Monday, April 16, 2012

Last Trip Before the Trip

With only two and half weeks left to go before we leave, we took our touring bikes out for one last spin. This time, we headed west towards Den Haag to spend the weekend with our friends Adeline and Edgar. We kicked off the weekend with Ad and Ed's annual joint birthday party in the city centre. After a relaxed morning and a trip to the grocery store for some lunch supplies, the of us headed off fora day of cycling. It was a chilly day, but sunny and wonderful for cycling.
We rode north through forests, past enormous estates, through dunes and along the coast, stopping for a late lunch.

(no we didn't all plan to wear red!)
We continued along to Noordwijk, heading inland towards the famous tulips fields, which we were determined not to miss this year!


At some point one of us spotted "Aardbeien", so stopped to indulge in some heavenly early local strawberries.

As the sun started to set, we rode the last few kilometres back to our friends' place.

Tired, but rejuvenated by an amazing day of cycling, we sat down to very well-earned meal of Chinese take-away. A few of us (not mentioning any names), gobbled down numerous plates, attempting to satiate a cycler's appetite and simultaneously carb load for Rotterdam Marathon 10km race the following day.
The next morning, we work up early and joined the masses of people for the race. Despite having forgotten to register, we managed to get to the start line and run the entire race, including running through the finish line, without getting noticed. We even got participant medals, which we attempted to avoid but essentially got lassoed around our necks by eager and friendly volunteers! After a very cold trip back to Den Haag and hot showers, we headed back to Utrecht, tired but content after a very fun and active weekend!

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