The Dutch Bicycle

The Dutch had fallen in love with bicycles more than a century ago and the love continues growing today. Most are comfort bikes used for daily transportation, shopping and just getting around. There are no helmet laws and bicycle traffic lanes are a standard part of street planning. Seventy percent of daily journeys are in the seven kilometres range. There are laws requiring houses to have a bicycle shed and there are bike racks in front of all shops. Bicycle parking lots are large and common and there are even parking barges on the canals.

The first Dutch bicycle manufacturer began in 1869 and this was followed with some fifty factories and hundreds of brands. Over the decades, many failed or were absorbed by more successful companies. The three major ones that remain today are Simplex founded in 1887, Gazelle from 1892 and Betavus since 1904.

Among the current statistic on bicycles in Amsterdam is that 490,000 free wheeling feisters cycle two million kilometres every day. Amsterdam has 220,000 cars and 550,000 bicycles. There are 400 kilometres of bike paths within the city and there are free bike ferries to the northern parts of the harbour.

Throughout the country, there are countless of bicycle shops selling new and used bikes. Many are also repair shops with most of them very busy. We found such a shop on the main street of Harlingen, not far from the harbour, as we were looking for full sized gently used bikes. There was a good selection to choose from and we bought two female models from Bevatus, referred to as a granny bikes. The trend in the Netherlands is that most men now ride the more convenient low instep female bikes, abandoning the classic male bike with high crossbar. Our two Batavus bikes have now become part of the standard equipment on Zonder Zorg.

In this picture is the local bicycle club in Rotterdam around 1920. There are a few drop handle bars showing, but the rest are standard bikes. In the centre of the picture, with a bushy moustache is my grandfather and the boy to the far right is my father. Several of the men are my uncles.

Harlingen Friesland

This is our fourth visit to Harlingen and we love the compactness of the old city and its active harbour. We are starting to feel comfortable here, as we find our way around the gabled houses, old brick streets, bridges and canals. Now that it is almost summer, flowers and plants in pots and baskets are making their debut.

Harlingen is located on the coast of the Waddenzee, opposite the West Frisian Islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. The city was founded in 1243, and its harbour was important for trade for centuries, with export of mainly Friesian products. Imports were coal, timber and other industrial raw materials for the local shipyards, woodworking factories and fish-processing plants.

Much like other towns in the coastal region, this one was also built on a terp. Terps  are manmade mounds in the tidal flats upon which a few houses would be built above the high-water line. In more established terps, churches were often located on the highest point. The area would be expanded by connecting three or more terps with dikes and then draining the enclosed area. Dykes were extended and strengthened over time, drying more of the surrounding land.

Harlingen, Texas was incorporated in 1910 as an area settled by Friesian farmers and it was named after the harbour city of Harlingen. 

In the photo is a row of sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century houses along the Noorderhaven, the canal in the heart of the old city. The Harlingen Historical Society has funds available for the restoration and maintenance of many of the old buildings. There are hundreds of these, and because of the European economic crisis, many are now listed for sale.

Dutch Food

Dutch geneticists have concluded that the reason the Dutch are the tallest nation in the world is protein. The daily consumption of a high protein diet with dairy products, fish and fresh produce, combined with home cooking, has made them the tallest nation in the world. Along with this comes a daily dose of cycling, not on an exercise machine, but a real peddle to the food markets.

Through my travels in South America I became much more aware of food, the lack of it and the manipulation of it. I also found the region to be a dumping ground of foods that are no longer popular or in favour in North America. Items such as highly-sugared cereals, instant coffee and heavily perfumed products, to name a few. I also became aware of the simplicity of foods such as fresh eggs, fresh tomatoes, fruit and green vegetables. Most meat is uninvitingly displayed in the markets as hacked carcasses, with few recognizable cuts. There is a very poor selection of cheese; protein does not invite there.

In the Netherlands there seems to be a balance and an availability of a broad variety of fresh produce. On the highways, one can not help but notice the the heavy truck traffic moving foods from Spain to Poland and everywhere between. In Spain we found fresh breads from the Dutch Baker in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

Today we had a busy day trying to organized Zonder Zorg with racks, hooks, shelves, storage boxes and bins. At the end of the day we picked up some grocery items, displayed in the photo. We spent €35 on the following items.

Two bottles of Alsace wine

Jar of Spanish olives

Trimmed Brussels sprouts

Chicken fillets

Huge pot of fresh Basil

Raisin buns

Half loaf of specialty bread

Ginger cake

French Brie

Fourme d'Ambert blue cheese

French Goat cheese

Breakfast sausage

Crackers

Dutch cookies

Whole wheat rusks

Back in Vancouver, just the wine and bread would have cost more. The cheese and bread on their own would have been more. I think we will stay here awhile.

Friesland

We have finally arrived back in the Netherlands and we are delighted to be here. Our skûsje, Zonder Zorg's refit is nearly complete and upon arrival, we were able to immediately move aboard. Of course, everything was in chaos as we unpacked our 156 kilos of luggage and tried to sort and stow it in the new surroundings. Gradually we will make her our home.

Last year after we had rounded Cape Horn in Sequitur and were making our way along the seemingly interminable Brazilian coast, we started looking at Dutch barges for sale. Just looking. The looking became more frequent and soon we were scouring the online sites of brokers in France and the Netherlands. By the time we arrived back in Vancouver we had a substantial list of boats that we wanted to see in the Netherlands.. 

Near Schiphol airport, in the Aalsmeer area and secured between the tulip fields and hothouses was Nieuwe Zorg, our skûsje. She was a hand-riveted iron barge built in Friesland in 1908. Her purpose had been to provide freight access between the Zuider Zee and smaller villages in the mashes, lakes and small canals that were reachable only by water. The flat-bottomed skûtsje was used for general hauling of food, cattle, peat, sand and eel, much like a small truck today. The Vaandriks family pooled their resources, savings, and along with a small bank loan, they commissioned the building of this skûsje. They then lived aboard with their children, all participating in the loading, unloading and hauling. For the family it was a "new concern", a "new worry", which is the translation of Nieuwe Zorg. At that time there were many such boats with mortgages, so it was a common name. 

In this stage in our lives we did not want to pursue a New Concern, so we changed her name to Without Concern. After her refit, she emerged with a new name, Zonder Zorg. When I asked about the process of changing a boat's name in the Netherlands, the quick answer was: with a paint brush.

Monday - it must be Brussels.

With our arrival in and quick departure from Brussels, we took no time to tour the area. We have always found Belgium rather bland and the only thing outstanding that comes to mind is being previously stuck in mayor traffic snarls. Maybe those occasions had been on Tuesdays, and we were caught behind the unending line of tour buses. This trip it was Monday; perhaps there is hope for Brussels sprouts.

Belgium had once been the Roman province of Gallia Belgica and the forerunner to the modern Brussels sprouts were likely cultivated in ancient Rome. The sprouts belong to the same species as cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, kale and kohlrabi. As an adult, I rather enjoy Brussels sprouts, but I have strong childhood memories of their bitter taste and their pungent odour when being cooked. Plant breeding research conducted in the Netherlands focused on a reducing the compound responsible for the bitterness. With today's better-tasting, not bitter-tasting hybrid sprout, there has been an increase in production and consumption. The Netherlands is now the largest producer of Brussels sprouts in Europe, followed by Germany.

European history is complex, with its meandering borders and numerous wars often re-arranging them. Belgium is no exception; at some point it became part of the Netherlands, but after the Belgium Revolution of 1830, the independent and separate Kingdom of Belgium was established. Sixty percent of Belgians speak Dutch, mainly in Flanders, the northern part of the country and forty percent speak French in Wallonia, towards the south.

This trip our destination is Harlingen, Friesland and will have to take a rain check on the bus tours, waffles and chocolates for now.

The Jade Canoe

Prominently displayed on the International Departures level of Vancouver International Airport is Bill Reid's Jade Canoe. This striking sculpture is positioned on a highly polished marble floor, giving the illusion that the canoe and its occupants are silently gliding past you. The overloaded canoe, with thirteen mythological Haida figures, appears to be heading in an unknown direction.

The original sculpture, the Black Canoe is on display at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC. Vancouver International Airport commissioned a twin, with a green patina, to evoke the dark emerald green jade found in British Columbia. The Jade Canoe was completed and installed in 1994.

Bill Reid's legacies include the fusion of traditional Northwest Coast indigenous art with modern ideas and forms of expression.

Vancouver Airport now ranks as the number eight in the world and as the top airport the Americas.

Craigslist

Throughout the years I have had great success with my listings on Craigslist. Before we went sailing, we sold both our cars there. Over the years we have sold kayaks, a kiln, some paintings, pottery creations, numerous pieces of furniture, plus several one-of-a-kind obscure items and have even advertised garage sales. Back from sailing and preparing to barge into Europe, we have recently sold our satellite phone, folding bikes, un-needed luggage, a bistro table with eight chairs, and so on.

We have witnessed the slow disappearance of small secondhand furniture shops, antique stores and pawn shops. There are still some left, but many fewer. Replacing them are online places like e-Bay, Craigslist and Kijiji. 

In the past I used buy-and-sell or placed short ads in the classified sections of local newspapers. Every letter counted and had to be paid for. Abbreviations, often obscure, were used to condense it as much as possible. A photograph to accompany the ad was too costly. Newspapers relied on advertisements for for most of their revenue. The many small classified ads for buying and selling, for job hunting and housing have migrated to online sites. The papers are left with little else besides birth and wedding announcements and obituaries.

Now with Craigslist and other such sites we can easily list our items for sale, with full text descriptions and many photos, all at no cost. A quick search will find us what we seek, and we can often choose  from several. We can opt for the nicest, the least expensive, the nearest, the friendliest-sounding seller. There are housing and job listings, both available and wanted. There are even are free items, needing only carting away. An immense variety is available to be scanned at a glance. 

Still, precaution needs to be taken. I normally sell from my garage and move the item there with the garage door open for viewing. Otherwise a coffee shop or a apartment lobby. When I do sell from the home I am never alone. So far, we have met many interesting people, had some laughs, swapped stories about other items they have just bought. We have often assisted in moving the item. One young girl came to buy a Queen Anne chair, sat in it to try it out, stayed for two hours chatting then pick it up and left. We waved good-bye, close the door, count our money and smiled.

In the picture are some not-for-sale items, remnants from Michael's grandfather's secondhand furniture shop of the 1950s and early 60s, where the owner had first picks.