October 1: Muiderberg, Muiden & Weesp

My posting pace has slowed a bit, even on the weekend. The primary reason for this is the start of the NHL season. I've discovered a way to download the Vancouver Canucks games shortly after they play on TV in Canada, and they play fullscreen on my computer at perfect quality. If I buy a cable, which I plan on doing shortly, I can hook it up to a TV.

I think that life before the Internet would not be worth living.

Anyway, last Monday I went on another bike trip. I was trying to decide where to go. Perhaps north, to Huizen? Hans, the father, told me dismissively "No. There's nothing much to see in Huizen." And then, with the same tone: "You should go to Muiden and see the castle."

The castle?!

So with that, I set off. I still can't get over this; in Holland you actually have to plan your bike route to get to another town because there are so many crisscossing paths through the countryside.

I choose a path that would take me to the northern water's edge and through the small town of Muiderberg.


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Along the way I passed a harbour. Yes, Holland does have a few boats.





I also passed a golf course with a driving range where you shoot into the water. Apparently you use floating balls, although I can't imagine that floating balls would hit properly...





Holland is slowly building up a fleet of power-producing windmills. They stick them far out into the water, lest anyone complain about the view.

I had noticed conspicious deposits of feces along the path...

Muiderberg was a pleasant but sleepy town.

I have no clue who this guy is, but every town in Holland seems to have a statue of somebody. He didn't show up in a Wikipedia search, so I guess he must not be important.

One thing that continuously amazes me about this country is how really incredible buildings can suddenly appear around a corner. You can be only a few feet away but have no clue what you're about to find when you take a few more steps.

I was walking along the beachfront just past Muiderberg and thought I was in the middle of nowhere when I rounded a corner in the path and came face-to-face with this church surrounded by a small graveyard. It's hard to describe what it was like. There was something very creepy about it, but also fascinating.

I eventually left Muiderberg. It's funny, I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture, but instead of saying "Now Leaving Muiderberg" or whatever, they just write the name of the town and put a red line through it. It's the same thing when you're leaving speed zones, construction areas, etc...

As I left Muiderberg, I immediately saw what I was looking for. It's on the horizen here, directly in the middle of the frame.

Off to Muiden!


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Muiden was a really beautiful seaside town and looked to be much older than Muiderberg was. The streets were very narrow and buildings much taller.




The town is bisected by a channel leading into the center of Holland. At the spot where the road crosses the channel there are a set of locks. It was just my luck: I made it there right as a boat was about to go through the lock. Here are a few pictures and a video I captured. (I realize the video is not terribly exciting, but I wanted to experiment with uploading a video onto here!)









I found this to be an example of the sort of thing that is just daily life for Dutch folk, but a pretty exciting discovery for me.

Another example of this was Muiderslot, the castle. It's strange, in a way; the castle is basically just on the edge of town, almost a part of it. If you lived there, you could literally give directions to your house as "Okay, turn right after you go over the channel and then take a left at the castle..."

This is the entranceway to the castle grounds.




You can just see the castle to the left here, but as I walked through this opening I was ambushed by a ticket box building. Inside I saw a blonde lady eyeing me carefully.

Me: Hello. Do you speak English?

Lady: Yes.

Me: Do I need to pay money to see the castle?

Lady: Yes. Eight euro fifty.

Me: Oh. (Thinking: What a ripoff).

Lady: But we're closed now.

Me: Okay. Can I just take a couple pictures from here?

Lady: No.

Me: Really?

Lady: Yes.

Well, that was that. Before I left however, I managed to sneak one in. So stick this in your pipe and smoke it, tourist lady.

I've since done a bit more reseach on the castle. It was built in the 1200s as a post to enforce a toll on traders who were on their way to Utrecht (Utrecht is a city just south of where I live, and I'll be putting up a post on it eventually).

The castle has since changed many hands and been mostly used by rich aristrocrats as a place to host their rich aristocrat friends. It has been rebuilt and refurbished many times, and is now fully restored and used as a museum. It also makes frequent appearances in TV shows on the Middle Ages, apparently.

I decided to keep wandering. You remember how I said that things just tend to jump out of nowhere here? Well, I rounded a corner and saw this in the distance:

It was an old fort that looked out at the water, and there was no ticket box in sight!

The name of this place is West Battery, and it formed part of a defensive ring around Amsterdam built in the late 1800s.

A couple more shots of Muiderslot, seen from West Battery.

I was getting a little tired, but I decided that since I had come this far I should see one more place on my way back to Bussum. I biked over to the city of Weesp.


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Weesp was the first place I saw that really had the feel of a more modern, suburby sort of place (it's pretty close to Amsterdam). I mean, look how wide this road is! How boring!

Once I got to the center of town, however, the historic aspect was evident. I was, like I said, pretty tired by this time, so I didn't really photograph the town very well. I did notice the two large churches.

And, at last, my first real Dutch windmill.

When Hans saw this picture, he told me that this was the essence of Holland; small houses along the water with little boats docked alongside, and a windmill in the center.

After all that, I cycled home, which was a 12 km ride on a bike that is not really meant for long distances. It was exhausting.

This picture cheered me up a bit. Crazy Dutch.