Yikes! Check your lists of blogs now and then!

I neglect this blog whole-heartedly. And, I had listed several blogs of interest to me, including by other LGBTQ folk involved in parenting. One of those blogs had let its domain name registration lapse and it had been replaced with something not exactly family-friendly. I'm not a prude, but the lesson is--if you set up links to other blogs or web sites, you need to check on them now and then! Mea culpa.

Leiden celebrates defeat of the Spanish

Monday October 3

I slept very soundly! Around noon Eric and I went to Lisse to get groceries (4mi), then dropped them home and headed for Leiden, celebrating the defeat of the Spanish siege there in 1574. Bike paths the whole way, albeit with some detours due to construction. Many shops are closed Mondays (maandag gesloten) as were both bike shops in Sassenheim as my rear tire went soft. We pumped it up and soldiered on.

The main train line from Amsterdam to points south runs along part of the path so I got to see several trains. Central Leiden was packed for the festivities--rides, games and fried food. I had poffertjes with gran marnier and then we visited a supermarket that happened to be open for drinks and snacks. The health stores in town were closed so we had to stop at one in Sassenheim on the ride back. (15.5mi)

After refilling my tire at home I took the bike out for 3 miles or so to test it and go in another direction. While you can't get lost, you can get stuck in residential neighborhoods.

Beach and Turkish Pizza

Sunday October 2

We headed out after a late breakfast toward the North Sea and the beaches. From De Engel along country lanes to a bike path (fietspad) along a busy road up to Noordwijk and then along brick-paved bike paths through the dunelands to Katwijk and its beach and then up to Scheweningen, which is the beach town for Den Haag. It has a huge double-decked pier with casino, restaurant, bungy jumping over the North Sea. We ate Turkish pizza--large pita bread with meat and veggies and spices. The trams from The Hague run out here and there was a crushing number of bikes parked near the beach.

On the trails, continuous bike traffic. Serious road cyclists with Lycra and helmets, omas and opas, families with kids, electric mobility scooters that go the speed of a slow bike. There are some of the larger hills in Holland along this route. We covered about 40 miles in all.

All bikes here

Saturday October 1

Arrived Saturday afternoon after sleeping well on an overnight flight. Our friends Eric and Pavel met me at the airport, and after we got to their apartment in De Engel, we headed out on a bike/shopping adventure in Lisse. Pavel had a work event so Eric and I later went out on a ride to Noordwijkhout along the river and railroad tracks. No trains, unfortunately--they were doing trackwork. Also we passed the old Lisse train station which is now a restaurant, currently named Lizs.
And the seasonal flower gardens of Keukenhof and the castle of the same name.

Along every road is a separate bike path--paved and limited to bikes and sometimes mopeds. You can ride across the country this way. Tiny country lanes might not have separate paths but then they also have very light car traffic.

As evening fell I was dozing off so I got a great night's sleep!

heading on an adventure...

I am going to the Netherlands for 6 days to visit some friends who moved there last year. I hope to get lots of biking in and will share my adventures on this blog!

Promenade Plantée

I walked part of the Viaduc des Arts from rue Malot to behind the Bastille Opera building the other day; now I was going to walk the other direction, toward Vincennes.
I could see arches of the part I'd already covered down a side street.



First, I dropped by the covered market, and found it opening and busy. Cheese, cold cuts, butchers, seafood, produce, everything was here. Three of some sort of animal carcass (pig?) hung from the ceiling behind one stand. Having not enough cooking skills nor hungry mouths to take on such a purchase, I headed on to rue Malot to access the viaduc.



It wasn't raining today, but it looked like it could if it chose to. The walkway is nicely planted with small trees, shrubs, and landscaped with trellises and even fountains and pools at one spot, although those were drained for winter.




Little surprises are around every corner, like when the clock tower of the Gare de Lyon peeped between some buildings.





And more greenery and lampposts.



Sometimes even over the path itself, like this apartment building which spans the path.





Further down, I eventually arrived at the back end of the Gare de Lyon tracks and had a nice view of some TGV high speed trains, albeit parked and waiting for their next runs. Later, I would hang out at the station and see them up close.



I passed another elevator and was excited, until I read the sign, which said that this broken elevator was currently owned by the private sector but was in the process of being acquired by the city of Paris.




There was some interesting (Art Deco?) ornamentation at the top of one older apartment building.



And after looking back at another building cleft by the path, I was at the Jardin de Reuilly (Reuilly being a former small suburb, now part of Paris).


Here there were stairs one one side (to the left of the split building), and a level access to another local city street on the other (to the split building's right).







The mairie (town hall) had distinctive architecture, viewed across the green jardin, as did the former Gare de Reuilly, now used for something else, and a small park where the tracks once ran.







Then the former trackbed descended to street level (or perhaps the streets rose), and ended up in several tunnels under existing roads or above-ground subway lines.



Pedestrians and cyclists even had their own lanes at this furthest western part of the trail. It's also the older part of it, developed by the neighborhoods out here. The paths run in sort of a "trench" valley, and the greenery seems more wild and less organized, unlike that up on the viaduc closer to central Paris.



Are we there yet?

I enjoy walking and exploring, so bear with me!




Then along some less exciting apartment buildings, through a less-inspired park, the trackbed curves on its way to rejoin la Petite Ceinture, the little beltway railroad which is mostly abandoned but peeks in and out especially on the east side of Paris.



The bridge of the Petite Ceinture viewed from the bridge of our ex-railroad siding.






The path ends just past a jardin partagé -- a community garden! It looks like they had some local outdoor artists decorate the toolshed, which looked pretty cool. (I like the eggplant wielding the rake.)





There was some rainbow chard and perhaps leeks planted and sort of growing; even in February, it's not as brutal in Paris as it is in Wisconsin.




Finally, we reach the end of the line, literally. A cyclone fence prevents access to the Petite Ceinture tracks that are still in place, although I'm sure it doesn't stop the more dedicated explorers and artists.

I noticed a post office down below, and so backtracked to the closest park with street access, and bought some postcard stamps.

I did a bunch more today, but that will have to wait for a bit.

Street of the Fishing Cat

This is being written about two weeks later, so the facts may be fuzzy.



First, a couple photos from Monday night's walk: one of Paris's smallest streets, rue de la Chat qui Pêche (street of the fishing cat) which runs between a pedestrian street full of ethnic restaurants and tourist shops, and a busy street alongside the Seine with a great view of Notre Dame.




I walked down, across the street, across the river, and across the square in front of Notre Dame to get a better picture of its impressive façade. A large Christmas tree was still up in front of it, close to Point Zéro, the marker in the pavement, from which all kilometer markers in France are measured. Some tourists stop to look at it; other obliviously stand on or near it when admiring Notre Dame.



I had to use the flash AND manual focus to get the camera to take a recognizable photo.