Haarlem

My first observation of Haarlem, Netherlands was the absence of any globe trotters. I suppose one of the most comforting things was seeing people that look like us. After getting off the trian and walking around getting lost for a while, we finally decided to get a doner (a pita-like meat sandwitch). It is recommended by all of us. After our doners, we got directions and finally walked our way (4.75 Km) to our hostel. Its name: The Stayokay. After a little time to chill that night, we decided to rent three bikes for 8 euros (12 dollars ish) all day and see the town of Harlem. Soon after renting our bikes we faced the trechery of the dutch roads. On the streets, there was danger from motorists in cars, busses, but the most dangerous of all: dutch bike riders. Over here, biking around is not a joyous occasion. There is no "joy ride". It is a hard-core mode of transportation. You get on and you enter a superhighway of bike trails that may take up just as much space as the roads themselves. These paths lead to rows and rows of bike rack parking. And all the bikes look the same, so good luck finding your death trap back. After we got a little bit out of the city, we found our way to the beach, which was much further away than we thought. It was nice and our hands caressed the waters of the North Sea. All in all the our day at the Stayokay was nothing less than A-OK.