When in Rome (errr, Haarlem)

I arrived in Haarlem this morning without a hitch. Haarlem is a city about 15-20 minute train ride away from Amsterdam (and yes, the Dutch named Harlem in NYC is after this place), and has a very quaint, small town feel. Life (and traffic) moves a bit slower here, and people take their time to enjoy the little things in life.

I decide to finally take the plunge and join the denizens of Dutch by renting a bicycle at the train station. It took a few minutes to get used to the high handle bars (no wonder the Dutch have such good posture!) since I am used to hunching down on my mountain bike. Also, practically all the bikes here are one-speed road bikes, which works great because Holland is flatter than a pancake (really, it's been proven on a science show I saw a while back). Mine had the step-back-on-the-pedal brakes, which conjured up memories of my very first tricyle. No helmets, nobody wears a helmet, but then again with a one-speed and the Dutch's sensibility nobody rides like a speed demon.

With one very minor collision with an oncoming bike (they were going in the wrong direction), and one near miss with another one, but the ride generally went very smoothly. I snaked in and out of narrow neighborhood alleys, glided along the canals, and crossed and uncrossed bridges. When I had had my fill, I decided to head back to the train station. By this time, I was in the Grote Markt, the town square where my hotel and the old Grote Kerk church is. I had toured the church earlier in the day - airy vaulted ceilings with timbering and elaborate designs, creepy floors full of old dead Dutch people, and stunning stained glass windows. Judging from the tombs, the church has been there since at least the 1600s. And yes, I was playing hopscotch on the floors trying to find tiles that were NOT used for burial, but they apparently tried to use every square inch.

Back to the bike ride...so I set out from Grote Markt, which took me about 10 minutes to travel to by foot earlier, so I figured it would be less than 10 minutes by bike, maybe 5 minutes. I arrived 1 hour and 40 minutes later after a grand, self-inflicted detour (I was hopelessly lost), ended up at a train station in the next town (Aerdenhout), and slowly found my way back with the help of three kind strangers. I think I'll stick to walking from now on, I can't get too far or too lost that way.