Flowers, Windmills and Old Amsterdam

The Netherlands holds a flower parade each year which follows a 42km route from Noordwijk on the coast to Haarlem. We checked the route and decided to watch it in a small town south of Haarlem where it was due to arrive around 8pm. So we had a relaxed morning visiting charity shops in Alkmaar, where Summer picked up some bottom drawer bargains ready for going to uni. We also bought our train tickets for a day out in Amsterdam the following day and stopped off at a pizza restaurant for lunch which had an external lift for wheelchair access. As we had plenty of time to get to the flower parade, we chose a non-motorway route which involved a short ferry ride across the North Holland Canal.

We arrived in Heemstede about 4.30 and were fortunate to find a disabled parking space near the town centre. There was no indication that a big convoy of decorated vehicles would soon be passing through, so we found an ice cream shop and checked we were in the right place. The buying of ice creams was of course just for politeness! By the time we had eaten said ice creams, people were arriving to set up entertainment equipment and soon after that the road was closed to traffic. We spent a pleasant couple of hours looking in the shops, watching the entertainment and eating our picnic, before establishing ourselves a viewing spot on the edge of the pavement. The procession was 40 minutes late arriving so it was a bit dark for good photos, but the floats were amazing and I can’t imagine how many flowers were used to create them.

Sunday saw us catching a train to Amsterdam. There was some concern that we wouldn’t be able to get Racheal on a train because the first one that came had double decker carriages with two big steps up to them. Summer tried to ring the assistance team with no joy, but while she was on the phone the next train arrived which had level access. It was a slower journey, but that didn’t matter to us as the ride is part of the fun.

Arriving by train in Amsterdam is the best way, in my opinion. As you come out of the station you are greeted by the canal basin, flanked by the famous town houses, and are immediately immersed in the heart of the old city. Our first concern was to find somewhere for lunch. Mealtimes need to fit in an hour’s window for Racheal because of her medication and we were getting towards the end of it. We found a large café style restaurant, which looked rather grand, serving a reasonably priced menu. From there we walked through the narrow streets and alongside canals to Anne Frank’s house. Sadly, it has been so commercialised and tickets are sold online. It was fully booked with no possibility of even going to the museum. I’ve been before and it wouldn’t have been accessible for Racheal, but Summer was hoping to visit and it was disappointing for her.

The other thing in our ‘to do’ list was a canal boat trip. We had chatted to another wheelchair user in the railway station who told us there was only one company with accessible boats, the Blue Boat Company, so that’s where we headed next. When the boat came the lady we had spoken to, and her companions, got off as we got on which was nice. The boat had a hydraulic lift to access the cabin where there was space for three wheelchair users. Our trip took us around the maze of small canals and out into the large North Sea Canal before returning to its base. Going under the bridges was a favourite of Racheal’s!

The café we stopped at to give Racheal her tea had run out of milk, so Summer ordered ginger tea and I ordered mint tea. Needless to say, these were not the cheapest refreshments of our Netherlands trip! Finishing off with a visit to the Miffy shop, which Summer had patiently waited for all day, we headed back to the station to catch our evening train.

Our return to Alkmaar passed without incident and the following day we retrieved the car from the car park on the edge of town (parking in the centre of Alkmaar wasn’t possible due to the height restrictions of the car parks, and it would have been expensive) and set off to Zaanse Schans in search of a windmill or two, or seven to be precise. This attraction had grown since I last visited 25 years ago. A large museum has been built with a café, where we enjoyed lunch. There are more shops and a new windmill has been added. We were able to visit a couple of the windmills and the new one, a saw mill, showed a film of how it was constructed using traditional techniques and materials. Both mills were partially accessible, but we left Summer to climb the ladders up to the top. Also on the site were a cheese maker, a weaver’s house and a small museum about the windmills. I had expected to spend an hour here and then move on to somewhere else, but we were still exploring when the site started to close, so afterwards it was straight back to the hostel for tea.