222. Europe Bicycle Trip--A Bicycle Parking Garage and Out For Lunch

It is Canada Day back at home. It is Tuesday, July 1st and Day76 of my trip . I danced with Alex before he got on the bus to leave for the day.

Hans and I went to a bicycle store early this morning but they do not have any front racks in stock. Hans plan for the rest of today is  to pick up a priest  in a nearby town and  bring him to Heemstede for a tour of Hageveld . When I heard about his plans I got an idea to help my situation. I could send my front pannier bags and all my camping equipment back to Heemstede to Han's sister, Ellen's place and continue my bicycle trip with back panniers only and keep the front racks empty. Hans was okay with this plan and since I wouldn't be camping anymore, I would be able to get along with just the back bags.

Thanks for helping my situation, Hans.

I got to spend the day with Helene.

Helene spent some time working on the paperwork to get funds to cover the programs for Alex who they adopted as a small baby. Alex who is 29 now  has the mental capacity of about a four year old and the forms ask questions that are impossible to answer for his particular case which makes it frustrating for Helene.

Helene and I went on our bicycles to downtown Oosterhout where to my amazement she brought me to an inside parking garage for bicycles.

You can park up high or low and there are no fees. How nice!

We had lunch together in a nice little restaurant that she takes Alex to.

The restaurant with the green awning is at the end of this little courtyard.

The other end of the courtyard exhibits this archway.

" The Shopkeepers' Inside Court " was built in May, 1992.

I HAD to have my picture taken with this bicycle wall decoration.

I enjoyed riding one of their bicycles today . The next time I come to the Netherlands I want to purchase one of their fancy bicycle bags for shopping.

For supper we started with a nice soup.

This was followed by rice, peas,corn and carrots and chicken.

Alex has many bins of toys and plays quietly with them. He also enjoys listening to music on his ipod.

We became good friends.

Helene also has a BIG project on the go. She has 90 pages done of a family history where she is not only listing the family tree but also the history and culture of the times as it goes on. It deals with France, Indonesia and the Netherlands.Her father who was blind was sent to the Netherlands from Indonesia to go to school. He was very musical. Hans came home from Heemstede quite late. He and the priest had a good day together. He had been successful in bringing my things to Ellen's house. We talked a bit about the Pietepad,a long walk in the Netherlands from the north to the south and also the long hike that can be done in Spain. Then we headed for bed because it was late.