Elfstadenroute

The Elfstadenroute (elf=11, staden=town, route=route) signs are what I both hate and can't live without at the same time. These are the tiny signs posted all over Friesland, telling me when to turn when I'm biking. Sometimes they are high up on a pole on the other side of the street and sometimes they are nearly hidden by tall grass on the side of the road. Occasionally, they are not there at all and you just have to figure out that you are supposed to turn. It amazes me that we haven't gotten lost yet. Luckily, we have approximately 10 different maps of various detail helping us figure out where to go. Once we get to each town, the guidance basically stops and we have to find the VVV(prounced vayvayvay) tourist office to get a stamp on our record page. It definitely adds a fun scavenger hunt aspect to the whole trip.

The B&Bs we have been staying are small and quaint. The first night we were the only people there; the second night there were 6 others; and tonight there are 4 others. The towns have been too small for restaurants, so the B&B owners cook delicious dinners for us using almost all local ingredients. Our host tonight is the first person I've met (in Norway and The Netherlands) who doesn't speak English, which is ok because Jerry can communicate the basics in Dutch. I wish I could talk to him though because he seems really cool. Big, bushy white beard, Einstein hair, and a giant, goofy smile. I was pretty jealous that the other table of people had a very lively conversation with him at dinner.

The past few days of riding have been much better than the first day. We've had better weather, our muscles are finally beginning to adjust, and we've gotten very little head wind. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. We went through a few particularly cute villages, but mostly we were just riding along fields of crops and animals. There is nothing quite like the smell of manure wafting by to motivate you to bike faster. We made good enough time that we were able to take a bus from our hotel to the first town we were supposed to stop in the next day. We wandered around there for a while and then got to breeze through it this morning, getting a good start on the day.

Today was the 2nd longest day, distance wise. We had tail winds for a good part of it though, so it was pretty easy. In one town, we stopped for a few minutes to find a pharmacy (I am now the owner of a pretty awesome knee brace) and ended up passing a planetarium from around the 1700s. By planetarium I mean this guy who was a genius and turned the ceiling of his living room into a moving replica of the solar system, and turned the room on the floor above it into a mechanical room full of cogs to keep the model moving at the right speed. This thing has lasted for centuries, always keeping the exact right time, monitored by one swinging pendulum. It has all of the planets, the date, the moon phase, astrological signs, time, etc. It was definitely worth the half hour break for the tour.

Today, I also fell for the first time, though it was at an extremely slow speed-- we were trying to read the route sign and I ran into a pole. To be fair, I could have caught myself if my feet reached the ground, but here's the thing: Dutch women are GIANTS. As in, women's average height is like 5'10". Ok, according to wikipedia it is 5'6", compared to the US's 5'4", (fun fact: it is 5'7.5" in the Dinaric Alps and 4'8" in Bolivia) but I swear I haven't seen a single person here shorter than me. Regardless, even when I point my feet they are a good inch or 2 from the ground.

Last observation for the night- most people here have their stables attached to their houses. Mostly, they are pretty nice, new looking houses too. So you'll see something that could easily be in Ballentyne (Charlotte people reference only, sorry others)but it has a HUGE room attached to it. I guess it makes sense for conserving heat in the winter and having easy access to the animals, but I can't imagine that the smell can be kept completely out of the house...

Alright. Time to sleep. 2 more days and 4 more towns to go!!!