Holland Part 5 - Rubato - Haarlem

And it came to pass... I was now settled into my accomodation and decided to spend a day cycling in and around the city of Haarlem and a day in Amsterdam. Haarlem is a lovely old Dutch city which I found a pleasure to cycle around. I am told that the infrastructure that enables this is actually pretty standard for Holland neither exceptional nor dreadfully awful, in fact one of my reasons for choosing Haarlem for a visit was this very thing, plus the fabulous organ in St Bova's cathedral it must also be said. I've posted some pictures of my day in Haarlem on other social media and had fairly mixed responses to them, specifically the cycle infrastructure stuff so let me just say this; Haarlem is a beautiful city that is well worth a visit if you are a cyclist, pedestrian, probably even a motorist, there didn't seem to be any shortage of cars, indeed the Dutch seem to have as many cars as the British you just don't have to mix it with them, which is nice.

Saturday is market day in Haarlem and for the first time in my life I encountered the problem of where to park my bike. Not through a total lack of provision a la UK but a massive over abundance of bikes looking for somewhere to lock up. I managed to squeeze into a vacant slot in a stand but then encountered the rookie folding bike rider problem of how to lock the frame to one of those wheel slot stands? After solving this Krypton Factor style task and getting my hands nicely oiled in the process I set off for a wander round town

As well as being a bit of a bicycle enthusiast, I am also known in certain circles as a player of swing jazz guitar but what people don't know much, if anything at all about, is my love of church organs, and Sint Bavo's cathedral in Haarlem has one of the finest examples of a preserved organ built by Christian Muller of Amsterdam.

Among the luminaries to have played this instrument are Handel, Mendelssohn and a young Mozart. Unfortunately hearing a performance on this instrument remains on my bucket-list as there was nothing taking place until May in terms of public performance so I vowed to come back during the summer months and do the double header of Haarlem and Sint Laurencekerke in Alkmaar.

I wasn't too disappointed not hearing the great organ, the trip certainly wasn't planned around it, so a wander round the market was in order, picking up a cracking vegetarian pizza made from scratch by an Italian chap whose clay oven appeared to be hooked up to a cargo bike but I may be mistaken, wishful thinking over actual memory perhaps. No mistaking how good his pizza was or how good the giant stroopwaffel I had afterwards with an excellent coffee to wash it down.

When I eventually found my bike again it was time to pedal around and about Haarlem enjoying the sunshine and the architecture of this beautiful city, all of which was made possible by km after km of bike lanes segregated from motor traffic, sheer bliss. Wisely I used the opportunity to familiarise myself with the centre of Haarlem, figuring out the best routes back to the hostel and just doing what I love to do which is pootling around town aimlessly stopping to take the odd photograph of some old building or bit of bike infrastructure or whatever else took my fancy, a lovely day out.

Early evening was soon upon me and after a 20 min or so ride back to the hostel I wasted no time at all tucking into a delicious supper before retiring to the bar to sample more of the excellent local beers with great company in the form of friendly bar staff and a large group of middle-aged men and women from the southern part of Holland who were already the worse for wear with the local ale when they arrived but were great fun throughout the evening. I myself retired later thinking of my projected trip to Amsterdam in the morning.