Wild Hares in Holland

We got lucky with the weather today, after a series of pounding rain storms in the morning, seen out the window of our tiny hotel room with the ladder-like staircases that appear to be characteristic of The Netherlands. It was striking to climb such a thing when entering the Secret Annex at the Anne Frank House, but they’re honestly everywhere. We are riding the heaviest, slowest bikes ever designed (they seem more fit for a city bike share program, used by people traveling no more than six miles max) and with the prevailing winds of North Holland (somehow always in our faces), it was a challenge. That said, the agricultural countryside here is beautiful, full of cows, sheep, ponies, swans and  … wild hares. Yes, at first we mistook them for medium-sized, lightning fast dogs chasing each other like predator and prey through the vibrant green farm country. They resembled cheetahs as they launched over the canals in flying leaps, never breaking stride.

Although the forecast called for intermittent thundershowers all day and the woman at our hotel warned us to keep an eye on the sky and be prepared to take shelter, we only encountered a couple of brief storms, including a couple of five-minute bouts of hail pelt. Then, of course was five hours of 50 mph headwind. But at least the place is flat. We pedaled through Laren, a small, posh, ancient town where everything is made from 1,000-year-old red brick. Our lunch timing was impeccable as we entered a place called Eemland just as the torrential hailstorm started, had beer (saison), tomato soup and shared a cheese sandwich. The afternoon tour took us through numerous pastures, along the water to thef north, passed Muiderslot Castle, along the Naaren Fortress walls lining the canals and into Weesp, a beautiful canal-strewn village marked by an unfinished bastion, windmills and sailboats that look like they belong to upscale pirates. As was our tradition every day of our bike trips in Italy, we hit the wine shop the second we arrived into town and complemented it by a visit to the cheese shop next door (Bordeaux, dutch brie, weird but delicious spicy rice crackers and chocolate-covered peanuts). Yeah, it’s easy to pig out in Europe after a five-hour bike ride. Not that it stopped us from ordering a waffle with hot cherries and ice cream (top five desserts of all time) later in the evening …