June 22 - Bike Ride through my roots - Wageningen and Ede

Today I rode all over my dad's old stomping grounds: his hometown and the town where he attended university for his undergraduate. I also touched on the forest of a national park where he worked as a "bird protection guard."

I began the day by renting a bike from the train station. The young guy who was working there spoke excellent English and gave me some advice about how to start my ride, so I did as he said and rode along Utrechtseweg - "Utrecht Way" -- uphill (yes, you read that right -- not so flat here) out of Arnhem. 

It was a pretty route, with so many interesting things that I would have been stopping every 5 minutes if I wanted to take photos of them all. 

I really loved these houses with their thatched roofs, and as you can see, everything is so very green.

I took a few wrong turns. One time I rode down a very steep hill (the sign said 10% grade) and I was really hoping I wouldn't have to ride back up! (I didn't.) 

These signs look like they would be helpful, but alas, they are often more confusing than anything, at least for a newbie like me! Really -- how can Arnhem and Wageningen both lie in the same direction?? I came from one and was heading to the other!

I did ride unnecessarily across a long, steep, windy bridge, but finally I figured out where I had to go and after a good uphill climb of about 2-3 km, I ended up in the town of Wageningen. (Say that 10 times with the guttural "g" sound!)

This is where my dad went to university. It is called the "City of Life Sciences." I first went to the city centre, where there was a market in progress. I wasn't in a shopping mood, so I just took a quick look around. 

This windmill, from 1879, caught my eye. It was sandwiched in among regular houses and was actually turning. I found out later it is an organic flour mill.


 

On my way up to the university, I rode past this house with a monkey puzzle tree in the front yard. I haven't seen one of those in a long time. 

The bike lanes in Dutch towns are every bit as plentiful and beautiful as rumour would have you believe -- but even here, the occasional driver just doesn't seem to get it!

Almost every street has bike lanes, although some of the less-busy streets are shared-use. Drivers are generally very considerate.

And here is the university -- a very modern-looking campus. I didn't go much past the entrance, because I figured I'd probably get lost, but it was satisfying to think I was looking at the place where my dad studied so many years ago.

And then it was time to bid "tot ziens" to Wageningen and head north about 10 km to Ede, my dad's hometown.  I had a certain route in mind and thought I knew my way, but of course I had to take the road less traveled -- in other words, I got lost. But it was in a neighbourhood with streets named after famous Low Countries painters -- Vermeer, Rubens, Hals, Rembrandt, Mondrian... so that made the extra kilometers less painful! 

Seriously, I didn't mind at all getting lost and riding extra, because I was there to explore anyway.

This area was a "real" neighbourhood, and as I tried to figure out where to go from there, I had lots of opportunity for people-watching. I was surprised to see a lot of Muslim women, many riding bikes. That made me happy, because I know that in many Muslim countries, women's cycling is frowned on.

I also saw some good examples of "dinking"  giving someone a ride on the back of a bike. We used to do this as kids all the time, but now I suspect it is verboten. Kind of like not using a car seat for your toddler. (Excuse the blurry photos, but I felt kind of sneaky taking these pics of school children.) 

I saw lots of dinking while in the Netherlands, but in the relatively short time I spent riding in circles in this neighbourhood, I saw it more than anywhere else. 

Finally I managed to find the city centre, although I never did find the tourist information office that I was looking for. I parked my bike at a bike parking lot next to this somewhat feeble fountain and wandered around the pedestrianized shopping area, getting a feel for the place.

Then I rode a couple of kilometers north from the city centre to see the house where my dad's family lived. It's in a beautiful neighbourhood.

A few years ago my Aunt Magda, my dad's youngest sister, wrote her memoirs of the war years, and she tells about how this house was taken over for a short time by the German army. She mentions a young Austrian soldier who played the piano every evening and a long table in the living room, covered with maps and charts. She also tells about burying their brass, copper and silver in the back yard so that the Germans couldn't take it.

And then it was "tot ziens, Ede" and back to Arnhem, along a beautiful bike path with a highway on my left and the woods of the Hoge Veluwe National Park on my right for most of the way. It was a bit of a climb as far as the outskirts of Arnhem, but then it was downhill all the way back to the train station, where I left the bike.