Bikey

To clarify about my new grandma bike, it is brand new, just looks like the classics. That's my lock wrapped around the handle bars, it's a heavy duty Amsterdam one since my bike is very prone to be stolen.

Nieuw Fiets! (new bike)

Well, John's bike finally broke down so we've been sharing one bike for about a month now. Saturday though, I got me a brand new bike, it's called a Grandma bike.

Sunday we decided to take a bike ride with our new wheels and we biked around the lakes of Hilversum and the surrounding villages. It was a really Dutch day, which started sunny and warm and turned cold, windy, and rainy fast, but it was still a leuk (nice) time.

Castle in 's-Graveland

The Lakes

Vliegschool

Friday afternoon I went with Simone and Thomas, the neighbors downstairs, to the flight school in Hilversum. Thomas was given a gift to to take a flying lesson, so I kept Simone company while he flew off into the distance.

Texel

Texel is one of the Dutch islands north of the city Den Helder. John and I took many train and bus rides to Den Helder where we then took a ferry to the island. We stayed in the village, Den Koog, which is a kitschy little beach town. We spent the weekend walking through the beach and sand dunes, biking around the island (which is about 15.5 miles long by 5.5 miles wide) and hiking through the woods. The island is basically all farmland besides a few villages throughout.

The beach

That's me biking

And hiking

Lots of tulips were growing wild alongside the road.

Goofy golf!

I fell in love with goats when I saw these babies playing and jumping around in their owner's front yard.

And of course we found an old WWII bunker in the forest

Carnival video

Here's a video I took when we were at Carnival…