A Not-So-Science Lesson in Delft (Part 2)

After seeing that fascinating Delft Blauw Factory, Kim and I decided that after biking almost 20 km, and with almost that many yet to go, we deserved a treat.  McDonald's in the Netherlands has this exclusive McKroket Burger.  And although Kim and I aren't huge fans of McDonald's food, this Kroket burger was definitely something on our bucket list of things to try in the Netherlands.  So thus we decided that this was the day would we try it.  It was definitely delicious!

 

It's actually a pretty genius culinary invention if you ask me. I think I shall have to teach myself how to make Krokets when I get back to Canada.  I'm sure going to miss them.

 

So after that, Kim and I set off toward home on our bikes again.  And unfortunately it wasn't long before we were on a different track than we'd taken on our way to Delft.  Naturally getting lost on the way to Delft was not enough.  We had to get lost on the way back too.  Otherwise it just wouldn't be typical.  But we soon found some signs pointing to Rotterdam and decided to follow them.  We weren't sure where in Rotterdam they would lead us, but we figured that wherever we ended up we'd be able to ask directions to Ommoord.  Rotterdam is quite a large city though.  My guess is that it's over 20 kilometers to bike across it. 

 

Anyways, we were less than blissfully biking along, lost but thankful to have the wind at our backs, when suddenly the road changed directions and we had to bike into the wind.  Well, if you've ever biked headlong into the wind on a gusty day in the Netherlands, you'll know that it sort of resembles biking through a brick wall.  I'd pick biking uphill over biking into the wind.  But anyways, we huffed and puffed our way along that stretch of road at a speed of about 3 km per hour.  After several minutes of this I commented to Kim that it would probably be easier to walk our bikes.

 

But we kept pedaling along just the same.  Then, much to our disappointment the road ended at a construction zone.  I suggested we bike back to the main road and follow that, but Kim wanted to try getting past the construction zone.  So we did rock paper scissors, and she won.  After Gouda I was done with construction zones, but Kim won fair and square, so we bravely biked our way through.  We may have gotten yelled at in Dutch once or twice..  But we  got through... only to find out that we were in a mucky field surrounded by ditches.  I really have to work on my rock paper scissors skills because this was ridiculous.  We toyed with the idea of leaping on of the ditches and then passing the bikes across.  But after circling the perimeter we finally found a way of getting back to the main road (where I do wish we'd gone in the first place) without having to do any acrobatics.  Biking along the main road, we soon saw a plane take off from nearby and realized we were very near Rotterdam airport.  That helped us to know where we were at least.

 

But then things got worse yet again.  Remember when I'd suggested early that we walk our bikes?  Well, my wish came true when I didn't want it to, because Kim's tire all of a sudden went flat. *sigh*

So we walked our bikes, and when we asked one of the locals how far exactly it was to Ommoord, we found out we were WAY off track and still had a long ways to go.  So our new plan B was to walk our bikes to the nearest Metro station and just take the Metro back to Ommoord.  It was just over a kilometer to the station.  But as we were walking a kind man was just leaving work and wanted to help us.  So he drove Kim and her bike to the nearest bike repair shop.  Apparently the Metro would have been a long ride because there is no Metro to Ommoord from the city we were currently in.  We would have had to go to the train station, then to Centraal Station in Rotterdam, then to Alexandrium Station, and then taking the Metro to Hesseplaats.  So we decided fixing the bike was probably the better option.  Thankfully it was just a missing valve on the tire which only cost 1,50 to replace.  Then a bit of air and we were set to go again, though getting rather tired by this time.  We were biking along in the general direction of home when suddenly to our right we saw our beloved Rotte River!  It was immensely relieving to see familiar territory once again.  I can hardly describe how good it felt to finally know we could confidently find our way home.  Twenty minutes later we wheeled our biked into the shed, went inside, and enjoyed a lovely warm cup of tea.

 

Yes indeed, we'd had quite the adventure.  I might need to rethink taking this course in Delft.  It would be fantastic if I knew the way, but I still don't.  So now I'm not sure what I'll do.  But this afternoon I'm going to Belgium, so for now I'll just be excited for that and not worry about hard-to-find cities like Delft!