March 14, 2009: If Ya Ain’t Dutch Ya Ain’t Much

In my standard travel fashion I got up at 4:30 to catch the first train to Middelburg. I will give the quick and dirty of my trip to Middelburg:

 

Ratingen Ost to Düsseldorf            Departs 5:12

Dusseldorf to Venlo                        Departs 5:48

Venlo to Breda                        Departs 7:79

Breda to Roosendaal                        Departs 8:52

Rosendaal to Goes                        Departs 8:59

Goes to Middelburg                        Departs 9:16

ARRIVE IN MIDDELBURG 10:26

 

I got off of the bus from Goes and saw that this place was much different from Utrecht or Amsterdam, the only Dutch cities that I had been to by this point. There is a draw bridge over the canal directly across from the main train station and rows of houses lining the canal. The main difference that I notice is that there is more of a sense of openness, the buildings are smaller and roads are wider.

 

The first thing that I had to do was contact Wessel, the guy that I met on couchsurfing.com. I soon figured out that the Dutch all have cell phones and therefore there is an extreme lack of payphones, they removed the one at the train station. I found a pay phone a bit further into town, but it was full of coins and did not accept Canadian credit cards (no chip) or T-Mobile chip cards (another provider). I asked some teenagers who were washing a car on the road where a phone was and they pointed me to the post office. The phone there did not accept my means of payment either and luckily the nice guy working there let me use his phone. Soon Wessel pulled up on his bike.

 

Wessel is a Philosophy student at Roosevelt Academy, a new university in town. We got a coffee at a place across the street from the post office. I learned about all the languages that he speaks and all his previous couch surfing experiences. After coffee we walked back to his residence building to drop off my bag and drive out to the Delta Works. I was traveling with my MEC 70L expedition pack (because my Arcteryx Blade 21 does not have room for my sleeping bag) and looked like a tool walking through town.

 

On the way back we met Wessel’s friend Kim and her buddy from Phillidelphia, Dave. They decided to join us on our adventure to the dyke. We dropped off my stuff back in rez and piled into Wessel’s Peugeot 205 and headed out. The dyke was 20km away so we had some time to check out the countryside. We saw the massive dykes lining the coast and Wessel told us where the spot the English bombed to drive out the occupying Germans was. Soon we were driving along the Oosterscheldekering, the largest of the Delta Works surge barriers, complete with ENORMOUS vertically mounted hydraulic actuators used to lift and lower the 42m wide steel sluice gates. Here is a great quote that is written on one of the plaques adjacent to the surge barrier from Wikipedia:

 

"Hier gaan over het tij, de wind, de maan en wij" ("Here the tide is ruled, by the wind, the moon and us (the Dutch)").

 

We pulled into the Delta Works Museum and headed in. Admission was a hefty 18.50 Euro, but it included a boat tour of the Delta Works and the adjacent marine sanctuary so it was not too bad.

 

We spent some time checking out the exhibits including the mussel expo, all about the little shellfish that are oh so popular for eating and pearl production. We then checked out a sweet Dutch 3D film that must have been from the 1990’s but was sweet nonetheless. I checked my watch; it was getting close to boat time! We headed out and watched the seals, at the seal show, doing tricks and splashing people.

 

After a cold blustery 15min wait in line we boarded the boat. The announcements were in 4 languages so there was a non-stop tape talking about all the details of the Delta Works. For those who still do not understand how impressive this was, know this:

 

“The Oosterscheldekering is sometimes referred to as the eighth Wonder of the World, and has been declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.”

 

Thanks Wikipedia. After the boat ride in the North Sea we checked out the other exhibits: the aquarium, the whale exhibit and a walk along the top of one of the surge barriers.

 

We all got into the car and headed off to the next destination: Veere. Veere is a small town with a population of 1500 people directly adjacent to the water protected by the Delta Works. Here we walked through a 18^th century fortification tunnel and saw some windmills. Then it was time for Apple Tart Cake. We all huddled under the heat lamps of a local café and had some apple tart cake and hot chocolate. This was nice.

 

After apple tart cake it was back to Kim’s place for some pasta. Residence at Roosevelt makes SAC look like a North Korean shantytown. Everyone has their own large room with kitchen and bathroom! While Kim cooked, I searched for a couch to surf. Wessel was in his room searching for a couch as well. No luck. The dinner was amazing and the boys volunteered to do the dishes. After that, together with Kim’s Dutch skills, I found an attic room in the local bed and breakfast. Before I went there we headed to De Mug (The Mosquito), the local pub for a beer and some conversation. The beer and conversation did not let me down and I hauled my huge pack to the main train station to catch a budget cab to the B&B.

 

A nice Dutch lady answered the door and pointed me to my room after asking how I would like my boiled egg in the morning. I went up two flights of stairs and got to the nicest place that I have slept since I got to Europe, including my apartment. I wrote a post card or two and hit the hay.