September 27: Bussum

Bussum is the town where I'm living. On Thursday, while the kids were at school, I decided to finally do a proper exploration. (Yes, eventually I'll get pictures of the actual family on here--I'm just still too fascinated with Dutch buildings to start worrying about the people.)

First, some general words on transportation.

Near my house is an intersection with five different kinds of red lights. There is a solid red for cars going straight, a red arrow for each direction, a red bicycle and a little red man. So there is really NO action that can be taken without the specific permission of the traffic signals. I find this a telling indication of the regard the Dutch have for the judgement capacity of those in transit.



No matter where you are on a Dutch road, you don't do anything without checking in all four directions first. There are no stop signs here. The busy intersections have traffic lights or roundabouts, but the majority are just four (or more) roads intersecting with no control. You basically just go slow enough to ensure you can stop in time if there's another car or bike coming. If your road has a sign with a little yellow diamond, it means you're on a "priority" road, and therefore don't need to worry about slowing down when approaching intersections.

There is no such thing as a four lane road in the towns, no matter how many people live there. If you're lucky, you might get a two lane road. Most are one, but still have two way traffic and parking.

You park your car pretty much anywhere the hell you can. Curbs are a minor nuisance at best. In the picture above, the parking is actually remarkably organized. Most streets have cars parked up on the sidewalks, facing whatever direction the car was travelling at the time.

Because streets and sidewalks are both predominately made from cobblestone or brick, it is often very difficult to discern what is a street and what is not. The only real way to stop traffic from going into an area is with a barricade.

There are a lot of barricades in Holland.

One area where Holland really kicks the bejezus out of Canada in is biking infrastructure. In the picture above there is a red area between the street and the barrier; this is a bike lane. All the major roads have them. And as you saw above, bikes have their own traffic lights at major intersections.

In the pictures below, take note of the large numbers of bikes and bikers. They are everywhere here. Earlier in the week I was asked to go down to a bike shop; every time I thought I found one it turned out to just be a parking lot for a grocery store. In Canada, if you ever saw that many bikes in one place it would certainly be a place that sells them!

The following pictures are taken while walking from my house to the downtown area of Bussum. You may spot various farm animals. The Dutch inexplicably feel the need to place them in their urban areas.

Yes, those are cows in the distance.

This is Bussum's downtown area. I'm sorry to say this, but the character and personality of this district (a relatively small Dutch town) put any neighbourhood I've found in Vancouver to shame.

While in Holland, try the local cuisine!

During my travels, I finally found what, at the time, was a godsend: a coffee lounge! Finding a Starbucks/Second Cup/Tim Hortons kind of place was proving exceptionally hard in Holland. Cafes are lunch spots and if you ask for a coffee shop here, you are referred to a place with marijuana leaves painted on the windows.

This was a place called Strawberry Lounge, advertised as "the first coffee lounge" in the area.

And--could it be? Their signage was all in English!

Alas, it was not quite as easy as it seemed. I went in and ordered a cup of coffee for 1.80 Euros, which is about $2.50 in Canada. She warned me that the Dutch use small sizes of coffee, and showed me a cup which looked barely large enough to hold an espresso shot. Would I like a double size? Yes I would! So she gave me a cup that was still smaller than the smallest size of coffee you could find in Canada, and charged me 3.60 Euros. Highway robbery!

All I want is a cup of black coffee!

So I am going to go down to Strawberry Lounge this week with my UBC coffee mug (which could fit about 8 of the "Dutch" size coffees), and tell them that if they can find a way to fill it affordably, I'll be there every day.

I'll close off this post with a few more shot of the downtown Bussum area.

September 24: Naarden

This is the fourth post.
Post 1: Flying To Amsterdam
Post 2: The First Morning
Post 3: Going To The Lake

This was the beginning of my second full day in Holland, a Monday. The mother, Lieselot, has Mondays off from work, so I don't have to stick around if I don't want to.

That morning, I decided to go off exploring. My destination was the area of Naarden. Naarden used to be a neighbouring town to Bussum, but they have recently grown into each other, so they are effectively one and the same now.


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The heart of Naarden is an area that was built as a fort about 400 years ago. It's seperated off by a large moat and shaped as a star.

There are many underground areas that served as barracks and are now the sites of culture centers and museums. I never went into any of these areas, but I spent about an hour just wandering through the streets.

Many people seem to live there now, but the buildings are very old and well-preserved.

In the middle of the town is a huge old church. The size of the church in relation to the other buildings is remarkable; it's an absolutely dominant building. I've found this to be true in many towns in the area.