Okay, me neither. But it turns out they have them, and they're lovely, although admittedly not consistently warm.
Yesterday, the other Americans and most of our hosts headed up to the island of Schmiermannikoog (sp?), one of several islands belonging to the Netherlands. There is no bridge. You have to take a ferry across, and no cars are allowed except to permanent residents. (Sort of like Mackinaw Island, if you're familiar with that.) We landed and rented bicycles, and then took off, first through a little village (permanent population around 800). But most of the island is farmland, nature preserves, and beaches.
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| It's about 1 km, our hosts estimated, across the beach from here to that thin sliver of North Sea you can see in the distance. |
It was nice to have a day to just spend biking, relaxing, and lying on a beach. It's been an exhausting couple of weeks, and the constant presence of crowds of people has sort of been eating at me, so this came in just the nick of time.
And now I can say I've been to the North Sea.
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| These little piggies went to the North Sea. |
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeletewelcome to my hometown! I hope you have a great time!
I don't live there anymore, but go back regularly to visit relatives and do some shopping. It's a very affordable and safe city, and very bikeable! I didn't own a car until I moved abroad (when I was 35...), as there was no need.
A blog that is very funny and may help you settle in, is invadingholland.com; the author is English and relates about his moves to Rotterdam/Amsterdam/Friesland.
Siebrie