Emmerich am rhein, Germany

My non-stop flight from Edmonton to Amsterdam arrived early, always a good start to a holiday! I was lucky that I had an aisle seat near the front of the plane, so I was able to get off quickly. There was the usually line-up for passport control, which always makes me wish I hadn't bypassed the opportunity to claim Dutch (EU) citizenship before I turned 20. Oh well... 

From Schiphol, I took the train to Emmerich, changing trains at Arnhem. The total trip cost 24.90 euros and took about 45-50 minutes. 

Emmerich is a pretty small town. When I started walking from the station to the tourist centre, where I intended to arrange a rental bike, I felt like everyone knew I was a visitor. As I walked along, I saw people running into people they knew, and I felt like the only outside in a small town. 

It was also very hot -- about 32 C -- so I was glad I only had to walk about 1.5 km!

The older ladies at the tourist centre were very nice and thrilled to rent a bike to someone from Canada. I told them I would drop off my bags at the hotel and then return for the bike.

My hotel room was ready, so I went upstairs and changed before going back to the tourist centre.

The bike was a decent-looking piece, but turned out to be a bit of a beast. The pedals seemed to grind, and the handbrake was very stiff. But as I started riding, I thought it would be OK, so I set off for Kasteel Huis Bergh in the nearby Dutch city of 's Heerenberg. It was a lovely ride, although at the end, when I was in the town, Google Maps failed me, and I had to ride around a bit trying to find the exact location of the castle.

Once there, however, it was well worth the ride. You can walk all over inside the castle, and I also went on a tower tour. The tower is pretty short, but it was still interesting and offered a nice view of the castle grounds and the countryside.

Fantastic wood-plank flooring. I wish we could have had someone do a floor like this in our house!

While I was at the castle, I asked a couple of the workers about a nearby windmill. They recommended I go to Rosmolen and said I could see inside. So I followed their directions and Google Maps to a village called Zeddam. 









Once again, Google Maps gave me rather screwy directions, taking me on a sandy path that was extremely difficult to cycle on. I ended up turning around and riding back to the main road and finally found a paved path to the mill. By the time I got there I was very hot and didn't feel like going inside, so I just took some photos of the outside.

I tried riding on this but it soon became almost impossible!

This was the view from the sandy path

And this is the mill.

By now I was ready to go back to Emmerich, so I cycled back to 's Heerenberg, where I stopped in at Lidl to buy some provisions for supper -- bread and cheese and fruit.

In the grocery store, there was a huge display of orchids, and these were the prices! The biggest ones are the same size as or bigger than the ones that cost $22+ here, and the small ones here usually cost about $12-15.

En route to the windmill, I passed this Specialized building.

Back in Emmerich, I rode around the town, looking at the beautiful old churches. And then, of course, I was tired after my long trip and an afternoon of cycling, so I hit the sack.