock full. In order to bring any mementos home with us, we will have to be very creative packers.

Bicycles themselves, it turns out, require a surprising amount of creativity to pack. Meghan and I purchased bicycles that are designed specifically for touring. Basically this means they are built with thick walled tubing, slack steering angles, and little bonuses like extra spoke holders, tire pump pegs, and extra long chainstays (to accommodate panniers). Specifically, we purchased the Sojourn bicycle made by Raleigh. Having put approximately 200 miles on my bike commuting from home to school in Seattle, I can say that these bikes are very solid and very stable. I have been careful to keep track of how difficult and expensive it is to transport bicycles on trans-Atlantic flights, in the interest of avoiding high costs and headaches in the future. There have been a few surprizes already. To preface this, I'll say that my days working at Scott's Ski and Sports had prepared me with the packing and unpacking of hundreds of bicycles. There is a particular puzzle-like configuration that manufacturers use to fit their bikes into shipping boxes. Because of it's great length the 59 cm Sojourn bike does not fit into the smaller (29"x52"x7") cardboard bike boxes, which we had scavanged from one of our many local bike shops, Recycled Cycles. So we tracked down a second box at another LBS, Greg's Greenlake Cycles, which we measured carefully before carting it home. It did indeed fit into this larger(29"x54"x7.5") box, with room to spare. So we managed to fit the bikes (including racks and fenders, plus U-locks, bottle cages, helmets, and a few other items).



Because of rising airline costs, we will end up paying anywhere from $50 to $150 per bike to have them checked onto the plane. As it turns out, the Seattle to Chicago flight (on Frontier air) cost us $50 per bike, which is cheaper than shipping UPS. Even if the cost for Chicago to Paris is $150, this is in the best case only marginally more expensive than the cost of shipping the bike DHL worldwide ($130-$200). One recommendation: buy a few rolls of reinforced packing tape and plaster the bare cardboard box with it, especially the corners and the handles.

The flight from Seattle to Chicago (with a brief layover in Denver) went well, and we arrived in Chicago with bikes and luggage intact. Meghan's dad was there to pick us up at midnight. The ride home was enlivened by a late night stop at "R Place" a 24-hour family diner. Eating Denver omelettes in the middle of the night was strikingly reminiscent of the college life I am leaving behind. We made it to Tiskilwa at about 3:00 am. We are still waiting to find someone to stay with in Paris, but we aren't worried, since there are dozens of hostels in the event that no one can host us for our four days in the city.

Seeing a bit of the world

On Wednesday, June 18, 2008 I will be headed out on a post-graduation, pre-employment summer trip. My girlfriend Meghan and I will be riding our bikes (and a few trains) from France to Norway and back over the course of the next three months.

Our rough itinerary is as follows:

We will depart Seattle on Wednesday, June 18, arriving in Chicago a few hours later. We'll be helping to set up for and attend the P.A.P.A. Festival in Tiskilwa, IL (Meghan's hometown). The festival is being hosted this year by the farm that Meghan grew up on, Plow Creek.

On Monday, June 23, we will leave Chicago, arriving in Paris early in the morning on Tuesday the 24th. We will spend about three days in Paris, checking out the sights and gathering food and supplies for the next leg of the trip. We have found a host in Paris (as well as the other cities we will stay in) by way of couchsurfing, which is essentially a network of individuals who meet travelers by allowing them to sleep on their couch or in their backyard free of charge.

From Paris, we will bike north toward Brussels, Belgium. There are a number of canal roads throughout the region that have been converted to greenways, so we will try to make use of those, opting for quiet rural roads and bike-friendly throughfares when necessary.

After a short stay in Brussels, we will head West to the Belgian coast, where a nice road traverses the numerous sea walls and beaches. Going northward along the coast, we will make our way to Amsterdam, where our third couchsurfing host is located. A few days cycling around the Best Biking City in the World will get us ready to bike through the corner of Germany into Denmark (or take a train, depending on our riding pace).

For the first pass through Denmark, we'll be aiming for Copenhagen (also among the best bike cities), where we will meet up with our fourth couchsurfing host.

From Copenhagen, we'll be taking a train through Sweden to Oslo, Norway. This, we expect, will be approximately the end of the first week in July.

We will stay with a fifth couchsurfer in Oslo for a few days, during which I hope to make a day trip to Drammen in order to visit Cato, my grandfather's brother (my great uncle, I suppose).

The next month (mid-July to mid-August) will be spent working.

Yes.

Working.

On an organic farm near Hauggrend in central Norway. We have arranged for this through an organization called WWOOF . Basically we will help out with the cows, chickens and vegetables on a small farm in exchange for food and housing. It's a great way to avoid typical shallow and expensive tourist activities, meet local people in a meaningful way, and learn a few new things about organic farming while we're at it.

After the farm stint, we will say goodbye to our hosts and (hopefully) head toward the fjords of the west coast. If time doesn't allow, or the train fares are too expensive, we will go directly to Kristiansand, where a ferry will take us to Hirtshals, Denmark.

A short ride from Hirtshals, in Aalborg, we are going to meet up with a friend of mine, Asbjørn. He and his parents have planned a small trip to the coast while we are there. After visiting, we'll direct ourselves southward, through the center of Denmark. I hope to swing through Legoland in Billund.

Next, we'll make our way into Germany, where we have a few more people to visit. We'll meet up with these people in Wupperthal (where we will see the hanging monorail... the schwebebahn!), then Stuttgart.

Whew!

The final leg of the trip will be another mini-tour, this time through the Loire Valley in France, where we'll be chateau spotting. By this time, we will have about a week until departure. Depending on how we feel about Paris, we might spend a few more days in the city.

We fly back to the states on September 18th, and after a few days of decompression back at Meghan's hometown, we'll leave Chicago again, arriving finally in Seattle on the 22nd.