16th – 18th – Dogs and flying home

Breakfast at 0800 meant that we could get an extra hour of sleep which apparently was much needed as I woke up at 3 with all the lights on and my phone lying on my chest. I managed to sort myself out quickly before passing out again and swearing at my alarm that went off 4 hours later. The beds in the lodge were nice but apparently my body preferred an actual soft bed. 

We left at 0845 and first point on today’s schedule was dog sleighing. The owner of the place we were visiting – who himself is a creator and main coordinator of one the rougher dog sleigh races – introduced himself and family, who are also involved in the business, background and the art of dog sleighing. We were sent out on a course on 2-passenger sleighs with a driver in the rear. The weather was crisp clear with light clouds and the run – though short, less than 10 minutes – was a fresh and beautiful ride. The course is called Ididamile, and the owner pointed out that some people take scarily long to figure out why it’s called that. I honestly didn’t have much expectations of the experience but I honestly had great fun the entire time. And despite the dogs being working animals the were very social and never shied away from getting a bit of extra petting.

Probably the best weather on the tour.

Those eyes....

From there we went and picked up a bear guard (who was naturally armed) and an extra lookout which let us go drive out of town and go for short walks. We got to see a few historical locations and multiple murals. In between this we got to visit a local artist and have lunch.

A fox was hiding in the grass and keeping a close eye on us while we were taking in the sights.

A 4 hour old foot print from a decently sized bear, compared to my (size EU 45) foot.

Having driven around in the afternoon we both managed to see a silver fox in the distance and a few more bears. What a great end to the trip. Though a snowy owl or two would have been a great bonus. At around 1700-ish we were back at the airport and got a flight back to Winnipeg. As opposed to coming north this time the flight was almost full. 

More murals.

Silver fox.

Back in Winnipeg we checked in at the airport hotel we started at and had dinner before saying goodbye. After a very good night’s sleep a few of us had breakfast before I left for the airport and got my uneventful flight back home.

A light breakfast before departing.

Huge thanks to Maggie and Rick for letting me stay at their place and showing me Winnipeg for a few days before meeting up with the group - I don't think I ever managed to fully express my happiness for seeing you again since my first trips north and south. Big thanks to our guide Mike Gere and buggy driver “Buggy” Bob – you two were a great team and knew exactly where to be to get the shots. Thanks to the team at the lodge – great service and amazing food (and wine included – and they let me help get rid of excess dessert!). Big thanks to Dave Daley for introducing us to his human and canine families and letting us try riding a dog sleigh. So much fun! And thanks to Bjorn, Kim, Sylvie, Shelly, Yuka, Tom & Sue, Brenda, Jane, Harriet, Bonnie, Tom & Heike, Karsten & Sybille for being great travel friends and help making this trip amazing.

When typing this out in March 2022 (only slightly delayed) things have happened since the trip. The travel company has an annual photo competition, and while I never partake in such competitions (a mix of me not thinking my shots can keep up with the competition and the fact that the winner is often found by the number of likes and not actual quality) I was pretty proud of my bear-in-sunrise shot, and as people from the tour badgered me to add it to the competition I ended up thinking that it couldn’t hurt. And to my surprise I actually ended up winning! Not the first place, mind you, but the runner-up place and that absolutely good enough for me! A photo I took actually won something! I was absolutely full of myself in the days after I found out. 

Full album can be found here.

13th – 15th – Polar bears en masse

3 days at the lodge where we every morning had breakfast from 0700 and boarded our buggy at 0800. In the morning at some point we would be served coffee/tea/chocolate and cookies (and Kahlua/rum if you wanted that added – and who doesn’t?). Lunch was brought from the lodge and was served as it fit into our driving, but usually around 1300-1400-ish. It would be soup followed by a simple but delicious main course; samosas, sandwiches and tortellini. We returned to the lodge at around 1600-1630, and while that does sound early on paper, at that point it had gotten too dark to really be able to easily see anything, anyway.

The two first nights we were the only guests at the lodge, and being 16 people at a place that has a capacity of 40 it never gets crowded. The last night a second group arrived, but as they were only 10 it wasn’t too bad having them around, too. The lodge was built up by several units; One end was two accommodation units each with 20 beds, 3 toilets and 2 showers, followed by a lounge and dining hall. After that the kitchen, staff quarters and workshop. Each accommodation unit had its own buggy access so two groups arriving at the same time wouldn’t get in each other’s way, and apart from those there was also the water buggy and the staff’s transports always available.

If there ever was an animal that represented the feeling "Mondays"...

The food was absolutely delicious; snacks when we returned from a drive and 3-course dinners where everything clearly was made with care. House wine was even included in the price!

The conservation area was quite small (relatively speaking) and it was not unusual to find ourselves at the lodge hours after we had left it, simply because that moment’s hunt had naturally led us back. Considering the heavy bear traffic around the lodge you could probably have stayed at the lodge all day and still have gotten some great views. And when looking at the area in general it was all quite flat, so you would almost always have a clear line of sight to the lodge.

Sparring.

So we drove around and looked at (mainly) polar bears. And if you had any expectations of having to spend time hunting for anything to see you’d be mistaken. Many, if not most, bears were not very shy so you could get quite close to them and it wasn’t uncommon to be able to see 5-6 of them at once. A large number of bears were lying around, resting, playfighting/sparring or just being downright curious when we drive by. The buggy was basically a large box with a platform in the rear with a grating floor and tall enough that a fully grown male bear standing wouldn’t be able to reach the windows or past the railing. Curious young individuals would stand up below the platform and have a close sniff of us – and trying to figure out what all those phones lying on the grating filming the close encounter were. Moving the phone during and feeling the bear’s breath on your fingers is something else.

As can be seen, even when on their hind legs they won't be able to reach.

Polar bears are a solitary creature unless they are mating or if it’s a mother with cubs. Churchill is the only exception and only at this time of year. All the bears are gathering in the area and waiting for the ice to form on the Hudson Bay, and them all being there together they tolerate each other’s presence and it’s not uncommon to see them actively socialize and cuddle together. 

Socializing.

Foxy walk.

We ended up seeing two mothers with cubs – that was our conclusion, at least. It could technically have been the same mother and cubs, but during some sightings the bears were very skittish, and other times they didn’t care about our presence. It makes no sense that it would be the same family we saw that acted so differently between sightings, hence the conclusion. 

A mother with her two cubs.

We also managed to see a few red foxes but no arctic ones, though. The latter are being pushed away by the former, as due to the heating climate the reds can go further north, pushing the arctic foxes away even further north. While we did have a few sightings, we saw significantly more tracks from foxes than foxes themselves. We were lucky enough to also get to see a snowy owl, albeit at a far distance. Technically we probably saw two, but the first sighting was just a quick white flash past the window when we were in the diner having dinner. 

Owl sitting in the tree.

So overall, the number of polar bear sightings greatly exceeded my expectations. To be honest; after seeing a bear in the middle of the sunrise on the third day (which was also during the only few hours it wasn’t completely overcast while we were there) I was ready to go searching for owls even if it meant that we wouldn’t se another single bear on the trip. I was happy for all the encounters we had, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more variation at some point, even though it was the bears we had come for. 

Sunrise.

More sparring.

On the last day, instead of returning to the lodge we drove back to the dock (the fox was there again!), got back into our minibus and returned to Churchill. We checked in, had dinner in the restaurant and ended the day.

The fox was still present!

12th – Captivating murals

A quick glance outside when waking up (with a view of the airport tarmac) showed plenty of snow blowing horizontally past the window, but as planned we met in the reception at 0615 to hand over our checked luggage before having breakfast. With no hesitation we boarded the bus that didn’t only take us to the airport but all the way out to our plane. 

Then we sat in the bus waiting for a bit while watching the ground crew running around doing their thing getting small planes ready and sending them of in snow and high winds – visibility was maybe 100m. Finally it was our turn, maybe an hour delayed but being the only 16 passengers in a 40-seater we had plenty of room.

The flight north went off without a hitch and a bit past 1100 we arrived safely at Churchill airport which was nothing but a short landing strip and a small building. On the way in to Churchill – which has a population of app. 900 people – to have lunch we passed by a polar bear internment facility which basically is a containment building for bears that are caught in town where they are kept before transported away and let loose. As opposed to Winnipeg it isn’t snowing, but there is snow everywhere and it’s still quite windy.

Bear trap. It's like a humane mouse trap (enter in one end, nibbling at food triggers the gate that closes), but slightly bigger.

Mural on the holding facility. 

Following this we visited Polar Bear International to have a small lecture/speech on polar bears before we got to an ATM and a chance to buy beer and wine. Before leaving town we had maybe ½ an hour by ourselves to roam around before meeting at 1600 to go to the buggy loading dock. The town is full of murals all over the place, depicting primarily wildlife, but also historical people and events, among many other things. On the way there we went by a rocket facility they have been using to launch rockets used for measurements and tests of the atmosphere. 

We finally arrived at the loading docks where we loaded into our buggy – but not before being charmed by a red fox sitting in the parking area not being bothered by the presence of vehicles or people at all, just minding its own business. The 1½ hour long bumpy drive to the lodge was dark, with only the head lights of the buggy and lights in the far distance as light sources. We did manage to spot a bear in the headlights close to the lodge, though, so great success already!

"Is it windy?". Well....

Arriving at the lodge around 1830-1900 we quickly found our beds (I, and a few others, got two beds as the capacity is for 20 which will make it so much easier to spread out and not have to tidy up when going to sleep) before having dinner. This was followed by a safety briefing where I and another ended up being designated emergency buggy drivers. We were quickly introduced to the workings of the buggy but crossed my fingers that this would end up being unused knowledge.

Throughout the evening polar bears were walking around being their curious selves so before we made it to first daylight out here we had already seen the first 5-7 bears. 

8th – 11th of November – Reunions

I was flying out on the 9th very early in the morning so I decided to spend the night at one of the airport hotels so I could sleep in and not wake up until 0400. The morning went as planned and I was soon on my way to Frankfurt for my first layover. The distance between the gates was long but having considered this when booking I still had time to grab a handful of snacks at the lounge before boarding and settling into the seat that would be my home for the next 8 hours. My second layover in Toronto went just as smooth as in Frankfurt and I was happy to find out that all the paperwork, most of it due to Covid-19, was put to good use so all the planning wasn’t a completely waste of time. Got a few hours in the lounge with a view of the tarmac before grabbing the last leg of the trip going north to Winnipeg. Another easy flight and arriving at my destination it was a short walk to pick up my checked bag, and fortunately it had made it all the way, too.

Crossing Greenland on the way to Canada.

Here, with a bit of difficulty, I managed to locate my friend who had shown up to pick me up, and we were soon on our way home to her and her husband’s place where I’d be staying the next two days. Unloading my bags we went for a short walk around the neighborhood letting me stretch my legs after spending 20 hours on getting there – regardless of leg space a good post-flight leg stretch is highly appreciated. 

The following day – the 10th – we had breakfast at a nearby diner before we drove to the Human Rights Museum. A quite interesting exhibition, but having seen several similar museums previously it’s hard to avoid some repetition. This one did unsurprisingly have a strong focus on Canada’s past, though. To be honest, at times the building itself and the layout of the interior seemed more interesting that the exhibition it contained.

Looking out on Winnipeg from the Human Rights Museum.

Leaving the museum we continued forward to a café in the falling snow where they had some excellent cakes. We followed up on this by going to a neighboring pub where we had dinner – visiting Canada I had to get the poutine. French fries, cheese curds and gravy, topped with shredded smoked meat. A massive portion – even big enough that I didn’t manage to finish it.

My bedside lamp seemed to have a bright idea.

The following day – on the 11th – we had a lazy morning with snow still falling outside. We met up with a friend of theirs for lunch before heading to the Manitoba Museum, a history museum of the local area (hence the name…) and Canada in general. After spending 2½ hours there they let us know they would be closing in 20 minutes which unfortunately meant we had to rush through the last quarter of the museum. Too bad – it was actually quite interesting. When leaving at around 1700 to even more snow they drove me to the airport to deliver me to the hotel where I’d spend the night before leaving for Churchill tomorrow. In the evening I met with the group for introductions by our guide & photographer and dinner, and soon after we went our separate ways for the night.

Getting ready for tomorrow’s early morning I got all the necessary stuff out so it would require minimal effort to get out the door. This included getting my boots out. Now; these were some a friend have given me after having found them practically unused in her dad’s house they were cleaning out a few years ago, and I hadn’t had a chance to use them until now. I wasn’t planning on going trekking, but they would be great at keeping my feet warm and dry in the potentially snowy landscape further north, meaning that breaking them in wouldn’t be much of an issue. But all that worry turned out to be unnecessary, as when I pulled them out of the bag the soles just crumbled away between my fingers. I had a quick talk with our guide and he convinced me that my current shoes would be enough, though walking in Churchill might get a tad chilly. Satisfied with that I tossed them in the bin and went to bed, ready for the following day.

25th – Returning home

As opposed to coming to Valencia the trip home was quite uneventful.

Check-out time at the hotel was 1000 but I managed to get a late check-out time at 1200 so I didn’t have to be in a hurry in the morning. It also meant that when I left the hotel I could take the metro directly to the airport and check in and only have 2 hours until the flight.

The only hiccup was during check-in when my carry-on was weighed and the guy behind the counter pointed out it was too heavy. It took me a moment for it to sink in, but if it was split in two bags and neither weighed more than 8kg I could bring them both on as carry-ons. Total weigh was the same, just split in two. 

So I went through security with two bags (one being my backpack and the other one of the bags from the run stuffed with camera and a jacket) but coming out on the other side I realized it felt very silly and put it all together in one again. And no one stopped me and asked me to split it up. Weird.

Flights home via Zurich went without a hitch, and arriving in Copenhagen 25 minutes ahead of schedule meant that I could catch an earlier train and be home an hour before I had planned to. And that was a pretty neat end to another trip.

Full album from the trip can be seen here.

24th – Valencia half marathon

Just like when picking up my goodie bag it was easy getting to the starting area in the early morning. My starting group would be allowed into the waiting area at 0830 (where the toilets and baggage handling were) before being let into the starting area at 0845 and crossing the starting line at 0900.

I had registered an expected finish time of 0145 so I had expected to be put into the starting group before the one I ended up in. I was surprised, but the other group was “sub 1:45” and mine was “sub 2:00”, so I was technically in the right place.

Bullshit.

The fastest pacers in my starting group were the 2:00 pacers who were standing in the front, but it seemed like I wasn’t the only one who felt I had ended up in the wrong place, as as soon as we started a large horde of people quickly passed the pacers. The group before us started at 0845 so the front had a 15-minute head start, but even before reaching the 5km mark we were easily catching up with the rear end of that group.

When closing in on the 3km mark there was a lot of shouting and cheering, something I hadn’t expected this soon, but it was amazing and felt good with such eager onlookers. It turned out that they were facing the wrong way; on the other side of the median strip the fastest runners from the first group were just passing their 16km point.  

On paper the course looks fairly easy as it is very flat. But along the way there are only 4 water stations (norm is almost double that), a time limit of 2½ hours (norm is usually 3 hours) and when not in the shade, which was maybe half the time at best, we were exposed to the Spanish sun from a cloudless sky, which meant it got very hot at times. I almost missed the rain from the previous day. All this culminated in a finish time of 1:45:24 which unfortunately was outside of my goal of sub 1:45. Despite expecting to be annoyed with the result and whining about it I felt fairly relaxed with the result. No pacers to follow, few water stations and high heat made it far from an easy race. 

Out of 8839 runners (7002 men, 1837 women) I came in as no. 3758 (top 42,5%) and in my category (M35, i.e. men 35-39) I came in as no. 623 (out of 1049, top 59,4%). Clearly a lot of strong runners. And we got a new world record for women; 1:02:52 run by Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey, 68 seconds quicker than the old record.

Crossing the finish line we were handed a second bag, this one filled with a banana, a net with clementines, nuts, “probiotic mango/coconut drink” (tasted like an iced tea), bottle of blue Powerade, water and a Monster Hydrosport energy drink (which in my opinion is a crime against humanity). Overall with a fair margin the run I’ve participated in with the most goodies handed out to the participants. 

Arriving at the hotel the breakfast should have been over and closed but wasn’t, so I got a few quick toasted buns before returning to the room and had a much-needed shower and relaxing. Getting a bit antsy during the afternoon I went for a few hours’ walk but while it did feel good getting out a bit my legs were very happy that I returned to the hotel to do nothing.

22nd – 23rd – Getting lost in Valencia

First thing when I left the hotel Friday morning was to pick up my goodie bag and bib number for the run on Sunday. It was (together with the start and finish lines) conveniently located 20 minutes’ walk from the hotel in a straight line, in the middle of the large university campus. There was barely anyone else when I was there so I was quickly done collecting my bag and contents.

From there I walked more or less west until I was straight north of the old part of the city which I entered and spent a few hours walking around in and taking in the sights. It is probably the most inconveniently confusing city I have been in as there were a lot of very narrow streets and odd angles in every single intersection – and add to that tall buildings, that might not have been much taller than maybe 4-5 stories tall, but so close across from each other along the streets they at times felt almost oppressive.

The hotel’s receptionist had suggested to go take a look at the city’s cathedral and city hall. The city hall had a free entrance so it felt very uncommitting to have a walk around inside which was a relief as it was pouring down at the time. The cathedral looked impressive from the outside but less so inside – and outside the entire plaza in front was torn up and being renovated which soured the view quite a bit.

The rear corner of the cathedral (center).

City Hall.

I had also been recommended a market – the market itself was relative ordinary (and a fair bit of the booths were empty) and what one would expect from such a market in a city. But the building it was located in was definitely worth the walk around inside. And as an added bonus it kept me out of the rain.

Market.

After wandering around for a bit and getting genuinely lost a few times I managed to navigate myself out of the old part of the city, find my bearings and return to the hotel.

The following day I instead went East ward to the beach where I had a walk up and down along the walk ways before zig-zagging my way back to the hotel. The forecast had said clear sky and 22-23 degrees. True, it was 22-23 degrees, but at best in the shade. In the sun, which there was plenty of, according to various thermometers it was 30 degrees. Nice weather, would have been nicer if I had been prepared for those temperatures and actually packed a pair of shorts.

The beach in Valencia.

Dinners was a classic paella and a large chunk of lasagna (not on the same night). Both were delicious. Paellas don’t come in servings for one, and while I didn’t eat the entire thing there was definitely not enough for two which it was meant for. Or maybe it just says more about my ability to eat without any portion control. 

No, definitely not that.

21st of October - Footballing

I was planning on letting this day, flying to Valencia, just being part of the general telling of my time there, because what can be told about a flight (or rather 2 flights with a layover)?

Oh, boy.

I usually ensure I am at the airport with time to spare, so 1½-2 hours before departure I’m siting in the lounge having breakfast, killing time. An hour before departure I am informed that my flight has been delayed for half an hour. How am I informed? I receive notifications from the airport’s app and Lufthansa’s app, I receive two texts and two mails from SAS and a mail from Lufthansa. All at once. Consider me informed. 5 minutes later the plane is delayed first another 15 minutes and then 5 minutes more. At least only the airport app informed me of this – until I 5 minutes later also receive mails from Lufthansa and SAS. 

I honestly don’t know why SAS ever got involved. I booked a Lufthansa flight on Lufthansa’s website and SAS was never mentioned until I received all these notifications from them. One of life’s big mysteries.

At one point I decided to just go to the gate and wait there so I’m ready to go when we actually are able to board. It turns out that Brøndby (Danish football team) was playing the Rangers in Glasgow in the evening so a bunch of fans were going there for support and were on the same flight as I. Being football fans going to support their team many of them were already in a good mood – as in: they were in a beer-fueled good mood. (Yes, yes, this is in the AM close to noon, I do not see the relevance). When the delay was reaching an hour and the plane had only just arrived, the mood starts to slowly sour among the fans as the apparently only had that long of a layover in Frankfurt. Some of them were getting verbally annoyed but the riot I felt could easily be underway fortunately never happened.

With a delay of an hour and 10 minutes we were let on board (why is it that you can always identify those who are not part of the first boarding group by looking at who is crowding and blocking the access gates to the flight? Peasants!) and we were soon all seated and ready to go.

Then the captain informed us that as we had missed our preplanned window, we would have to wait at the gate for another 10-15 minutes before the tower would let us taxi to the runway. Sneaky bastard, because a few minutes later he came back on and let us know that security had arrived onto the plane to escort certain individuals off of the plane as “they were not acting in accordance to what is needed to keep it a safe flight”. 7 football fans were escorted off for everyone to see, all of them compliant and not putting up a fight. One of the guards was of the size of The Mountain with a beard rivalling that of Gandalf, I almost wished one of them had put up a fight as I would have loved seeing him folding them like a pretzel. That would have been some memorable in-flight entertainment. 

With a 1½ hour delay we were off to Frankfurt where I still had 40 minutes to get to my next flight. They had just started boarding but I arrived at the gate with no issues and plenty of time to spare.

The second flight was almost boring compared to the first one and on arrival in Valencia I easily found the metro line to my hotel. After a short breather in my room at this small 1 floor 12 room hotel, I had a small walk down to the Science Museum and surrounding buildings, enjoying the park and the large illuminated buildings.

Hemisfèric (IMAX, 3d and special screenings) in front and the science museum in the background.

"Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia", stage for opera, theater etc.

Science museum.

Satiating my thirst for traveling

Compared to a normal year, these past 1½ years have been a struggle to get through for someone like me who enjoys travelling. So I have lately been keeping a close eye to interesting countries' infection rates and willingness to open up for foreign tourists, hoping that someone would enable a trip to try and satiate my hunger. 

As mentioned previously the US have been dragging their feet and generally acting like a bunch of... somethings... when it came to the pandemic so that was out of the question. South America, Africa and Asia are at best iffy. Europe is currently mostly fine, but I was looking for something a bit further away, something more than "just" an extended weekend. 

And then Canada came to the rescue. They opened up their borders for tourists and even though you have to jump through quite a few hoops to get into the country it looked like a very compelling destination, even for just a short trip. So after talking with a friend and her recommending a specific trip up north, I saw an opportunity for a fun trip and slightly impulsively booked a trip.

9^th – 11^th of November

Flying out from Copenhagen early at around 0600 and arriving in Winnipeg at around 1800 - but more than 12 hours later (hurray for timezones to add to the confusion). Until the 11^th I have been offered a bed at a friend's place in Winnipeg so those two days will be spent on being shown Winnipeg. On the 11^th in the evening I'll be meeting with the tour group at a hotel near the airport.

12^th

Early morning we board a chartered plane that will take us up north to Churchill. We'll start off with a city tour and having a look around before the afternoon where we will relocate to a lodge located at Polar Bear Point in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area.

13^th – 15^th

As we are located in the middle of nature there will be wildlife roaming right outside our windows (potentially, at least). All the time will be spent on driving out and doing wildlife watching, with a focus on polar bears. During the nights there is a chance for seeing northern lights. In the evening on the 15^th we have returned to Churchill and spending the night there.

16^th – 18^th

Dogsledding in the morning before having a bit of time off before flying back to Winnipeg. Spending the last night at the airport hotel before saying goodbye in the morning and grabbing my flight home at noon, coming home on the 18^th.

11th – Going home

I was planning on sleeping in today and skipping breakfast at the hotel to grab lunch somewhere in Leiden instead. A few minutes past 10, the time the breakfast is served until, I got a call to my room from the reception making sure that I didn’t want breakfast as they hadn’t seen me during the morning. Never had that happen to me before (granted, I don’t skip breakfast at hotels very often, either) but that was a quirky bit of unexpected service.

I had a gentle walk around on sore legs, took a canal tour to rest my legs, grabbed some lunch and walked a bit more. It wasn’t very inconvenient that my flight wasn’t until early evening, but it was either that or in the morning, and I preferred sleeping in. 

Grabbing the train to the airport I went through security and found out that the lounge was closed so I couldn’t even sit there and relax while I waited – that was not what I had hoped for. So I camped at a café near the gate before finally being able to board and return home. The flight ended up getting delayed maybe half an hour which meant that I didn’t arrive home until midnight. Bah.

Leiden is very proud of being the birthplace of Rembrandt.

Overall it was a great trip, and feeling of that helped along by what I consider a successful run on the Sunday. I also really enjoyed it being out of season and people not really travelling as much yet as before which meant that there was plenty of room to just be yourself at the museums I ended up visiting. Made the entire thing so much more pleasant. And I'll be honest; I might prefer having my own photos filling my walls, but if I'd somehow get my hands on a Rembrandt I would definitely make room for it, even if it required me to sacrifice a few photos.

Full album from the trip can be found here.

10th – Leiden Marathon

The reason why I came here in the first place – the Leiden Marathon. The start (and nearby finish) was just a few minutes’ walk from the hotel which made everything a bit easier. The morning started pretty chilly at around 8°C but the forecasts promised warmer weather within 1-2 hours after the start topping up at around 13-15°C so I wasn’t really worried despite being a bit cold in just shorts and a t-shirt.

There were 3 starting groups and being placed in the last one I had no hopes of placing well when finishing. We were all sent off as planned at 1000 and after some frustrating narrow sections in town (no wider than 2 meters) and a few kilometers we reached the city limits and things opened up.

Throughout the run between the towns we passed through assigned mostly to cycling paths that seem to connect everything around here. The paths were everywhere from 1-1½ and 3-4 meters wide, and while it was narrow at times, because there were only 588 starters and as soon as we left Leiden we started getting spread out, it was never really an issue. 

Throughout the run, whenever there could be the slightest doubt where to go there would be marshals pointing the way so despite the limited signage there was never a risk of turning the wrong way. When passing through towns the main intersections were fenced in to lead us along, but as soon as we were out in the open there were nothing that could prevent non-racers to move about. That wasn’t really an issue, either, though, as all the locals seemed very respectful and supportive of the race and racers. There was the occasional biker that wanted to use the bike paths that we were running on, but they were few and far between. 

The long flat stretches between towns were nice, the towns seemed like the all were placed a couple of meters above everything else so whenever we were closing in on the next town we would be exposed to a short and steep (felt steep, at least) incline, and leaving we got a similar decline. And the numerous bridges across the canals (and a couple of tunnels) meant there were no shortage of short and intense ups and downs.

Returning to Leiden on the last few kilometers there was a lot of support along the way in form of onlookers. It probably also helped that we passed by multiple bars with outdoor serving that made the mood of the run even better. Getting closer to the end the course was completely fenced in and limiting the space to pass and be passed, and passing over the last few bridges we merged with the end of the 5- and 10km runs, squeezed together on 3 meters’ width and finally crossed the finish line. 

Crossing the finish line. Unfortunately there were no official photographers along the course.

I crossed the line in 3:55:48, 14 seconds slower than my PR. The PR was during the Boston virtual run, looking at traditional runs I beat my previous PR with 1:59. I finished as no. 292/577 overall and 247/463 among men which put me in top 50,6% and 53,3%, respectively. Fastest runner did it in 2:33:06, slowest in 6:06:52. Overall I was happy with the result, so I guess the run could be considered a success.

Despite it was a 5-minute walk from the hotel to the finish line, it was a 15-minute walk the opposite way. Weird. I have a room on the second floor of the hotel that doesn’t have an elevator and only steep stairs. That was no fun. A much needed shower and good rest afterwards I finished off with dinner at one of the nearby steak restaurants.

9th – Leiden

I was planning on having a rest day with only a short walk around in Leiden – I chose to stay away from the many museums and just wander around for a bit. The weather had cleared up and it was a good day to have a walk along the canals.

Molen de Valk (The falcon mill) from 1743.

I went by a small Italian place to book a table for tonight before going to Burcht van Leiden, the remains of a tower in the middle of the city. It wasn’t overly tall, but if it hadn’t been surrounded by the many trees you would still have had a great view over the city. Instead you mostly just saw tree tops. 

From there I went to pick up my t-shirt and number for the run tomorrow and made sure I knew the way from the hotel to the starting area. A 10-minute walk between a marathon and hotel is pretty nice.

Go right to go to Garenmarkt, turn left to... go the other direction? Duh! There were several of this sign around the cities, I am not sure if they meant anything but the obvious.

I ended up spending some time walking through the day’s market (there is one every Wednesday and Saturday) that was located along the canals. It was a quite large market and there was a big mix of cheeses, breads, candy, chocolate, fish and other. 

Around mid-afternoon I returned to the hotel and kicked back for the rest of the day before going out for dinner. A delicious dinner, but for some reason my cards didn’t work there so I had to run out and grab some money from a nearby ATM. Whoopsie!

7th – 8th – Amsterdam

I spent the following two days going to Amsterdam to take in the city. I had been recommended to have a look at the Rijksmuseum so that was my first stop on my tour. I had planned on spending a few hours looking around before continuing on, but when I left I had spent more than 5½ hours just walking around. With a small number of statues but primarily paintings it was surprisingly interesting, but personally I was the most impressed by the 1600-1700 floor. Plenty of classics by many more local painters that was seen in Mauritshuis together with numerous Dutch and Flemish painters. The density of artists in the Netherlands is – or has been – quite impressive. Van Gogh, Vermeer, Rembrandt, van de Velde are probably among the better known, but they were a mere fraction of the total collection. The Night Watch by Rembrandt is probably the best known at the museum and they are currently working on restoring it to its former glory. During the painting’s earlier years, the painting had been moved and because the new location had less space, they had removed parts of the painting to make it fit. They are now currently in the works of restoring the lost parts, basing themselves mainly – as I understood – on a smaller copy made before it had been “adjusted”. A lot of computerwork, AI, and three employees with a microscope were set in motion as part of the restoring process. 

The Night Watch, 1642, Rembrandt

A copy of the original The Night Watch, before it was cropped.

The library in the Rijksmuseum.

Militia Company of District VIII under the Command of Captain Roelof Bicker, 1643, Bartholomeus van der Helst.

Leaving the museum I circled the center following the canals, passing Anne Frank’s house, before finally finding the right road that brought me back to the station to get back to Leiden.

On returning to Amsterdam on my second day there I did a quick pass past the royal palace before heading East, opposite the Rijksmuseum. I didn’t have anything planned so I decided to just have a walk around, trying to get myself lost in the many narrow streets among old buildings, endless bicycles and the occasional sweet aroma hanging in the air.

I found myself at a new part on the roof of Nemo, the city’s technical science museum. From here you could see along the rooftops towards the center and towering Oude Kerk (“Old Church”).

View from the roof of Nemo.

After a short break I continued on and shortly after passed by the Versetsmuseum (Defense Museum). It was different compared to other similar WW2 museums in that they solely showed the war through the eyes of the civilians and ignored the actual armies and fighting that didn’t directly involve civilians. From here I continued, passed by the botanical garden without even noticing, and after a bit of confusion I ended up in front of Rembrandt’s house museum. I realized that the museum wasn’t about his paintings but rather how life was when he grew up and the effect he had on his students’ and others’ paintings so I ended up skipping it. With a bit more zig-zagging I found myself passing through the red light district (being daytime there was nothing obvious going on), continued confusing myself before finally finding my way back to the station and on a train back to Leiden.

I hadn’t been able to get dinner until 2000 the previous nights, so returning to Leiden at 1730 today I thought I’d be able to get something to eat a bit earlier. Yet, all the places I had a look at turned out to be popular and fully booked. So it still turned into 1930 before I found a nice small place that made some delicious burgers. 

If I want to be able to get a pasta dinner tomorrow so I can still manage to get some relaxation and good sleep before the run on Sunday I’ll probably need to book a table in advance to be sure to have somewhere to go.