The Home,

Our comfortable condo is located in the lovely town of Alkmaar, on the 5th floor of the adult orientated building ‘the Noorder Arcade’ which stands by the side of the ‘Noord Hollands’ Canal. The spacious 130sq meter (1400 sq ft) apartment has a south facing patio overlooking the historic city centre with its 400 monuments. The bright living and dining room is spacious, with a great view and sliding doors to the private patio. A computer is available in the living room for your emails and internet. The kitchen features all the usual aids, including dishwasher, fridge, stove and microwave. In the utility room off the kitchen you find the clothes washer and dryer. The master bedroom with its new Queen size bed has a full bathroom with a large European soaker tub and separate shower. The 2e bedroom has a full sofa-bed and another ensuite bathroom.

Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 2½ Home Type: condominium

The Neighborhood,

The secure building with its private rooftop parking offers shopping on the first two floors for your convenient next door grocery shopping. It is an easy 3 minute walk across a pedestrian-only bridge over the Canal to our historic city centre; in 2004 we celebrated its 750th anniversary! Alkmaar is an ancient Dutch city, famous for its 400 year old cheese market. Besides the predominantly small shops in the old centre you will find a range of restaurants, pavement cafés and coffee houses, as well as theatres small galleries, museums and lots of cultural events in the summer. Also within walking distance you find buses and trains, which bring you in 30 min. to the city centre of Amsterdam or to Paris in just over 5 hours. Our magnificent North Sea coast, only 10 km. away, combines kilometers of white sandy beaches with the un-spoilt natural environment of the Noord-Holland Dunes Reserve, popular with walkers and cyclists in summer and winter alike.

Attractions,

Restauran ts Shopping Galleries/Museums Theaters Health Club Spa Forest Ocean Lakes Golf Tennis Biking Wind Surfing Hiking Boating

Other Information

Our car, a 2006 manual Toyota Corolla Verso, will be at your disposal, as our 2 bikes. (The most important means of transportation in Holland) We are non smokers and expect the same from you.

Amenities,

Computer Internet Access TV/Cable Stereo Washer/Dryer Balcony/Patio

Co nditions,

No smoking No pets

The Dates,

We are flexible in dates, however not in April and May. We prefer a long term (>3 weeks) stay.

The Destination,

We would love to make an exchange with a retired couple in Vancouver, because our daughter and her family live there.

The People,

My husband and I are both retired; Jaap, 67, used to be a mobile crane operator and I, Yvonne, 61, used to be a kindergarten teacher as well as a vice principal of an elementary school. We have 2 grown daughters; one lives nearby in a small village and the other lives in Vancouver, BC. They both have 2 children.

We had several very successful exchanges.

Links,

http://www. vvvalkmaar.nl/welcome.asp?lang=0 h ttp://www.vvvnoordzeekust.nl/welcom e.asp?lang=0 http://www.noorderarc ade.nl/home_uk.html http://www.hol land.com/