Getting Around

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With the first week of classes coming to an end, my roommate Ben and I decided to do a little exploring. The first trip came Wednesday, when a trip to the supermarket turned into a short ride around some paths in the nearby woods, which then turned into a 2 hour trip to another country. Europe's pretty cool. Unfortunately we didn't think to bring a camera to the supermarket, so we were without documentation of this extremely scenic trip. It started out with a ride around the sand dunes, which I already have a picture of below. Having seen how close Germany was on a map, I became determined to ride further east to reach the border. So we blindly rode on, pedaling down unfamiliar paths away from the setting sun. At one fork in the path, we stopped. Ben noticed what seemed to be a clearing further up the path north, so he went to check it out. I followed behind, and, emerging from the woods, came upon a vast frozen lake, its true size obscured by a low-hanging fog. After doing a little exploring on an island we walked to, we mounted up and continued east.

The second time we came out of the woods, we were on a road. Riding further down the road we came upon a sight even more amazing than the lake. Stretching out on both sides of us were acres of completely flat, putting-green-like grass covered in a still fog. I honestly can't offer a better description with words; it was surreal. After some more woods, we made it to Germany. It sounds exciting, but really we just turned around and saw a sign that said "Nederlands" and an American restaurant with a German flag out front. Whatever, add it to the list.

We had planned our second trip earlier in the week. Lily borrowed a bike to come along, and on a bright Thursday morning we set off for the nearby town of Venray. A bit of advice to anyone who plans on walking, riding, driving, or pretty much ever doing anything in the Netherlands: the roads are confusing as shit. We left well by crossing a bridge that was split into two sections. One, we assumed, was for outbound traffic, and the other for inbound. The bike path told us to go down the left side, into oncoming traffic, and as we couldn't reach the other section, we went ahead. The street looked like any 3-lane American highway, except the two outside lanes were only big enough for a bike or scooter. We soon realized that the other side had traffic going both ways, and our deserted half must be the bike path. Wrong. After being passed by a few speeding scooters, we decided to set the timer and take a group photo with the scenic farmland in the background. As Ben was framing the shot, a legit, full-size car blew past us in the middle lane. As if this wasn't weird enough, a little later another car passed us in the same lane, going the opposite direction. What a country. Off the bridge, we were back on the bike path, away from the road, only to have to move out of the way of some massive tractor thing. The path continued to change in size and location with respect to the road for pretty much the whole trip. Venray itself is pretty nice. It's small, but busy enough to maintain a big-city feel. We walked around, got some Doner Kabob (like gyro meat in a little toasted bread pouch), and eventually had to ride home so Ben could make a class.

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