Poppy bought a bike in Hoenderloo (near Hoge Veluwe) and rode it back to Rotterdam last weekend, so she had the wheels to join Molly, Jonathan and me on an easy ride to Den Haag by way of Delft. We got to Den Haag pretty quickly, so we decided to go to the Mauritshuis Museum, known for housing Vermeer’s Girl with a pearl earring. We saw a long line of people and assumed they were waiting to get into the museum, so we took our place in line to go through a metal detector and have our bags x-rayed. Ummm, we were wrong (not for the first or last time of the day). Apparently, we happened to be in Den Haag on the day that many of the national monuments and museums are open to the public for free. We waited in line for 30 minutes to tour some legislative chamber, or something of the sort. After our 5-minute tour of some unknown place, we decided to ask someone where Mauritshuis was so we could see what we came for.

After an hour or so of contemplating art, we went to the beach near Scheveningen. Jonathan thought the North Sea looked inviting, so he stripped down to his boxers and jumped in. Poppy, Molly and I passed on doing that. We wandered along the beach for awhile, ate ice cream, and ran into Greta purely by chance. Greta had come to the beach by train, so we made plans to meet up in Rotterdam and go out to dinner. We thought it would take us a little more than an hour to get back. Not so.

The network of bicycle paths in the Netherlands is fantastic. You can bike all over the country, mostly on paths reserved for bicycles and scooters. Here’s the big but: The signs are really confusing. We followed the signs pointing to Rotterdam and thought we were getting close when we saw a sign that said it was only 19 kilometers away. We rode for quite awhile in the direction of Rotterdam and then saw another sign — that said it was 19 km away. I suspect the signs may just direct unsuspecting cyclists in huge circles. We took a few more wrong turns that took us through some beautiful countryside and eventually got back to Rotterdam, but I think we probably rode quite a few more kilometers than 19.

Hoge Veluwe covers more than 5,000 hectares of land, which includes woodland, bogs and sand drifts. It was amazing. There are free bikes to ride around the park, and it’s definitely the best way to see as much as possible if you don’t have a lot of time.

The museum was named after Helene Kröller-Müller, a private art collector who decided to open a museum to show her collection. The museum has the largest private Van Gogh collection in the world (besides the Van Gogh family’s), as well as works by many other notable artists. In addition to the collection inside the museum, there is a sculpture park on the grounds of the museum.

After hours of wandering happily around the park and the museum, we had a delicious supper at Poppy’s hotel (she decided to stick around for another day), and then the rest of the group had to leave to get back to Rotterdam. On the bus ride to Utrecht, Molly and I had a fascinating conversation with a guy named Harry, who told us about the work he had done to help digitize the Dutch National Library’s archives. We’ll have a chance to see some of his handiwork next week.

I rode around some very industrial areas of Rotterdam for awhile and then around some very rural areas. It was delightful I finally found my way back to Erasmus University, and I was pretty sure I could make my way back to Hotel Baan from there (not completely sure). One of the things I like about getting lost is that I’m forced to examine my surroundings more closely than I usually do, and I often see something wonderful that I would have missed otherwise. Today, I saw a bike that was a little stranger than most, so I rode closer to get a better look. What I saw made me smile for the rest of the day: A newly-wed groom was taking his bride out for a spin on his bike equipped with a big cargo cart. Things like that should happen more often.

After lecture today, we decided to try again. Jonathan found a bike yesterday at a shop on Niewe Binnenweg, so we thought we’d walk up the street and see if we could find something, too. Success! We each bought a bike for €150, and the shop owner said he’d by the bikes back (for slightly less money) before we go back to the U.S. I hope that works out. Regardless, I really like having a bike to ride whenever I want, so it was worth saving the hassle of trying to rent one the whole time I’m here. It’ll probably end up being cheaper, too.

Before coming to the Netherlands, the last time I rode a bike like this was when I lived in Japan (I miss my mamachari). It’s heavy and clunky and only has a few gears, but it’s still an incredibly fun way to get around. To test out my new wheels, I took a shortish ride to the neighboring village of Schiedam. There’s a fun little loop that has five windmills next to a canal. My new little bike got me there and back safely, so I’ll keep it — for a few more weeks anyway.

*Fiets is the Dutch word for bicycle.

The ride there took us a lot longer than we thought it would, mainly because of a persistent headwind. When we got to the North Sea, we all agreed that the ride had been worth it. The North Sea was glorious, even with ominous gray clouds looming overhead. Apparently, Nederlanders take their beach fun whenever they can get it, no matter the weather. Several kite surfers were out bending wind and wave to their wills. It was pretty awesome. We iSchoolers were a little less brave; wading a few meters out into the water was enough for us.

Riding back to the hotel was way easier, with the wind at our backs. We suspect that even in pancake-flat Holland, there was also a bit of a downward slope (yay!). We made a couple of stops, too: one at a cemetery dedicated to people who died fighting against Germany as part of the Dutch Resistance, and in Haarlem at a museum and a cathedral. It was super cool to see the organ Mozart once played — it had really impressive pipes (I love looking at organ pipes).

It wasn’t the longest bike ride I’ve been on, but it was definitely the best one I’ve been on in a long, long time.

I haven’t figured out the answer yet, but the bird got it right on.

The next day, a pickup truck came flying out of a driveway as I was riding past and clipped my rear wheel. I kind of bounced a little bit, but I stayed up so I just kept riding. I didn’t think at the time that any damage had been done.

And then there was yesterday. On my way home from work, I noticed my rear wheel felt really wobbly, so I got off to take a look. The tire was completely flat and all of the spokes were super loose. I had to get the wheel completely retensioned and replace the tire. My poor little bike. I hope it’s done having bad things happen to it for a long while.