Today we took the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day of weather out in the country on bikes – a very Dutch thing to do.

We traveled about 20 minutes west by train to a city called Haarlem. There we rented bikes and spent almost 4 hours touring the area using a personalized map created by the bike rental place to help us see the things we were interested in seeing. You’ll see what those things were in the photos below.

After our biking experience, we walked around the city of Haarlem to get a feel for something other than Amsterdam. Haarlem is much smaller but still has some similarities to Amsterdam.

Then we returned to the big city for dinner at a special place from Ryan’s past.

From there, we were ready to get back to the hotel and take care of the things we need to in order to get to the airport in the morning for our flights back to the U.S. We have two flights, the first taking us from Amsterdam to Calgary, Canada and after a 6 hour layover there, the flight to Seattle. We’ll be tired and ready to be home by the time we get there but will long remember this trip as another very special vacation we shared together in far flung parts of the world.

This is the Amsterdam Centraal train station, about a 30 minute walk from our hotel.

The trains in Europe are so modern, smooth, and punctual. We enjoy using them to get around when we can.

We’ve arrived at the Haarlem train station! Now we have about a 15 minute walk to get to the bike rental place.

Haarlem seems like a nice city with lots of Dutch-specific architecture. You can see that people here also rely on their bikes to get them to work or wherever they want to go. We were amazed by the variety of people we saw biking today. People of all ages were out, maybe from 5 years old to 80. But, the majority seemed to be people older than 40. It’s just a way of life here. We were impressed!

Like Amsterdam, Haarlem also has many canals running through it – just not nearly as many.

We finally have our bikes and are ready to ride! First stop is the De Adriaan windmill (seen in the background behind Ryan), first built in 1778. It was used to mill a type of limestone into “trass” which was used for paint and cement. After burning down in 1932, it was rebuilt and then used to mill corn. It is on the banks of a river that runs right through Haarlem so it’s in a very urban setting these days.

A better view of the De Adriaan windmill.

In Haarlem, just as we’ve seen in Amsterdam, cities have made safe areas for easy biking a priority. Bike lanes are usually completely separate from traffic lanes and have their own traffic lights and signals to let you know when it is okay to cross intersections. Bicycle traffic flows swiftly but seems safe and organized.

In a wooded area of the countryside outside Haarlem we found our next windmill. This one was smaller than the one in town. This one was on the private estate of a landowner in the late 1700s. Back then, this area was primarily sand dunes. He wanted to pump water INTO his property to help grow the unusual plants that he fancied which couldn’t survive in the dry, sandy, soil. Dutch windmills are usually used to pump water OUT of areas. We had no idea they had such varied uses.

After a while we came across this interesting looking building. We researched it and found out it is the De Cruquius steam pumping station built in 1849. It has the largest steam engine in the world and was used for the same thing as most windmills – to pump water out of an area. During the second half of the 1800s, agriculture was growing by leaps and bounds in this part of the Netherlands. So much land was under water in mires and lakes that they needed to pump a lot of the water out and direct it into canals and rivers, thereby leaving exposed land which could be used for farming.

With all the canals and rivers abounding in the area, it’s nice they have pedestrian and bicycle bridges to help you get from one side to the other.

Soon we came across another windmill. This one was on the other side of a canal from us so we’re not sure of its history. It sure makes a typical and beautiful picture of the Netherlands though!

Riding along small country roads took us past many farms and animals.

The route the bike rental place had us follow put us onto this narrow footpath which ran along a river for a good while. It was so pretty! There were no signs saying you couldn’t have bikes there but one woman, who was actually quite nice, said it wasn’t made for bikes to be on. She told us not to worry since she could tell we were from a foreign country(!) and we seemed like such considerate cyclists. Part of the fun of traveling is meeting local people, even if they are telling you not to be there! But, as you can see, we got to see another windmill up close and personal.

Back in the city (and safely off that narrow footpath with no further complications), we came across this ancient looking structure. It turned out to be the Amsterdamse Poort, one of the 12 original city gates for defense. It was built in 1355 and was at the end of the road from Amsterdam to Haarlem. It is the only one of the original city gates left.

After returning our bikes, we walked around Haarlem. Like many other European cities, it has many narrow cobblestone streets which wind through the old parts of the city. The most interesting part was this broad square with a huge cathedral-looking structure. Turns out it had been a Catholic cathedral at one time. It was rebuilt in the late 1800s and is now a reformed protestant church. We were able to get some pretty yummy gelato in a small shop along the side of it. Hallelujah!

We took the train back to Amsterdam in the late afternoon. We were hungry for dinner and, fortunately, Ryan knew of a place where we could go nearby the station.

This floating Chinese restaurant called the Sea Palace was a place Ryan ate at the only other time he’s been in Amsterdam, thirty years ago! He said it still looked the same and he had remembered it having really good food. So, we had to try it.

We had a table right by a window with a nice view out to the river. Looking away from the window and toward the interior, we could take in the beautiful decor and style of this fine old restaurant.

Ryan’s memory served him well and the food we had was delicious – just perfect for our last dinner of this European trip.