Europe, Part Two. (Like riding a bike...)

Email update #2 from Super's European Adventures... Stay tuned, I throw a curve ball in update #3!

Hallo!
Today's email update will be a little shorter and somewhat a preview of what I've been up to.
What a few busy days!

Friday was amazing as I took the train to Lieden, a small college town about 30-40 minutes outside of town. Awout, Suzann's boyfriend, is a scholar at the law school there and offered to show me around. At first I was skeptical, wondering what could be so special about it, but it may have been the most charming city I have ever witnessed. There was a certain glow about the town giving it a magical feel. This is mostly a town made of the university, however, it is from where the Pilgrims came. Their version of 'old' is far better than ours! And all the tiny houses along the canals made it all a little bit dreamy at twilight. After Leiden, Arrogant Dutchman and I went to the National Ballet which was a little kitchy, but the dancing and orchestra were quite good.

Saturday morning began early as Arrogant Dutchman (AD) and I took the train about an hour outside of Amsterdam to Wegeningen and visited his mother and father, Tessa and Henk. As we were putting our coats on to go to the train station AD looks at me with a little worry and says, "You DO know how to cycle, right?"
Honestly, the only way I could answer was, "I... I... I'm not sure." The trouble on his face was disconcerting but we pressed on.

Tessa took us to the National Park where we rode bicycles to a fabulous museum in the middle of the forest. The way it works is, there are all these bicycles that belong to the park and you pick one out and ride around all day or ride to the museum. AD and I had another shared moment of panic when we could not find a bicycle with pedals I could reach. There was a brief time of me eyeballing a kids bicycle and saying, "Oh please please please NO." Then, Tessa spotted a tandem bike and suggested AD and I ride that. Sheer panic struck his face and it became his mission to find me my own.

After finding a fit, I then had to mount and ride the damn thing. Mind you, I have not been on a bike since possibly high school... fifteen years. It was also a challenge as I was bundled up in my long winter coat. I knew I was going to die.

However, obviously, I did not die and in fact did not even crash! And I only got caught up in one tree. I won't elaborate... it's too hard to explain how I managed to find myself stuck in the branches of a tree not even close to the paved trail.

We pedaled away and arrived at the Kroller-Muller Museum which is: A magnificent amalgamation of art, architecture and nature. Amidst unspoilt natural surroundings, the Kröller-Müller Museums collection centres on the extensive collection of works by Vincent van Gogh and the world famous sculpture garden.
And there was this little gem of which a print hangs in my kitchen. I'm so disgusted with the print after seeing the real thing...

That was the majority of the day, then they had me over for dinner for a bit of Dutch lifestyle. Very nice time but my ass hurts from the bicycle. But yes, I. RODE. A. BICYCLE. AND. DID. NOT. DIE.
More to come!
Love,
Super