Return to Europe Post-COVID: Northern Italy and Bike n Barge in Northern Holland, April & May 2022
Milano. We start our trip with a first night in Milano Italy, on Saturday, April 16, 2022. The Piazza Duomo in this city is utterly overwhelming. “Overwhelming” was put on steroids for us, as today we are at this monumental cathedral on Easter Sunday.
We rent Bike Mi shared bicycles while in Milano. Very quick and easy to use.
Day two was is also in Milano. It was chilly in Milano, but warm enough for walking and bicycling. And that is all that matters. We enjoyed the obligatory, aesthetically pleasing walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II Milano fashion district.
Our dinner at Naviglio Grande is stupendous.
One curious architectural aspect of Milano is that a large number of homes and offices have balconies overflowing with trees, shrubs, and flowers.
Another Milano trademark: Cute, human-scaled, post-mounted traffic signals. Speaking as a slow-speed, human-scaled urban designer, I found this quite admirable.
Milano does admirably well in properly aligning their street and park trees in a photogenically formal way. City arborists: Please visit Milano and take notes.
Milano is full of charming cobblestone and paver streets.
I tip my hat in appreciation of the Milano train station. It is magnificent.
Departing Milano and trained to romantic, picturesque Venice. It is Maggie’s first visit to this special city, and I am eager to present it to her. As we emerge from the train station, the Grand Canal and the City of Venice are before us. “Maggie,” I say, “welcome to spectacular Venice!”
In my opinion, Venice is the most picturesque, romantic city on earth. St Mark's Square in Venice is one of the most spectacular squares in the world.
Venice has streets with a perfect, human-scaled, lovable width.
For our second glorious day in Venice (and little-known Murano), the weather and the city continue to be wonderful. We meant to go to Burano, but somehow mistakenly end up in Murano.
No regrets, as Murano is lovely.
For our last night in Venice, we dined on an excellent version of Gnocchi Salmone and Squid Ink Spaghetti. When a friend learned of this meal, she cautioned me about eating too many carbs (I’m on a low-carb, high-fat diet). I told her that when in the Food Heaven of Italy, dietary restrictions must be turned down a notch or three.
One last latte as we prepare to depart Venice for Romeo and Juliet's Verona. Of course, once there, Maggie and I ceremoniously and romantically kiss in front of the balcony.
While in Verona, I met one of my most cherished friends -- Vince Greco -- a man I had last seen 50 years ago in Elementary School in Penfield NY. He remains a generous, wonderful, fun guy. The 50-yr reunion was astonishing. Unforgettably enjoyable. We shared many memories.
Funny how many long-term memories one is able to remember.
During our tour of Verona, catastrophe strikes. Maggie jokes to me that she is worried about falling and getting hurt while negotiating the very tall (three- to four-foot) steps inside the Verona Arena. While she escapes these big steps unscathed, she does not escape the much smaller steps (one- to two inches) of the paver block piazza outside the Arena. There, she inexplicably and suddenly falls and breaks her foot.
When Maggie realizes she could not stand on her foot, we take a taxi to an emergency room of a Verona hospital. An x-ray confirmed our fears: Maggie has a clean break in one of her feet. She is fitted for a soft cast, and told she will not be able to ride a bicycle for at least four weeks. She must also self-administer daily shots of a medicine that would reduce the chances of an embolism.
This most untimely injury almost completely immobilizes Maggie a day before we are to start a week-long bicycling tour in The Netherlands. So to add to the extreme frustration of Maggie having to postpone the bike and barge trip in The Netherlands for two years due to COVID, she would now have to miss the entire week of bicycling during the bike and barge trip.
Catastrophic.
She ends up spending almost the entire week on the barge. She conducts an Internet research. She asks the barge and adventure staff. Astonishingly, she is unable to find a mobility option for her in many of the cities visited by the barge.
We look for a way to rent a two-person scooter, or a two-wheeled cargo bike. No luck at all.
As an aside, I tried but was completely unable to keep upright the two-wheeled cargo bike we did manage to find for rent despite a lifetime of bicycle riding.
We also looked for a bicycle taxi service. None of this was available. I guess this is because no one goes to such places with a broken foot.
Padua. Our trip to Padua and our second day in Verona are wonderful -- even with Maggie breaking her foot. It is a town full of colonnades. St Anthony's Basilica in Padua is overwhelming. One of the most spectacular basilicas in the world.
At the Verona airport, where we were to fly to Amsterdam, I was astonished by the extreme, costly efforts by Verona airport staff to board passengers with severe mobility restrictions. It was as if Maggie was an astronaut being loaded onto a spaceship.
Haarlem. After leaving Italy, we stay in a hotel in Haarlem. A friend of mine says "skip Amsterdam and go to Haarlem." Turns out that my friend has offered excellent advice. Too bad that the "Amsterdam" name has the "coolness" factor, the "Haarlem" name has the anti-coolness factor for Americans, because it carries the same name as the infamous Harlem in NYC.
On my (solo) walk in Haarlem, I enjoy the stroll so much that I refer to it as my “Fall-In-Love walk in Haarlem.” I realize that it would be wonderful to own a home and live on one of the many charming, quiet, human-scaled streets in Old Town Haarlem. The side streets are superb. Enchanting. And so lovable. And the Old Town is full of friendly, convivial, fun-loving cafes.
Did I mention the cobblestone streets? Or the stunning architecture? Warning: the Haarlem suburbs contain some of the worst modernist architecture on earth.
The Haarlem region includes the impressive Zuid-Kennemerland National Park, which is full of sand dunes, walking trails, and bicycle paths.
During my bike ride on this day, I stop at a Zandvoort cafe for a cappuccino. I reach for my self-stick to take a photo of my enjoying the drink which allowed me – to my horror – to notice my backpack is not on my back! The backpack has been on my back for every one of my rides during the trip, which means that I can feel it on my back even when it was not there.
I experience the ugly panic of thinking I have lost my backpack earlier in this bicycle ride -- the backpack contains my passport.
Yikes.
Fortunately, I find the backpack under my bed on our barge at the end of the day.
Overwhelming relief!
Later, I bicycled to the old Cruquius steam pumping station. It is thought to be the largest steam engine – and certainly the largest steam pumping engine – ever built. It pumped Haarlem Lake dry in three years of work. Since Holland is full of water, managing water is an enormous, ongoing task for this nation.
On one of my first bike rides during the bike and barge phase of our trip, I enjoy a glorious, very Dutch bike ride in The Netherlands. Homes are impossibly cute and surprisingly immaculate – even in Holland’s farmlands.
I stop at a square for a cappuccino to add to my happiness.
The next day I went on a 40-km bike ride exploring the northern areas of The Netherlands. Vreeland, Nieuwersluis, Breukelen, Maarssen, Oud-Zuilen, and Rotterdam.
There were many lovely, traditional, ornamental new-build homes along the way in this part of Holland. Modern architects in this region, in other words, are relatively well-behaved. Unlike in the Haarlem suburbs, as noted above, where they seem to have world-class skill in designing the most hideous modernist buildings on earth.
I fall in love with bicycling on the many slow-speed, human-scaled streets found in the region. They are typically one narrow lane wide, yet carry two-way car traffic. US traffic engineers think such a design leads to countless head-on collisions.
They are wrong.
This attitude by the engineers helps explains why – after a century of allegedly striving to make roads safer -- US roads are more dangerous today than they have ever been.
Rotterdam. Rotterdam’s port has the largest shipping volume in Europe. Unfortunately, Rotterdam has the ugliest, most hideous, most bizarre modernist buildings on the planet. One reason: the City actually will not approve a new development or building unless it is sufficiently “innovative” or “bizarre.” In other words, they reject building design submissions that are not ugly enough. Many of the ugly ducklings have nicknames: “The Pencil” and “The Swan” and (what I call) “The Tumbling Dice.” Their downtown public library is known as “The Vacuum Cleaner.”
On the following day, I enjoy bicycling from Rotterdam to Delft.
One oddity I notice in this region (Groot-Ammers in particular) was that many farm animals are kept in relatively high-density residential areas.
Nieuwpoort, a slight diversion from the recommended bicycle route given to us on the barge, turns out to be an exceptionally cute, captivating, charming, romantic medieval town, as is nearby Schoonhoven.
This is followed the next day by my bicycling from Rotterdam to Gouda.
Next day, I bicycle to a Dutch cheese farm to sample cheese and tour the farm. The Ruyge Weyde Cheese Farm is one of only 10 of the 16,000 cheese farms in The Netherlands which continues to make organic, non-pasteurized, authentic Gouda cheese. How could I resist not buying some of their cheese?
I bicycle Gouda to Utrecht on the following day. Maggie at this time is mostly hobbling and staying on the barge. But today she is able to go without crutches after buying a stiff boot. In effect, she had a “Fatima” experience in the sense that she is able to toss away her crutches for much of her mobility efforts. Today, she was able to take a bus to see the beautiful tulip fields (with a friend pushing her around in a wheelchair).
We need to schedule an active trip soon after she heals!
While Maggie was becoming more mobile, I was enjoying bicycling in Haarlem and in the impossibly colorful, vibrant, and surprisingly expansive tulip fields.
A first for me during today’s bicycle ride: enjoying a cappuccino from a cafe located inside a church in the town of Broek in Waterland.
Zaandam to Amsterdam is my last day of bicycling on this trip to The Netherlands. As MacArthur once said, "I came through and I shall return!"
In this region is Zaanse Schans, with its open-air museum. Next door to the museum is a large collection of cocoa industrial buildings. There was a powerful scent of delicious chocolate in the air. I'm sure the residents don't mind this form of "air pollution."
Following the bike and barge trip, we board a train for a trip to Groningen -- said by some to be the best bicycling city in the world.
Maggie gains bicycle mobility for the first time since Verona Italy more than a week ago, as we are finally able to rent a cargo bike!
My initial impressions of Groningen are that I find it pleasant enough to be happy living here, but it would be awkward because I think I will never be able to correctly pronounce the city name.
Groningen – true to its reputation as a great cycling city -- features free downtown underground bike parking for what seems like millions of bikes. The parking is available 24/7, and includes moving escalators for a descent to and an ascent from the parking.
In the morning, we opt for a cappuccino, a latte, and breakfast at a cozy little cafe attached to a Groningen cathedral. This is another design aspect I notice in Holland: It seems common for large churches to have retail, restaurant, and café buildings attached to the side of a church.
Our second day in Groningen features not only great architecture, but also impressive parks/gardens. We stop at a brewpub for a flight of Dutch biers. Double, Tripel, Quadrupel, Barley Wine, and Groningener Prael. There is a swing dance club at the pub.
Being an avid dancer, I cannot resist. I have a great time showing off my Western Swing skills with willing Dutch dancers. I squeeze in five fun swing dances. One of my partners is Ukrainian.
Groningen's main train station, by the way, is exceptionally impressive.
Our last day of enjoying The Netherlands is a pleasant surprise: We discover the unknown (at least to us) town of Amersfoort. Noticeably quiet, romantic, charming, and bikeable. Maggie completely falls in love with this town. She has a big smile on her face all day as she hobbles around.
Our hotel (Logemont de Gaaper) and its proprietor are both lovely. The hotel fronts the main square in town and is next to the main cathedral.
The main square (hof) is a former parking lot.
If only they could return this space to car parking! (sarcasm). Indeed, the new square was created by people who admirably understand that a city must be designed for happy people, not happy cars.
While we are in Holland, the nation celebrates “King’s Day,” a big event in The Netherlands. Orange color is everywhere, as we see in the main square in Amersfoort.
The name "Gaaper" in the hotel name relates to the English word "gape," which is how doctors long ago assessed the health of patients. The hotel was formerly a pharmacy. Gaping heads loomed above us while we ate breakfast in the hotel lobby on our last morning.
Amersfoort still possesses impressive remnants of fortification walls – once used to protect against marauding hordes of thieves.
It is wonderful to experience so many brick, paver, and cobblestone streets in European cities. Despite conventional wisdom, studies show brick lasts longer than asphalt. I'm sure it is costly to repair them, though. Not an excuse to avoid them, however! Many cities are uncovering brick/cobblestone paved over, as it is increasingly recognized as an economic engine and is far more charming, attractive, and romantic than asphalt.
On this trip to Holland, I once again note that bicycling here is the safest bicycling in the world. Well-designed recent studies confirm there is safety in numbers (the more bicyclists on the streets, the safer it is to cycle).
While this trip was, on balance, quite enjoyable, my travels are significantly more enjoyable when I am enjoying them with someone important in my life. So my enjoyment on this trip was muted by Maggie being unable to join me for the bicycling. One of my most rewarding experiences is taking a friend or significant other to a place that I absolutely loved in the past but that person has never experienced before, and then observing their reaction.
When I travel in Europe, I make it a point to spend as much time in old, medieval town centers as I can, and as little time as possible in suburbs. As an American, I've seen enough suburbs for 800 lifetimes.
Many say they never go to a downtown.
I’m the opposite.
I spend as little time as possible in the suburbs, and close my eyes during the brief times I am hurrying through them as fast as I can.
I must visit every European Old Towne I can, as they are utterly delightful, human-scaled, slow-speed, convivial, and friendly. So unlike the car-happy horror that US cities inflict on us.
I shot well over a thousand photos during the trip. There is a strong positive correlation between how many photos I shoot and how much I love the place I’m visiting. Fortunately, great places make it easy to shoot great photos.
One form of adventure I occasionally experience in my travels in Europe is the difficulty of needing to read words in a language I do not know. For this trip, the most amusing example of this was a day when we needed to buy a creamer for our coffee at our hotel room.
At a grocery store in Holland, I opt to buy a pint carton in the milk section of the store. Without being able to read Dutch, I guess I’m buying cream or half and half or milk. When I later "pour" it into my coffee, it is unusually thick and settled at the bottom of my mug of coffee.
Turned out to be chocolate pudding. Not one of the better things to add to coffee...
I tally my total mileage of bicycling in The Netherlands over the past week. Total biked miles: well over 250. Almost every one of those miles took me through staggering beauty and astonishing charm. I am so grateful for the experience, and so sad that Maggie was forced to miss it. I've gained a much fuller appreciation of the cute and gorgeous nature of the towns and architecture one finds in The Netherlands. I had not fully appreciated how cute, ornamental, and charming Dutch architecture was until this trip. I’ve fallen in love with their homes.
After this trip, I realize that Haarlem is the city I would most enjoy living in in the world. I also love, among other historic places in Europe, Delft, Utrecht, Amersfoort, Ortigia, Lucca, and Siena. I'm surprised to realize that my top four places to live are now Dutch, not Italian.
I suggest to Maggie that we consider renting a little apartment for three months in each of these highly desirable towns as a way to better evaluate them. Or just enjoy life while living in these magical places.