Amsterdam > Brugge: First the Facts

Week of riding from Amsterdam to Brugge with CycleTours finished yesterday.  I didn't post during the ride mainly because it went by so quickly.  But I'll do a couple posts now, starting with the basics:  6 days of cycling, no major accidents for anyone, very nice weather but with one "I'm cold, soaked to the bone, and my shoes are squishing" day, and ~186 miles cycled in total.

GPS record of much of the ride, captured by another rider:

Riding with CycleTours

Painting in our cabin

 Joined CycleTours boat yesterday in Amsterdam.  Bit of confusion... our originally scheduled boat (the Anna Antal) had a mechanical problem with the engine cooling system... so the company moved us all over to another boat (the Wending).  Happy change... the Wending is a bit bigger, nicer cabins, etc.  Our group is about 18 people, and the Wending accommodates 24 normally, so we've got room to spare.  All in all, an upgrade.  No complaints.

Good group of people.  All Americans, which is statistically unlikely given our past experiences.  Two groups of friends, one from New England, the other from California, two moms getting away from the family to celebrate a big number birthday, plus Katie and me, our guide Karline, the captain Jurgen, Anna Mieke (!!!) the cook, and her assistant Agnes.

 Cycled today from Oude Wetering down to Gouda, a beautiful 30 mile ride.  On a sunny, warm Sunday of a 3-day holiday weekend here.  Got off around 10:00 after a leisurely breakfast -- the boat couldn't leave earlier due to a bridge schedule issue so we hung out until the morning fog lifted and the sun came out strong. Lots of people out cycling and enjoying the day today.
Passed by Alphen, came within about 3 miles, thought about a detour for some frites... but the weather was too nice today for frites, so we can live with the decision.

Stopped at a local beach in the afternoon, an an impromptu 30 minute nap under a tree.

How old... is old?

Deventer is >1100 years older than our hometown, San Mateo.  Deventer celebrates its 1250th anniversary this year:

1250 years creates a very different perception of what it means to be "old".  As an example, here is a paraphrased conversation among our landlady (Y), Katie (K) and me (S) yesterday.

Y: Try this cheese, you will like it, it is called "Bunker Cheese"... because it is aged in an old bunker.

S: An old bunker from World War II?

Y: No, sort of an older bunker. With a line.

K: Oh, the Maginot line. A bunker from World War I.

Y: No, a sort of an older bunker than that.

S: Oh, from the Napoleanic Wars.

Y: No, a kind of an older bunker really. About flooding the land. 

K: Oh, the 16th century revolt against Philip II of Spain?

Y: Well possibly, but maybe a bit older.

It's paraphrased, but pretty much verbatim.  For something to be considered "old" here...  it needs some serious years.

Back on the bikes

Left the ship Tuesday and took train to Deventer, a wonderful old Hanseatic town in Netherlands.  Visited once before for a day, but now have chance to spend a couple days and explore on foot and bikes.

Took our first long bike ride yesterday, round trip Deventer to Zutphen (another wonderful old Hanseatic town).

The Cosmos' response to our unpacking and assembling the bikes was, naturally, an immediate change in weather.  An unbroken two week string of near perfect days... broke.  We started out the morning ride to Zutphen in a nice spring rain.  But even a nice rain is basically cold and wet.  Memorable comment as we stopped to put on more rain gear:  "... ah, the first sneeze of pneumonia."  Let's hope that is just a joke.

Seriously, it was terrific to ride through the Dutch countryside again on the LF3.  Beautiful country.  Intensely green in the springtime.  And beautiful bike paths.

Weather improved immensely in Zutphen.  Picnic outside an old cathedral, then an impromptu visit to Zutphen's museum.  Huge luck!  Closing days of a special exhibition, staged with support of the Rikjsmuseum.  I don't read Dutch, so I'm going to just take a guess at exhibition title:  Local Great Painters You've Never Heard Of,  in A Museum without Crowds.  If that was the title, the curators hit the mark -- the painters were all local guys, they were great, I'd never heard of any of them, and the museum was peaceful with room to breathe.  Plus, downstairs they had an exhibit about a Viking raid circa 800, and you can't beat Viking raid exhibits for interesting.

Afterwards... Mother Nature kind of sucker punched us.  We discussed whether to just take an easy train back to Deventer, but the rain had stopped, the sun was out, and we felt young and optimistic so decided to ride bikes home.  About a mile into the ride a massive wind started, right into our faces, and it didn't stop until after we reached home couple hours later completely pooped.  Now thankful for all those stairs on the Brilliance, our cardiovascular system and legs were up to the job.

Morning on LF3

Wildflowers

"Local Great Painters You've Never Heard Of' Show

Some things never change... is he texting on a cell phone?

Just a beautiful painting

Nameless Viking Guy

Vasa Museum

The Vasa Museum in Stockholm may not be the one of Wonders of the World, but it's close. The Vasa is a really big and fancy 17th century warship. Also a kind of a monument to military poor planning and over-reach, and to everybody's reluctance to tell a King that he's a bit nuts. But on the positive side, just imagine... an entire seventeenth century warship, preserved exactly as it was the day it launched!

Vasa... as the King hoped she would be

On 10 August 1628, Wasa set sail on her short maiden voyage, promptly sinking in Stockholm harbor. As I understand it, the ship was a little too tall and top-heavy, as the King had insisted on her having a full extra deck of cannons.  And too skinny to hold enough ballast to compensate for the high center of gravity.  So she slid down the launching ways into the water, tipped over, and sank.

Vasa's captain

Only ~30 people died. The rest just swam to the nearby shore. The museum included the skeletal remains and some interesting analysis of the probable lives and occupations of the lost. The captain was one of the them. I think he chose to go down with the ship, rather than having to explain the situation to the King.

Hard-hat salvage diver

Fast forward 333 years to 1961. Vasa was salvaged intact, and raised from the harbor floor by hard-hat divers passing steel cables under her keel, then stretching the  cables tight using salvage ships. She was reconstructed, replacing the rusted away iron bits, and is an astonishing 98% original. Vasa is now suspended in mid-air, and viewable from nearly touching distance.

Viewing her is very close to time-travel.

Scale model reproduction

Vasa herself!

Vasa

Wow we got lucky!

Across a week in the Baltic cities – Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm – and on the water we hit the weather jackpot. Sunny and warm all week, with long days! Particularly in St Petersburg, people told us 'this kind of weather just doesn't happen in May... last year it snowed.'

We fully expected to see these cities in the rain, or at best under overcast skies, while wearing damp and cold clothes. Reality was a series of cool mornings and warm afternoons under consistently sunny skies.

Moving north-south in the Baltic, fascinating to see the difference in springtime growth. St Petersburg, trees and flowers just emerging. Helsinki, a bit more green. Stockholm, already leafy.

10 at night, on  the water

Boat in Tallinn

Helsinki

St Petersburg

Stockholm

Tallinn

Tanks at the Winter Palace

Winter Palace used to be part of the Romanov family real estate in St Petersburg. In 1917, ownership was transferred to the people, and the Romanov family shortly needed a place to live neither summer nor winter. The escrow process was a messy one, but the Winter Palace eventually became the Hermitage... and now houses one of the world's top three art collections.

Fast forward a few decades. St Petersburg had temporarily become Leningrad, and in 1942 the Third Reich mounted a huge campaign against the city in an attempt to conquer and annex it. After a horrific 900-day siege, with uncounted casualties and mass starvation among the citizens, the German siege was defeated. As our local guide put it “no family was untouched in the siege”, and the end of the siege is recognized each year as Victory Day with celebrations and military parades.

So there we were in the Winter Palace, the day before Victory Day, as tanks rumbled up the streets outside and parked surrounding the Palace. Gave us at least a little sense of what the Romanov's must have felt.

The Hermitage is amazing, as is its counterpart – the Summer Palace, or Peterhof, just outside the city.

FWIW, the official residence of the current country top dog is just down the road from the Peterhof. Looks like a pretty nice place. Full circle in just 100 years?

Not fine cabinetry... floor. 

Tanks outside Winter Palace / Hermitage Museum, 2018

Interior panorama, Summer Palace / Peterhof Museum

WWII era armored vehicle

Romanov tableware, Summer Palace

Czars and Czarinas liked their gold leaf

"... according to his ability ..."

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." -- Karl Marx, 1875

Saint Petersburg is a pretty interesting place.  Couple hundred years ago, a bog.  18th to early 20th century, playground of the Romanov class and hellhole for the serf class.  Most of the 20th, a key city in the failed attempt at creating a workers paradise, with horrific years during WWII -- a 900 days siege with uncounted dead.  Today a prosperous capitalist city, at least as capitalism is understood in the ex-USSR.  Remains to be seen just how well the latest experiment will succeed, as I understand the Ruble has devalued steadily over past decade.

Anyway, I had to think of Karl Marx when our tour leader sized me up, and offered me the challenge of holding our group sign while she went off to negotiate tickets.  Proud to make my small contribution to our group experience, according to my ability.

'White Nights' in the Baltic

Spent the last few days visiting a trio of terrific Baltic cities -- Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki.  Very different personalities, but they have this in common:  they are far enough north that this time of year is the season called "White Nights".

Sundown last night was 9:30, but the twilight lasted much longer, maybe an hour?  And sunrise this morning was very very early, but it was actually light long before sunrise.  So the period called "night" is very short, and it is really more dim than actually dark.

Twilight at 10:30 last night, somewhere in the Baltic between Helsinki and Stockholm:

Initial days cruising...

Hi Katrina!

First few days of the cruising life.  A full day and night at sea, a day in Skagen, then an overnight at sea, and the next day in Aarhus.

The cruise ship experience is kind of surreal.  Two thousand of us, in a floating convention hotel?  Like parts of it a lot, and some parts not as much. And now believe that what several friends have told me is absolutely true:  despite any amount of exercise you get (and Katie and I have done 18000+ steps of walking just today), be prepared to gain at least a pound a day!  There is no chance of famine on board.

Couple of photos -- the ship clearing last lock leaving Netherlands and entering the North Sea,  Katie and a friend (Jane) walking in Skagen, the crowded sea between Skagen and Aarhus (look close and you can see another ship in the distance),  beautiful candle burning in church built around 1000 A.D. in Aarhus and now essentially subterranean and part of the foundation of the current church (Vor Frue Kirke), and finally the view from our cabin while parked in Aarhus.

Must be about time to go eat again now??