haarlem

wednesday is update day, apparently.

on this sunday, i braved the gale force winds of coastal holland to visit haarlem. it was the one day in the past week where the sun was out more or less continuously. it was also the first day i had used my voordeeluren card, securing me a 40% korting on my train ticket and the first time i had taken my bike on the train.


haarlem is west of amsterdam, about 5 km inland. while other regional cities like utrecht are quite developed, haarlem remains a compact, small scale village still well-defined by its downtown. it is also known for being an early art capital and housing the oldest museum in the netherlands.



the cathedral marks the center of the city. it was sunday afternoon so lots of people were out and shopping, like in every other city center.


some streets south of the main center had some active gardens, with vines and trees stretching over the narrow streets. this was only possible because the houses were only two stories tall. i passed lots of shops selling flowers and even a band in the street, playing a type of african marching band jazz. kind of like an amateur either/orchestra. the lead tenor player even looked like a shrunken version of russ gershon.


in the land of non-serifed fonts, i was excited to see an appropriate use of rosewood in the title to a steak house.


check out this kid with the fresh spider web etching in his hair. what a badass.



then i visited the teylers museum, one of the oldest in holland. it featured some archaic scientific tools for experients like measuring the force on a rotating object and experiments in sound. lots of fascinating mechanical creations all in glass cases. it reminded me of the museum from "la jetee," mostly because of how the light was coming in the window.



here i came face to face with the early dutch masters. i have no idea how they rendered such realistic settings in their paintings. i was really impressed with petrus johannes schotel and his ocean scenes. the sea has never seemed so vicious and real. there was also a good exhibit on anton mauve, a member of the hague school, who taught vincent van gogh for a while. he worked in the last half of the 18th century so his work is more impressionistic but the consideration of light and shadow was still unbelievable.

from there, i rode out towards the ocean. there is a national park just outside of haarlem called kennemerduinen nature reserve. it has preserved some nice coastal fir forests and impressive dunes. i had my bike so i cycled throughout the park on the fietspad.



after riding through some of the gorgeous dune landscapes (dotted with gatherings of firs on hills) i reached the beach. the wind was killer and without the sun it would've been too cold. people were kite-surfing even with the rough seas. when i arrived, paramedics were loading a person on a stretcher into a car with a neck brace. the sea broke him.



after a small meal and short nap on the beach, i ventured up into the forest for a while. it was quite peaceful and provided some good views up and down the coast.




the netherlands are small enough such that everything is close to something else. even in this park you could see the towers and smoke of factories in the north, near the mouth of the main canal that leads to amsterdam.


first self-portrait of myself in holland.


when the sun got low, i rode my bike back towards the entrance and made some friends. these guys were just chilling, slowly walking up the path munching on acorns. i don't know where they came from but they were majestic. i rode slowly between them and then dismounted to study them for a while. they didn't seem to mind.


i liked the color of this guy. i kept riding and soon came upon a lone beast who wasn't interested in eating. he was intent on walking quickly up the path, leaving his friends who were happily grazing. where was he going?

once out of the park, i swept through downtown again. there were no people around this time. i hesitated on spending 9.50 euro on some aloo matar but ended up having my first mexican food experience in holland, eating some ballpark nachos at taco mundo. they need to work on the sauce to chip ratio, as there was too much cheese. when it was dark i found the train station and waited for my train. i was more tired than i had thought because i ended up falling asleep on the train. i didn't miss my stop because everybody subconsciously knows how to wake up before their stop, and i rode back to my room to make some dinner. nachos aren't a well-balanced meal.