Along the Vecht
Sunday morning we lucked out and had a sunny day. We had already decided to take a bike ride, but we were happy to see it would be in the sun.
We headed up the River Vetch. I kind of feel bad calling it a river. As a geomorphologist it just feels wrong because the whole thing is a straight canal. Anyway, have yet to see a 'river' here in Holland, and must admit I'm starting to miss those darn 'meanders' and 'cut banks' that are so annoying in the most densly populated country in the world. I digress...
After a breakfast of corncakes (the first in months!), we loaded up some snacks and headed north. Through Utrecht and along the redlight district of Utrecht. We suspected we might pass it, as Richard and Dinny did on their bike ride in the same direction. Jake almost missed it, but there was a woman out in knee high boots, a string thong, and pasties doing her morning chores of scrubbing her railing with a brush and soap, so he figured it out. I'll have to devote a whole entry to the red light district later. But let me say that I am completely facinated by the whole thing and it was one of the time that I distinctly felt like it is *so* different than American here.
There were some very impressive houses and I'm love with the little town of Maarssen because I think it is so cute. We biked along to the Loosdreschtse Plassen, which is title a lake (plassen), but is actually a big excacation pit from the generation of dutch removing peat, now, of course, filled with water. There are distictive little runnels along the side where the peat was lifted out and up on a higher berm to dry. Now this lake is filled with sailboats and we found a park and beach to have lunch and let Elena run around. She was doing great climbing up by herself on the slide. And enjoyed some good sand tossing in to the lake. Jake was busy boat 'shopping' and we saw quite a few different kinds of boats, including the authentic dutch style with the runner boards along the sides. There were also lots of parden (horses) and pony farms. We biked back through the polders (which are exacavated land, but not to the degree of becoming a lake). All told we were gone for 5 hours. We didn't anticipate being gone so long, so we ran a little short on snacks. We stopped for roomijs at a new place on the way home and Jake and I made up for it with double scoops.
We struggle with our desire for long bike rides. Elena is extremely tollerant of them. We would be happy to bike all day. But she has to just sit in her seat and doesn't get much exercise. Sunday was a nice balance because she got some good run time in a the lake.
We plan on returning to this area later. Henk, the lab tech at the flume, told me that there are some very old villages out on the polders extending into the lakes. He recommend going to one of the local 'pubs' because they are a 'dying breed' and very representative of the 'old dutch.' So, we would like to visit one before we go. And I can letch at real estate in Maarssen along the way....
We headed up the River Vetch. I kind of feel bad calling it a river. As a geomorphologist it just feels wrong because the whole thing is a straight canal. Anyway, have yet to see a 'river' here in Holland, and must admit I'm starting to miss those darn 'meanders' and 'cut banks' that are so annoying in the most densly populated country in the world. I digress...
After a breakfast of corncakes (the first in months!), we loaded up some snacks and headed north. Through Utrecht and along the redlight district of Utrecht. We suspected we might pass it, as Richard and Dinny did on their bike ride in the same direction. Jake almost missed it, but there was a woman out in knee high boots, a string thong, and pasties doing her morning chores of scrubbing her railing with a brush and soap, so he figured it out. I'll have to devote a whole entry to the red light district later. But let me say that I am completely facinated by the whole thing and it was one of the time that I distinctly felt like it is *so* different than American here.
There were some very impressive houses and I'm love with the little town of Maarssen because I think it is so cute. We biked along to the Loosdreschtse Plassen, which is title a lake (plassen), but is actually a big excacation pit from the generation of dutch removing peat, now, of course, filled with water. There are distictive little runnels along the side where the peat was lifted out and up on a higher berm to dry. Now this lake is filled with sailboats and we found a park and beach to have lunch and let Elena run around. She was doing great climbing up by herself on the slide. And enjoyed some good sand tossing in to the lake. Jake was busy boat 'shopping' and we saw quite a few different kinds of boats, including the authentic dutch style with the runner boards along the sides. There were also lots of parden (horses) and pony farms. We biked back through the polders (which are exacavated land, but not to the degree of becoming a lake). All told we were gone for 5 hours. We didn't anticipate being gone so long, so we ran a little short on snacks. We stopped for roomijs at a new place on the way home and Jake and I made up for it with double scoops.
We struggle with our desire for long bike rides. Elena is extremely tollerant of them. We would be happy to bike all day. But she has to just sit in her seat and doesn't get much exercise. Sunday was a nice balance because she got some good run time in a the lake.
We plan on returning to this area later. Henk, the lab tech at the flume, told me that there are some very old villages out on the polders extending into the lakes. He recommend going to one of the local 'pubs' because they are a 'dying breed' and very representative of the 'old dutch.' So, we would like to visit one before we go. And I can letch at real estate in Maarssen along the way....
posted by Erin K. | 11:45 AM
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