Amsterdam

Picture 1: on our way to the Van Gogh museum

Picture 2: bikes, bikes and more bikes

 

After finishing our tour of Germany, we rode on our last train with our 30 day Rail Pass. It was a bittersweet entry into the city because we loved our adventurous train trips and hated to see them come to an end but at the same time we were both excited to experience a city we had heard so much about.

 

The very first thing we noticed on the walk from the train station to our hotel was the overwhelming number of bikes. We had heard a lot about the ratio of bikes to cars but it is hard to imagine until you see it. They have parking ramps for bikes the same way we have parking ramps for cars. Everybody rides them. 10 year olds, Moms with 1 kid on the front and 1 kid on the back, 65 year olds and more. It was fun to watch and at the same time tense. We were always in the way and kept hearing the ringing of the bells as they passed by us.

 

On our 1^st full day in the city, we went to the Van Gogh Museum, saw the outside of the Anne Frank house and did our usual walking around. That evening, we decided to go to the movies. Indiana Jones was the winner. The movie theatre was classy as it was the same as going to a play or concert at the Orpheum. And, in case you are wondering, yes Indy still has it.

 

After seeing so many bikes, we couldn’t help but spend a day on them. We rented the standard “Granny Bikes” and headed south out of the city into the beautiful Holland countryside. Amsterdam has the bike thing figured because we rode 1.5 hours out of town and never ran out of bike path.  

 

All in all, we loved our time in Amsterdam.

 

Off to Dublin…