June 4th, 2007: Texel livestock

Here are some more images of the various animals on Texel. I found these strange hairy cows the other day... Someone told me that they're Scottish highland cows and that they are there to eat the vegetation to preserve the dunes (prevent them from being overgrown by the surrounding forest).



Some miniture horses...

And of course, more sheep!


I biked by this field of sheep a few days ago and as I approached ALL of the sheep turned towards me and started baahhhh-ing. It was creepy!
Some llamas that are in a field near my apartment.

May 29th: Spitskool!

Ok, I saw these weird looking vegetables in the store and I bought one just so I could take a picture of it. I think it is a cabbage (definitely not my favorite vegetable) and now I need to think of something to cook with it - or maybe I can feed it to the sheep...
I guess "spitskool" must be the Dutch word for "cabbage"? These things really are bizarre looking!

cool American!

I thought that this was amusing...

May 28th: weird Texel trees...

Texel is full of these strange trees, which many people have in their gardens in front of their houses. From a distance it resembles a pine tree... ...but up close the leaves are more like a palm tree or a yucca plant.

I saw one tree that had a dried up white flower at the end of the branch.

Does anyone know what type of plant this is???

May 27th: De Cocksdorp

A few weekends ago I biked to the northern end of Texel, to the tiny village of De Cocksdorp. There is not much to this town - a grocery store, a few places to eat and some tourist shops. One of the main attractions in this town in the lighthouse. From De Cocksdorp you can also take a ferry to Vlieland, the next island in the chain of the West Frisian islands. I could actually see Vlieland across the water but could not get a decent picture of it.
Another view of the lighthouse. It was very windy the day I was there and sheets of sand were moving across the beach.
Unlike Penobscot Bay, there are large waves here...
Some shells on the beach - you can tell which way the wind was blowing that day.

I think this is a fishing boat...

This little pond had a ton of birds in and around it.
I thought this picture was funny since I've never seen dune grass planted in rows before... Looks like they are attempting to re-establish vegetation in this area.
A view of the lighthouse from the beach. I had a really horrible bike ride home at the end of this day - the wind was blowing in the wrong direction to get back to my apartment and it was a very slow ride on the way home.

May 19th, 2007: Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam yesterday (Thurs. was a holiday here and yesterday I also had the day off of work). These pictures are completely out of order since I've been having this problem with the blogger website... from my end, everything is in Dutch and no matter what I do, I cannot get it to go back to English. So, for now, the pictures will have to be out of order...

Anyway, I didn't do much in Amsterdam besides walking around and checking out some stores and markets, including the flower markert. Once I get paid, then I plan to make another trip to check out some of the musems.

This picture is of the back side of the flower marker, which is actually floating in the canal.

I was pretty amazed by this parking garage right outside of Central Station- it is only for bike parking and it was completely packed. There was even a parking lot attendent directing people where to park...

May 13, 2007: The Dutch Bicycle

The Dutch bicycle is well, different... The handlebars are situated differently from an American-style mountain bike (which is what I am used to) and so they feel really odd to ride. This is the bike (with 3 gears) that I rented for a week while I was searching for a decent bike to buy. It is very flat here and although it seems like 3 gears should be more than enough, the wind is often really strong and at times I could barely get this bike to move.

All bikes here seem to come with a rack on the back, which is useful for hauling groceries. It also serves as a second seat and often you will see people riding around with another person on the back.

All the bikes here have a built in lock, which is a nice feature. Just insert the key (in this pict you can see the key and key chain below the seat) and push down on a lever (on the other side) and it puts a bar through the back wheel making is so that the bike cannot be moved.

You can also see the end of the key in this picture. Another nice feature is that all the bikes here have built in head lights and tail lights. The lights work with resistance against the front wheel, so the faster you're going the brighter the light is. I'm guessing that in really strong winds when you can barely move forward on your bike, the lights will be sort of useless though...

The seat is most definitely the worst aspect of the Dutch bike. You would think that in a country where many people spend a lot of time biking, they would have comfortable seats - but this does not seem to be the case! These seats are so uncomfortable that they make the seats on the spin bikes at the gym seem comfortable... I'll be searching for a different bike seat as soon as I get my first paycheck.

This is one of the bike parking areas at the lab. You have to arrive early to find a spot... There are also a rather large number of non-Dutch bikes here, which are mostly owned by foreigners.

Bikes parked along a canal in Utrecht (more pictures of Utrect will be posted sometime in the near future).

Bikes at the beach.

This is the used bike I bought. It is a Gazelle (I read somewhere that this brand is the "Mercedes Benz of bikes") with an Aluminum frame and 21 gears. I have no idea if having a light frame is actually an advantage here - it almost seems like a heavier frame might be better for biking in the wind. My bike also has handlebars that are more similar to a mountain bike, which is one of the reasons I liked this bike. I bought some bags for the back to haul around groceries in. There was a bad storm here the other night and somehow one of my bike bags ended up being filled with water (even though it was strapped shut). Another picture of my bike in the forest on Texel.

More bikes at the beach.