Friday

Today I got up early and left Noordwijk, but first, u had to sweep the floors , strip the bed, wash the dishes and and empty the garbage and I still did not have use of a blow dryer.
The wind has stopped and it was a  cloudy day.
I asked at reception if there was something that I could do in the area and I was not interested in anything she mentioned. She tried but eventually crossed her arms and gave up. Instead, I just drove, I stumbled upon a market in the town of Lisse. it had some interesting only on Holland things that I photographed.  As usual there was a lot of crappy stuff on sale. Women rummaged through tables of clothes. I went into quiet a few stores in a shopping area of the town. I thought I should buy something so tried a few things on.
I found this asymmetrical chartreuse dress that I kind of liked. I tried it on, walked out of the dressing-room and was greeted by a big guffaw - laugh by a woman there, so I took that as a no.
In this town I found many dresses and Hristo that had one regular short sleeve and the. The other sleeve was longer and hung like is was some weird kind of new style. Everything was pastel and cheap. It's freezing here. Everyone has heavy coats on. I can't imagine it ever getting that warm I did find a scarf that is the prettiest color green and blue...I took some nice pictures that you will see.
There was a truck selling wooden shoes, but, I have not seen anyone wearing them. Who wears these wooden shoes and why?
Then I started driving. I had a little tie to kill so I pulled over to photograph a field of red tulips I. The rain. They were so beautiful. There were other colors too but the red I had not captured. The fields were on two sides of a narrow road that had the brown bike path on both sides. I saw this quiet a bit.  
There would be one big lane for 2 cars and a bike path on either side. The cars would have to drive
 into the bike path to pass each other or have to wait till one car passed. It made me feel as though
they cared about the bikers more. Also, the rotaries have cement barricades inside, like a cross view

of he inside of a snail. They are meant to keep you in your lane, but are always a surprise and require quick thinking.
In he small towns and in the countryside, people have displays in the front windows of  their  house. It's very net resting. It's like they make a still life to display. Almost all contain flowers or some plant . There is quiet a variety. It really is a still life in every picture window. I will have to ask about this.

I drove north and came upon a town that was bit rundown, I parked and walked into the " centrum" of
town. I wanted to have lunch at a traditional Dutch restaurant. I ended up at a cafeteria here I d a grilled cheese sandwich , a " meld" . It was pretty un eventful. Twice, older women decide to talk to me in Dutch in this town. They each went on and on about soothing that I do not know what. Could they not that I was not understanding them? I didn't, couldn't respond all.
After that I drove back to Amsterdam to the obscure hertz location. I got off the A10, the big circle that goes around Amsterdam, one exit too late. I'm lucky that I only got a little off track it's very confusing. I backtracked on side road and finally  had to ask. I was about. 1/4 of a mile off. I was easily straightened out and found my way to hertz. Then I cabbed it to the new hotel...the Wilhelmina. The cab driver said to me,before we there. This is a really nice area and a nice hotel.
When we pulled up in front o the Wilhelmina , he changed his assessment....oh, this is just 2 star, not
what  I thought .
What he should have said was...this place is a dump, and he would have been right. However, I will not have to sweep the floor when I leave. The receptionists had 2 faux diamonds in piercings on her forearm. I thought, are they just sitting there in her arm, with nothing holding them, just tissue? I'm confused.
More to come.......