Haarlem, Netherlands - Day 1
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Adventure is calling and we must go!
Andi, Tory, Aden, and I are excited to travel again this winter, this time with plans to visit The Netherlands, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, and France. (And perhaps a few more European countries if we get the chance!) After a busy holiday season and an emotionally exhausting month of January with the passing of my dad, this trip snuck up on the calendar rather quickly for me. Fortunately, Andi — our family’s designated travel guru — has been planning the logistics for months. How he’s able to keep all the details of flights, lodging, transport, and excursions organized is seriously impressive. Now that the trip is finally here, all four of us are excited to learn about different cultures, try new foods, and make unforgettable memories together.
We spent much of the past week squeezing in appointments, packing, and readying our house to be away. Once again, we opted to travel with a minimal amount of belongings which truly simplifies our travel experience. Less stuff = easier mobility and more flexibility. This trip will include several flights on budget carriers throughout Europe, so Andi wanted the kids’ backpacks to fit underneath their seats on the plane to save us a few dollars on baggage fees. He decreased the size of their backpacks from 45L to 28L this year to meet the standard carry-on requirements for European airlines. I chose to use a 40L carry-on size suitcase with wheels for this trip since lugging around the kids’ school books in a backpack last year proved to be heavy and cumbersome. Andi is also using a carry-on size roller bag and a small day-pack to carry our computers, snacks, etc.
Thursday afternoon, Andi’s parents arrived at our house to drive us to the airport. Of course, I couldn’t find the kids’ rain jackets when I was packing yesterday, so we made a quick stop by REI to buy new ones before getting to the airport around 3:00pm. Tory said she was ready to leave Wisconsin since there’s hardly any snow this year, but Aden was having a harder time saying good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa. I think it made things a little easier on him knowing our first destination was Amsterdam to see Andi’s sister Lindsay and her family. Amsterdam is a direct 7 1/2 hour flight from Minneapolis, so the logistics of getting there couldn’t have been easier. Our Delta flight departed Minneapolis at 6:30pm and we landed in Amsterdam the following morning at 9:00am local time.
Lindsay & her family moved to Haarlem, Netherlands in March of 2023 and all four of us were excited for the chance to see their home and neighborhood in person.
Since we didn’t check our baggage, we beat our entire plane to the customs & immigration line making it through Schiphol Airport in under 30 minutes. Then, the four of us took a 20-minute Uber ride from Amsterdam to Lindsay’s house in nearby Haarlem. Immediately, we were blown away by strong wind gusts outside the airport. I’m not sure how our plane was able to land in such windy conditions but thankfully our travels went smoothly.
At the end of a travel day, it was so nice to be welcomed by Lindsay and Kyle’s smiling faces at their door. They gave us a quick tour of their house and showed us to the rooms where we’ll be staying with them for the next few days. Since it was now Friday morning in The Netherlands, both Arnie and Nora were in school so Andi, Aden, Tory, and I had about an hour to sit and visit with Lindsay and Kyle before it was time to pick up Arnie. Around 11:00am, the six of us decided to walk together to his school about 15 minutes away.
The cobblestone streets of Haarlem are idyllic with row houses and bicycles lining the sidewalks. On the way, we stopped into the local bakery to buy bread and breakfast pastries. The aroma of freshly baked goods was magical! I think we bought one of everything to try. I enjoyed listening to Lindsay pay for our purchases while speaking in Dutch. It was a “pinch-me” moment — we’re in Haarlem! It still boggles my mind that you can board a plane, go to sleep for a few hours, and wake up on a different continent.
Kyle, Lindsay, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I finished our walk to Arnie’s school while nibbling on breakfast pastries. I devoured a plain croissant while Andi and Aden enjoyed a dutch apple tart. Then, we waited in a big, open courtyard for Arnie’s preschool class to exit the school. It reminded me of the time we lived in Minneapolis and Tory attended kindergarten at the local elementary school. Similarly, parents were gathered together outside the school doors waiting for their children to emerge and visited with other parents just as I used to do — same routine in a different part of the world.
Arnie was so surprised to see us all waiting for him when we exited the school building. He smiled big and hopped on his scooter to ride a few laps around the cobblestone courtyard in typical five-year-old fashion. I noticed several parents greeting their kids with kaasstengels (dutch cheese stick pastry) from the bakery. Lindsay gave Arnie the choice of a stroopwafel (which is a thin, round dutch waffle cookie) or a cheese stick. Arnie chose the stroopwafel as his after-school treat.
With Arnie in tow, our group walked back to Kyle and Lindsay’s house. It felt very “dutch” to see parents with their children riding bicycles through the streets. “Hi Arnie!” a few of the kids shouted in our direction as they passed. I loved experiencing a glimpse of Lindsay’s daily life here. Haarlem seems like a great place to raise a family.
Today’s weather in Haarlem was brisk, but comfortable in winter jackets. It must’ve been a big deal that the sun was shining today since Kyle and Lindsay mentioned a few times how nice it was outside. Without a car for transportation, I can see how the weather would play a huge part in day-to-day life in Haarlem. Lindsay either walks or rides their bakfiets bicycle around town which has a front basket perfect for two kids to sit. That’s also how they transport groceries or even furniture home from IKEA! Both Kyle and Lindsay make this lifestyle look easy though. It really seems to suit them living here.
Lindsay planned a typical dutch lunch for us today — cold-cut meats, bread, and various flavored spreads. She also purchased several bags of unique-flavored chips for us to try. Popular Dutch chip flavors include paprika (which taste similar to bbq flavor) and pataje joppie (which taste sweet like honey mustard). We also tried Wokkles which are Arnie’s favorite, and ham kaas flavored chips which translates to “ham & cheese.” To drink, Kyle poured unique soda flavors found in The Netherlands including Exotic Fanta, lemon flavored Coke, and banana-flavored cola.
The sandwich spreads were really tasty — there was an egg salad flavor, beef, salmon, club, cheese, as well as beet hummus. Arnie loved having all the chip flavors to try, a big selection he doesn’t typically get to sample from with his regular, everyday lunches!
After lunch, we decided to hop on bikes and explore the city centrum (or, city center). Kyle and Lindsay thoughtfully procured a used bicycle that was the perfect size for Aden to ride, knowing how much he enjoys biking. It’s even camo-colored — Aden’s favorite! He was over the moon about the opportunity to ride a bicycle through the streets of Haarlem.
Tory, on the other hand, is not a big fan of bike riding, so she happily sat in the bakfiets basket with Arnie. Hopefully it wasn’t too difficult for Lindsay to pedal with the extra weight.
Our caravan of bikes followed Kyle through the streets of Haarlem. It was such a treat following behind him and not having to worry about where we were going — we could simply follow along and enjoy the scenery. Biking is a perfect way to experience Haarlem and that’s how most everyone gets around. We saw people dressed in business attire, others with several children on one single bike, young kids, and even older adults on the streets riding bicycles. The bike lanes in Haarlem are twice the size of normal bike lanes and there’s even street lights and turning lanes for bikes! Kyle said bikes have the right-of-way in The Netherlands so even pedestrians yield to oncoming bike traffic. It was very freeing to ride around and a great way to see the city.
While we were out and about, we stopped by one of Lindsay’s favorite cafes called La Maru. We ordered coffees and more pastries. Aden enjoyed a slice of banana bread and Lindsay got a sticky bun and piece of bread pudding for the table to share. I ordered a mint tea which came as a glass of hot water with a bunch of real spearmint leaves inside. Lindsay said this is a “very Dutch” way of drinking tea. Often, mint tea is served with a small side of honey.
Afterwards, we continued biking around Haarlem’s city center, finally stopping at the “zipline park” in their neighborhood. Tory, Aden, and Arnie played on the zipline and playground equipment while Andi, Kyle, Lindsay, and I stood around and visited. Lindsay pointed out that many dutch neighborhood playgrounds have fences around them to protect the children playing, and this particular playground is managed by a neighborhood organization. There’s a minimal fee to be a member to the playground, or otherwise people are suppose to pay admission on the honor system. The park has set daytime hours and is maintained by the playground association. As we were standing there, a woman came to lock up the zipline and the close the gates for the day. Fortunately, Kyle went to pick up Nora from daycare a few minutes before the park closed so she had the opportunity to play there for a little while before it was time to leave.
The eight of us biked back to Kyle and Lindsay’s house. I had a chill after being outside all afternoon so I took a warm shower while Lindsay prepared dinner. She made a moesterdsoep (mustard soup) which sounds odd, but was so delicious. Honestly, it didn’t taste anything like mustard at all but of leeks, onion, garlic, and sautéed ham. Lindsay’s spin was adding noodles to this traditional dutch soup which gave the creamy soup some texture. Served with freshly baked bread and butter, this meal really hit the spot after an afternoon of biking around outdoors.
Lindsay had warned us earlier in the day to pick up our feet when walking on their hardwood floors. She cautioned about getting splinters from the wood. We all had to laugh when no sooner than I sat down to eat my soup, Andi asked me to remove a splinter from the bottom of his foot. “Right now?!” I exclaimed, as he shoved his foot in my face. “Yes,” he said, “it really hurts!” So, Lindsay and I abandoned our soup bowls and went to work removing the splinter from Andi’s foot. It was the thinnest shard of wood which took forever to dig out of his skin.
Lindsay and I cleaned up dinner while Tory, Aden, Arnie, and Nora played toys in the living room. All the kids get along so well together which is nice. After Nora went to sleep for the night, Aden and Arnie sat on the couch and watched part of the Mario movie. Around 6:30pm, our family hit a wall and the 7-hour time change caught up to us. Aden turned in for the night around 8:00pm and Andi and I went to bed soon after around 9:00pm. Of course, Tory the night owl caught a second wind about that time but decided to go lay in bed anyway to relax until she felt ready to sleep.
Tomorrow, we’ll spent another full day in Haarlem with Lindsay’s family. We’re excited to soak in more dutch culture at the weekend open-air market happpening in Grote Markt Square.
