Bollenstreek Flower Route

 My ankle and knee are quite sore, and we thought we’d attempt the electric bikes. One rotation around immediately told me that this wouldn’t work. My knee doesn’t bend completely. I started to cry and felt sorry for myself. In all of our travels, this is the first time that either of us has been hurt. I could only wallow in my situation for so long, because after all, we are in the Netherlands during tulip season. We drove for almost 45 minutes attempting to find the flower route, then finally had success. The fields are absolutely gorgeous as you drive along. We happened upon ‘The Tulip Experience’. Scotty chose to stay outside, but I eagerly ran in - okay, I hobbled in. Rows and rows of tulips, all different colors. My pains were firgotten for a short while. 

We arrived back to our beautiful hotel and I took a 2 hour bap - kind of unusual for me. Scotty walked to some stores and found is some breakfast and a better Ace bandage for me. We had a delicious dinner at the Brasserie within our hotel. We each had a hefeweissen with the hotel brand. Scotty had a truffle burger, salad and fries. I had fish - with pasta, mixed with vegetables and acaprese salad on top. The fish was mild and very goid, and not a single bone!

Zaanse schans and Haarlem Floats

 Started the day with a fantastic breakfast at Our B&B.It must’ve been the biggest breakfast we’ve ever been served and I joked with the owner that we just might end up staying there forever.

 We headed over to Zaanse Schans and noticed that they were lots of crowds. We went down a ssmaller path with a few people and that’s when it happened – I Slipped on some wet wood and down I went. I twisted my ankle and my knee began to hurt. I mean it really hurt. I hobble around, But the excursion was hardly enjoyable as I had to be careful as I walked.We ended up not seeing the entire area, but that was OK as it was extremely crowded.

Next week headed to Harlem, which I had been really looking forward to. This is where the flutes on the 75th parade were going to be displayed. We looked for a pharmacy with no luck in hopes that I could wrap my foot. We looked for a bicycle shop in hopes that we could rent bikes and again No luck. We slowly very slowly walked to the center of town to see the flower floats. They were absolutely gorgeous - There were all kinds of floats Butterflies to elephants to SpongeBob to decorated tractors. I absolutely absolutely loved it. And then as we were walking around, we ran across a Red Cross truck.

 Luck finally hit. I walked up to it and asked if they could manage my foot and they kindly did so much better that we were able to maybe a little bit faster. We continued looking at the floats among the crowds of people. 

As we walked back to the car, we decided to stop and get a beer. It was really fun to sit outside have some truffle Fries and beers. Truffle fries, by the way, our fries with mayonnaise, flavored with truffles  and covered with Parmesan cheese. I think they were the best fries I’ve ever had. Not to mention that it was fun to sit outside, and I especially enjoyed watching the waiters cross the street with their trays on the other side of the street lining the canal.

We found our hotel, Van der Valk Hotel in Leiden. From the fire map, it appears we have the largest room in the hotel. It is beautiful with two queen beds, a desk can share, to choose any sitting area, a refrigerator, a balcony, and a large modern bathroom. I took a long, hot Shower wash some clothes and organize my suitcase while Scott walked to a nearby grocery store to get some brotchen. Upon his return, We had brotchen with prosciutto ham and Smoked goats cheese and a rather beer. Delicious. We watched some TV and I caught up with my blog and photos.

Marken, Vollendam, Edam

 We stayed at the Madrid Airport on Friday night and caught a 6:00 flight to Amsterdam - WAY too early, can’t remember WHY I did that!! Got the rental car and off we went….

The first village we visited was Marken. It’s a traditional Dutch village and to get there you have to drive out on the road that has water on both sides. It’s a lovely town, but it’s unbelievable how many tourist are there. The town is located right on the water in the main street had many tourist shops, but it was also fun to see all the boats out in the water. We went into the bigger church Noticed that there were many boats hanging from the ceiling. These were to honor the long mirror time, history of the village. It rained often on, but we were able to see the village and enjoy it.The one thing that bothered me was at the town was hanging up flags, and it interfered with photographing. We saw three men hanging the flags and because all the flags look new we guess that there might be a festival coming up, but it really did limit our photos.

The second village was Vollendam which is which is a bit larger. Once again, another traditional Dutch Village and we had to get under awnings often on during the day because of the rain. Fallen dam was having a market in the street and on the way out we bought some cod bites. They were delicious and we even thought they were better than the ones in Portugal because the ones in Portugal are cured in salt for so long. These cut bites were slightly salty, but we both agreed they were better.

Our third village was eaten, and if you’ve heard the name, you are right this is a cheese village.We went into a cheese shop and they were giving out lots of samples, and we fell in love with all of them, but since we couldn’t take all of them with us, we bought a smoked goat cheese. Then on the way home, we stopped at a supermarket and bought bread and prosciutto and some drinks.

Tonight we are staying at Shepherd’s bed-and-breakfast in Lynne and it’s a lovely place to stay.The owner told us that the house was built in 1844 making it 170 years old. She even brought out plates and glasses for us so that we could sit in the dining room and have our dinner.

First visit to La Alberca

We have a 2 hour break during the day and Scotty and I chose to walk to this nearby village (15 min walk).