Between Halloween and Haarlem

I didn't know that Halloween is still that big. Well, not over the last years in Germany but this year, the part of the town where I live here did it big! The houses were decorated in the best Halloween style and the kids were all dressed up. (Well, lets forget about the 16 - 18 year old guys who wanted to sell me that they are still 12 years old...)

In our part of the town Halloween was that super duper cool, that even one princes aka one child of the king Willem-Alexander went here to celebrate it with other kids. Strange world. And yes, it needed to be said.

My hostmother organized it in our "buurt" so we even had GLÜHWEIN, yummy!

Limonade

Dressed up as fries. What the heeeeell?! No doubt, we are in The Netherlands.

That was our entrance. We did our best...

On a nice first November weekend we decided to use this awesome weather to do a bike tour. Actually we wanted to go to the beach in Noordwijk, as we haven't been there yet, but then the sign said it's just 13 km more to Haarlem. So we were like "Uhm... 13 kilometer aren't that much compared to what we already cycled today." So we spontaneously changed our plans and cycled further to Haarlem.

And to warn you: NEVER TRUST THOSE KM-SIGNS! They lie. And it hasn't been 13 km. Maybe 20 or even more.

 

KEUKENHOF! Tulips! Such a tourist place! Near by Lisse, you can cycle there from Den Haag or Haarlem. It's quite in the middle and a must see in spring.

And then, we have been in Noord-Holland. Goodbye The Hague, Goodbye Zuid-Holland. Just skipped provincies!

Haarlem! You might know, I have a "special" connection to this city. Almost my city where I would spend a year. Almost.

That is Haarlem. Wonderful old dutch city (like almost every city is here...).
And if you like to do a bike tour and LOVE to cycle 50 km one way, you might have fun to cycle there from The Hague or wherever.
Yes, we found out that our 32 km were a bit more. About 50 km to be honest. And yes, I believe that as the way back was sooooooo long and cycling for 3 hours seemed so endless.