Haarlem, Netherlands - Day 3
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Finally! Jet lag is loosening its grip on us. Andi, Tory, Aden, and I woke up feeling rested and ready to explore Haarlem, Netherlands today with Lindsay & her family. The layout of Lindsay’s house has the guest bedroom on the third floor, away from the main living room & kitchen on the first level. This worked well so that we could sleep in this morning while Kyle, Lindsay, Arnie, and Nora started their day much earlier.
Traditional Dutch rowhouses, like the one Kyle and Lindsay live in, are a series of houses built together in one continuous block. The houses share outer walls, but they each have their own front door. All the houses are very tall and narrow because in a geographically small country with a large population, building upwards just makes sense! Kyle and Lindsay’s house is set up so that the main living spaces are on the first level, three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second level, and a guest room and Kyle’s office on the third level. The floors are connected by one spiral staircase with very steep and narrow steps. Lindsay said she cried the first time she saw how dangerous these steps are, but just like many other aspects of moving to a new country, their family has adjusted to this new normal.
This morning, Kyle and Lindsay planned to take our family to one of their favorite breakfasts spots in Haarlem called Theehuis de Haarlemmerhout. They wanted us to try pannenkoeken, a popular Dutch pancake similar to a flat crepe. We left their house at 10:00am and biked about 15 minutes through the streets of Haarlem to the park. Biking along the cobblestone streets on a crisp, sunny Sunday morning brought a smile to my face. I saw lots of parents biking around town with their kids in bakfiets (big baskets attached to the front of bikes to transport small children), and it occurred to me that we’re experiencing a “day in the life” of a Dutch family. How cool is that?! Having Kyle and Lindsay as tour guides of the city made our experience here feel very genuine. Kyle led the way in our group with Arnie buckled into a bike seat behind him, Aden followed close behind on the Camo-colored bike Kyle and Lindsay bought for him to ride, then Andi, myself, and finally Lindsay as our caboose riding their bakfiets bicycle with Nora and Tory inside.
Inside the Theehuis restaurant, our group of eight was seated at a large table in the back that Lindsay reserved for us ahead of time. The menu here had a mouth-watering set of options including soup, sandwiches, salads, eggs, pannenkoeken, and even burgers.
Most people in The Netherlands speak English so ordering food at a restaurant here isn’t difficult. Somehow though, I still messed up our breakfast order and forgot to ask for Aden’s burger without cheese. I also mis-spoke and ordered Tory and Aden “warm milk” instead of “warm chocolate milk” to drink. The kids weren’t very happy about that. Oh well; I drank the warm milk (which was actually very good) and Lindsay was able to catch the server to ask for Aden’s burger without cheese. Tory and I kept Arnie busy with games of tic-tac-toe until our food was ready.
Arnie was the only one of us who ordered pannenkoeken, so he sweetly offered bites to everyone at our table to try. Lindsay and I both ordered the quiche, Nora and Tory ordered poffertjes (mini Dutch pancakes), Andi had an open-faced meatball sandwich, and Kyle had eggs over toast. In the end, Aden was very satisfied with his “no cheese” burger and fries. All of our meals were very good.
After brunch, our group biked to another part of the wooded park to a petting zoo. Lindsay said there’s children’s farms like this one all over Haarlem, but this one is their favorite. Arnie was excited to show us his favorite animals there — the goats, turtles, bunnies, and deer.
After petting the animals, we hopped back on the bikes and followed Kyle along a path through the oldest forest in all of The Netherlands. Eventually, we exited the park and navigated our way back to Kyle and Lindsay’s house.
At home, Lindsay put Nora down for a nap and charged Arnie with 30 minutes of “big kid quiet time” in his room. The rest of us lounged around on the couch and talked. Andi has been working on a short video highlighting all the photos from our weekend in Haarlem, so we watched that together.
Arnie promptly joined the rest of us downstairs in the living room at 1:30pm. The light on his clock turned green which gave him the OK to end his rest time. Kyle offered to take a group of us into Amsterdam on the train as an afternoon activity, so our family + Kyle and Arnie got ready to go. Lindsay offered to stay back at home with Nora while she napped.
The Haarlem train station is a quick 10-minute bike ride from Kyle and Lindsay’s house. The six of us biked over there, and then locked up our bicycles outside the train station. Kyle pointed out a large “bike parking area” where daily Amsterdam commuters store their bikes everyday. He gave us rider cards to use for admittance into the station which we swiped at the entrance. Arnie cried a few tears when Aden entered the station before he did — Arnie wanted to be first to go inside. Aden felt bad about making him cry.
Kyle explained to us how the train station works, and pointed out the two types of trains that carry passengers into Amsterdam throughout the day. We rode the “Sprinter train” which makes 4 stops along the 20-minute ride into the city. Riding the train is part of Kyle’s daily commute into Amsterdam for work, so it was fun to see a glimpse of his daily life.
We boarded the train at 2:17pm and found plenty of available seats to sit down. Aden and I sat together in one row, Andi and Tory sat together in another row, and Arnie and Kyle picked the jumpseats next to the automatic door. They ended up moving closer to us in the regular seats once more people entered the train.
Kyle gave the kids two choices for activities in Amsterdam — take a ride on the free ferry boat that crosses the River IJ outside the train station, or ride the tram. Arnie and Aden both picked the ferry boat, so that’s what we did next.
The six of us walked down the sidewalk outside the train station, and over to the boarding area for the ferry. We watched as the free ferry navigated across the river toward us and then walked on board. This must be a favorite activity for Kyle and Arnie to do because they knew right there to go & where to stand for the best view. We crossed the river to Amsterdam Noord, and then rode the ferry back again to the train station.
Kyle wanted to take us to a fancy Starbucks inside the train station, but Andi and I were craving those delicious friets (French fries) we ate at the Grote Markt in Haarlem yesterday. We asked Kyle if there were any of those stands around this area. He wasn’t sure, but suggested we go to Febo instead. Febo is a Dutch fast-food restaurant that is famous for its automatic vending machine-style food service. As we walked there, Andi and I were instantly transported back to memories of the first time we visited Amsterdam in 2016. We’re fairly sure we stayed in this same area.
Inside Febo, Kyle purchased a croquette for he and Arnie to share while Andi ordered fries, a chicken sandwich, and waters for our family. We weren’t hungry for a whole meal, just interested in a little snack. We found a corner of a standing table and ate our fried food. Arnie loved the croquette so much that he asked Kyle if they could please buy another one. “Anytime you want Febo, Arnie, you just ask Dad and I will take you,” Kyle told him. He was really glad Arnie was also enjoying one of his favorite food places in Amsterdam.
One thing that’s unique about the water bottles in The Netherlands are the attached plastic caps. I thought the caps were really pesky to open until Kyle pointed out that part of the cap is purposefully designed to stay attached to the bottle.
After Febo, we walked back to the Amsterdam train station. Kyle wanted to show us the fancy Starbucks inside, so we stopped there for a coffee. With beverages in hand, he led us to a secret seating spot on the side of the store that overlooks the trains passing by.
Soon, we hopped back on the train to Haarlem. This time, Aden made a point to let Arnie swipe his admittance card first, but Kyle beat him through the line. More tears from Arnie — poor kiddo! The six of us boarded the train and rode back to Haarlem. I thought for sure Arnie was going to fall asleep with his head rested on the window, but he fought it. He was obviously tired after a very busy weekend, but did so well hanging in there with us every step of the way. Finally, for the last card swipe as we exited the Haarlem train station, Arnie swiped his card first. Cheers! He did it! Arnie got to be first through the doors.
On the way back to Kyle and Lindsay’s house, Aden mentioned that he still had not been to the “small park” close to their house. “Oh, well, we’ve got to take you to the small park!” Kyle exclaimed. “We can go when we get back home if there’s still time,” he told him. After a full day of activity, going to the playground was the last thing Andi and I wanted to do. I tried to give Kyle a solid excuse for Aden about how it was getting dark outside, but Kyle and Lindsay both agreed to take all the kids to the playground for the last hour of daylight. That was really nice of them. Andi and I opted to stay back at the house and finish the video Andi had been working on earlier in the day.
Kyle, Lindsay, and the kids returned home around 6:00pm and asked what we wanted for dinner. Earlier we’d talked about getting take-out from the Turkish Pizza food truck a couple blocks away, but honestly the thought of going out again in the dark did not sound appealing to me. The adults agreed that we could easily find something to satisfy all of us with food we had in the refrigerator. Lindsay heated up chicken meatballs for the kids, boiled some ravioli, and sliced up some bell peppers and cucumbers. The adults each made their own dinner with selections of meat, cheese, crackers, leftover mustard soup, and bread.
While we ate, Lindsay reviewed the five Dutch words she taught us this weekend. What a fun time we had in Haarlem with Kyle, Lindsay, Arnie, and Nora! We experienced so much, learned a ton about their new city, and saw a glimpse of their daily life here. Best of all, the kids’ relationships with each other really blossomed. Aden said his favorite part of the whole weekend was reading books to his cousin Nora. Gah! Melt my heart.
Tomorrow, we have to say good-bye to Lindsay and her family as we begin the next leg of our winter travels. We had such a fun time in Haarlem, Netherlands and can’t wait to visit again someday. In the meantime, we have seeing Lindsay and Arnie in Portugal at the end of February to look forward to, & a wild adventure in Morocco ahead this week. We’re ending our stay in The Netherlands feeling incredibly blessed.
