A Castle at Last

Almere-Haven to Badhoevedorp

Day 83 - Saturday - September 3
The rainfly is wet inside and out this morning due to fog and wet grass. Our campground host told us that 4 huge pumping stations are used to keep this island "dry"

There is still a lot of water. The bike path took us from the campground right out of town so breakfast #1 was M&M's and a Snickers Bar.

Back on the mainland in Muiderberg, we stopped at a market to get Breakfast #2. At 10:00, it was a busy place and almost everyone arrived by bike.....

.....even this very pregnant young woman with her 3 year old in tow.

Our sunny breakfast "table". It was the perfect place to watch people go about their day.

It looks like a real castle. Does it count if it isn't on top of a hill, ignoring the "Law of Castles"? It is on the highest spot around.

We are finally going to see the inside of a real castle but the nice lady tells us it is closed to the general public this morning because of a wedding. Darn it anyway!

The coffee must be good with this many riders taking their break here.

We decided to hang out and wait for the castle to open. That bridge rotated open about every 10 minutes to let boats through with the resulting bike and pedestrian jam. Summer has come on a Saturday once again.

It was entertaining watching her try to get it just right, like the big bikes.

Castle Muiderslot opened at noon even though the wedding party was still present.

Support structure in one of the towers.

Not quite the same as the real thing but as close as we can get.

How did they see through these things???

There was a falconer giving a demonstration next to the castle. This owl made quite a show of his feathers.

Now it is our turn to cross the bridge we watched earlier.

Spotted sheep?

This is a people-powered ferry. There is a hand crank on the boat and on each dock.

Back in the big city and about to get diverted by a construction project.

Got just a little too close to the newly mown grass earlier in the day.  Darn mountain bike derailleaur forgets it's on a road bike.

After checking in at the hotel, we buzzed over to Schiphol International Airport to check on bike boxes and figure out the place. The baggage depot employee assured us that he had hundreds of bike boxes available. That is one thing we can check off our to-worry-about list. Accuweather reported a high of 80F today and it was still warm as we rode back after having dinner at the airport....so nice to be warm for a change.