Haarlem 7/15/2011 19:00
It's quarter to 7 here, just finished dinner. We can't seem to shake the US “early” dinner syndrome and get on Euro time. Anyway, weekends here are crazy. The Dutch come out about noon on Friday and start enjoying themselves. Kids in boats, families in boats, parties in boats, last weekend I wish we'd gotten a photo of the mother who had decorated a small boat in balloons and bunting and was sailing around the harbor with her kid and a bunch of others for a birthday party, kiddie music blaring on a portable recorder of some kind and the kids singing along. Right now there are a bunch of Dutch guys, arms linked, practically skipping down the quai and singing who knows what, but very enthusiastically. On weekends this doesn’t let up till 2 or 3 am. Maybe. Tomorrow and Sunday the river will likely be choked with people in small boats just out for the day. Friends, families, teenagers, dating groups. Even grade school aged kids out in a small inflatable with 2 or 3 chums. The enthusiasm and pure enjoyment make me want to jump into a boat with them and join in. Yeah, right, can anyone out there imagine quiet little repressed me doing that! But it is just such a joy to be part of this. It's a bit like a 4th of July weekend BBQ at a pool, but on a much larger scale, and almost a national characteristic. I truly do like these people and I think I have a lot to learn from them. Will be fun trying.
Haarlem 7/16/2011 11:21
What words are nice enough to say about a husband who calls your attention to something he knows you will want to buy, even when he has a phobia about “WE GOT TOO MUCH STUFF!!” One of the reasons we haven’t left yet is that there is an “antique” market on the other side of town today and I just wanted to look. As we were walking along, Bill called my attention to a tangle of lace bobbins attached to a bit of lace on one of the tables. Lovely bobbins, very reasonable, and I’d have completely missed them on my own.
Got to love that man. It was really quite fun, and most of the items really did qualify – if sometimes marginally – as antiques. Found a few things that we can use and then went back to the two weekly markets in town to pick up food for dinner and supplies. We felt quite like locals (well, . . .) carrying a basket of goodies, picking and choosing what we’d need or want for the next few days. Having even a rudimentary oven has opened up whole worlds of opportunities when it comes to food. And, knowing we’ll be here a while and don’t have to grab every opportunity makes it all that much more relaxing. I think we’ve decided to have a larger lunch and then go over to the city center and have a beer and snacks for dinner while we just sit and watch all the Saturday evening socializing. It is just such a joy to be able to take our time and not worry about missing something because we don’t scramble fast enough before we have to go home. I guess that’s what today is all about – just enjoying.
Haarlem 7/17/2011 10:15
Grevestenenbrug just opened for the first time today. 21 boats were waiting to go through, I tried to take a photo but couldn’t do justice to the mayhem in the basin. This photo doesn't even come close, looks much too orderly.
Made the jockeying for position at the beginning of a sailboat race seem mild by comparison. This is why we don’t travel on weekends. There’s just too much opportunity for trouble. Besides, we’re moored right in the center of a major city. Granted it’s Sunday morning, but even so the only sound we’ve heard up until now is the seagulls squawking at each other. There was a boat a long way off running it’s engine, but we hardly heard that and it left with the other boats. The carillon rang for about 15 minutes to announce that church was starting. Other than that, nothing. It’s noisier than this by far on a Sunday morning at home.
Lisse 7/19/2011 16:58We’re back in Lisse on the way to Leiden. Woke up this morning to NO rain and fairly clear skies, so we took the opportunity to get moving. We’ve discovered the one Dutch quality that gives us a bit of trouble: the whole jockeying for position when waiting for bridges to open thing. Jill had warned us, and we had seen for ourselves, but being part of it turns out to be absolutely hair-raising. You are creeping up on the boat in front of you, he starts to reverse, the boat behind you is almost on your deck, several others are trying to sneak past on your right and/or left, and the wind is blowing and pushing you sideways across a narrow channel. And the bridgekeeper has decided he really needs to let the land traffic cross the bridge before it’s the turn of the boats. And this happens at every bridge, not just one or two. And in the Netherlands, there are LOTS of bridges. On a typical 3 hour journey, we probably spend at least half of that waiting for bridges to open. I guess it’s not as bad as it might sound. We’re learning to deal with it and getting better and better. The Dutch are extremely friendly and helpful. At every stop we meet new people who give us help, tips, suggestions, teach us how to splice the ends of our ropes or different ways to tie off our lines. Quite a bit of it is contradictory, and we’ll have to sort through it at some point, but it’s certainly not for lack of kindness or interest.
Leiden 7/21/2011 16:14
Arrived in Leiden at about 1:30. It was a bit of a mess to begin with. We arrived at the lift bridge at the turnoff into town just as the bridge master was scheduled to go to lunch, so we had to wait 45 minutes for him to get back. We were the only ones there at first, but the infamous Dutch queuing system kicked in. Between people rafting up to us to wait, and others cutting shamelessly between boats, we were the last of 12 boats to go through the bridge and, by extension, the last boat to arrive and snag one of the coveted moorings in the center city. Luckily, there were enough. Not so luckily, they are all parallel berths, and we don’t do those well. The great triumph of the day: not only did I get the boat docked, I actually got complements from the usual gaggle of Dutch onlookers that we entertain with our (lack of) technique and experience. I guess if they say I’m doing well, I can’t be doing too badly. We would like to stay a week or more. Leiden is a very old town and a university town as well, so there is a lot to see and do if we are in tourist mode. Unfortunately, in high season they only let you stay 3 days. OOPS! But that’s probably why there was room for us when we got here. AND that means we’ll have to travel on a Sunday, not our favorite thing. Next stop, Alphen a/d Rijn, more I suspect for convenience and boat work than anything else, then on to Gouda I think. But we will have to see what we can cram into 2 full days in Leiden. It will put to the test our idea of not worrying about what we miss cuz we can always come back. We’ve already walked the extensive shopping street to get some exercise after the morning’s traveling. 
Not our thing. Got off that and walked along the Oude Rijn, an older canal promenade lined with floating cafes and restaurants.
A lot of the more picturesque buildings along this route, but we are always a bit stressed after a sailing day, so we headed back home for a rest. Guess we’ll do the tourist thing tomorrow in competition with internet day and hopefully get some photos posted. And for the record, you-all, I do go back and edit past postings to include more photos, so you might want to check back occasionally. Tot ziens!
Leiden 7/22/2011 22:10
I really need to be more conscientious about taking a camera when we go out walking. Earlier in the day we went to the archeology museum, and then walked through some of the streets in the older sections of the city, including the university section. Very quiet and very different from the shopping district that we were directed to yesterday. Just now took a two hour ramble through Leiden in the evening and it was lovely. The streets were quiet even in the middle of town, with pockets of revelry coming from coffee houses and pubs. We stood on one swing bridge and watched an open boat with about 35 people in it singing along to Zorba the Greek tunes. Wandered past many, many narrow side streets that just begged to be explored, except it was starting to get dark (a whole hour earlier than when we arrived only a month ago!) and we were headed home with the biggest chocolate cream puffs you’ve ever seen. They were setting up for the market tomorrow, and it would appear to be quite large. Both sides of the canal and running for several blocks. More reminiscent of some of the larger markets in Paris than what I’ve seen here so far. Maybe I’ll remember to take a camera tomorrow!
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