DAY 5
Thursday MAY 5TH 2005
Good morning desktop readers! The weather has completely turned around and it is very sunny here. The B&B where I am staying offered me two more nights because a family canceled their reservation.
The view from my room.
I don't know if I should or not. The Hotel Caruso is situated pretty awesome and has a wonderful attached Italian Restaurant.
With the lure of the patio, and the promise of heat during the night, and a map to use to get to the Tulip fields, and English speaking hosts who helped me plan my way to the start of the Rhine, I decided to stay put. By the way the use of the patio is a place where I can put my bike together.
Here is a picture of one of my hosts, Hans, putting up the national flag for the celebration Liberation Day. At breakfast Hans mentioned that I am the first Eskimo /Athabascan to stay at his B&B and complain of being cold. We all had a good laugh about that.
"The Germans are gone!"
Liberation Day
I highly recommend the Hotel Caruso, though. It is one block away from an ATM and post office and two blocks away from the main square, and has a truly good Italian restaurant attached, and it is very close to Hotel Amadeus which has the internet cafe for those with laptops and those without.
The final deciding factor for me choosing the B&B over the hotel was that my existing room has a better shower head. I will walk as many extra blocks as needed for that! Such are the decisions of life. :-)
Typical Haarlem street in Old Town.
The "American Embassy". Do you see it?
Now I am off to a lesson in frustration, which translates as "putting my bike together". Later today there is supposed to be a music festival in the park for Liberation Day. If I can get my bike together maybe I can test ride it there. Quite frankly, I am probably hoping for too much, though.
MANY HOURS LATER...
Well, I am very happy. I put my bike together. I color coded all the wires before I left Anchorage and it really helped. It still took me four hours, but I didn't get frustrated at all. It is just one big puzzle really and I have learned at a deeper level about bike maintenance than I ever could if I hadn't bought an S&S coupling bike. Also their back patio was ideal for the work. I had the time and enjoyment of putting my bike together surrounded by a lovely flower garden with bird song. How nice is that? I also enjoyed it when my host played his piano for over an hour. Sunshine, music, flowers, and birdsong no wonder I took so long putting my bike together. Sure beats a day at the office. When I ran over time and missed the music festival which started at 2pm I could still hear the music drifting on the air. The music must have been pretty loud indeed, as the park where they were playing was 2 kilometers away.
I must say that I had help though. At critical times my host Hans would come and check on me to see how it was going. The first time he came out I was puzzling over the "steer tube". Things came out of it that I was trying to put back together in the proper order. I had never taken notice of the proper order before because these items always stayed put. With Han's input we figured it out. I would have never thought of that solution on my own, but I will certainly remember for it next time. Later during the day he came out to see how it was going was when I was putting on the rear derailleur. Thank God he came out at just that time. He whipped it on in no time and now I will have a better memory of how it all works and he also gave me little tidbits of advice to make things go smoothly. Things fathers probably teach their sons at their knees, but not their daughters. The third time he came out was for the cable tensioning. He really, really showed me a lot then. A big thank you goes out to Hans for all his help! I really, really appreciate it!
Damage to the bicycle was minimal. The tire was somewhat damaged but I managed to fix it on my own. Oh, if only you could have heard my own cheers! Oddly enough, the only other damage was to the front rack. It is badly warped now. I have an extra one at home. I will take it to the cycle shop and see if they can repair it. If not, my boyfriend can FedEx me my back up. We shall see which way it goes tomorrow. If it does turn out that I need a FedEx package so soon, I will definitely ask Jeff to send me more warm clothes. I am woefully, inadequately dressed for this type of weather. Think of Juneau weather, but with a very distinctive chill. I can see that I am about four weeks to early to be camping. This will alter my budgeted costs, I am sure.
Debris filled in the center of wheel.
So with pride and happiness at my accomplishment and achievement I went in search of dinner. It was 4pm and the only food I have eaten all day was some yogurt and orange juice at breakfast. Not even any soda at all. I found a lovely Italian place for dinner and watch the people go by out the front window. After dinner I went for a two hour walk to stretch my sore and aching muscles. Now I am off to bed. Good night.
My walk of the day.
Favorite Moment of the Day: I find it absolutely amazing that so many people bike here. Newborns, families, children, and dogs are carried on the bike with any type of carrier to match any type of need. And I must mention the grace and balance to which they use the bike. Children don't even hold on, they just sit on the back of the bike and flow with it. There is nothing I have seen in America to compare. It must really be seen to be understood and believed. Obviously they learn this natural grace and balance from infancy. It is a leaned instinct.
Least favorite moment of the Day: I am a water buffalo among gazelles.