Netherlands Day 3 - Amsterdam

73.5 km with a stiff headwind (and 1.5 km with a tailwind) to get down to Culemborg and Beesd over 2 days, and 45 minutes to get back to Amsterdam by train! I think we should have reversed the order, but live and learn.

Will was kind enough to drive us back to Culemborg where we retrieved our bikes from the lock-up near the train station. Justin spoke in the last post about the hundreds of bikes in the outdoor lot (compared to the dozen or so cars), but this was for longer-term or more secure storage, perfect for when you've declined the bike rental company insurance. You stand on a pressure plate with your bike while inserting your payment card, and then bring both yourself and your bike through separate revolving doors into the lockup. When you drop your bike off, the only exit is down a narrow spiral staircase with a tiny gate, preventing anyone from stealing bikes through that door. When returning and using the main exit you can only get one person and one bike out at a time. It's a slick system - too bad it didn't work and the poor employee at the bike repair shop had to help us (apparently this happens a lot)!

 

The transit system in the Netherlands is, unsurprisingly, super bike-friendly. There are bike ramps in all of the stations, you can buy a ticket for your bike and there are even areas where passengers have to get up and yield their fold-up seats to make room for bikes. One way to save money on tickets is to buy a fold-up bike. I loved seeing the gentleman beside us at the station fold his - in my head the Transformers sound effect was playing! I wish I had been quick enough to get a video.

30 seconds earlier this was a normal bike. Now it's surrealist art.

After a transatlantic red-eye, a week of UK tourism, our killer bike ride and meeting extended family, Whitney was understandably feeling under the weather, so she stayed back at our AirBNB in Amsterdam for some downtime. We had this sweet double-bunk bed setup that my 10 year old self would have totally coveted (before I figured out what a pain in the ass this bed was to make - but that's the benefit of a one-night stay!)

Photo credit to our AirBNB host - if you're looking for a place in Amsterdam I can send you the link!

As we still had the bikes, Justin and I checked out much of the north and east of Amsterdam. While it was still blustery, the windbreak of buildings made it a lot less painful, and it was a beautiful day!

I knew they took their houseboats seriously here, but this is a Hobbit Hole Boat!

This one has a floating patio/garden

Interesting architecture that totally didn't get the Tetris theme song stuck in my head for an hour

"Big Sexy Serpent Bridge", or Python Bridge. Guess which nerd was more excited about this one?

We hadn't found too many windmills at this point, so when we found one in the city centre we had to stop. It is a private residence (!) next to an independent brew pub. We had a meat and cheese platter and had some drinks (I had their 'white' wine, which was option 1 of 2) while enjoying the staff roasting grains in the next room.

We should have tried to stay here!

I loved the old beer bottles as decor. Titanic Brewery was my favourite. Goes down smooth?

We then found a market and wandered around. I always like food vendor pictures.

There weren't any raw herring (local delicacy) for us to try here, but wait until our last day for some pics!

We also found ourselves in a small drugstore/grocery store, where I couldn't read a label in Dutch and got really excited that there was also French! Those that know me know my French is... not great, but any port in a storm! Learning tiny bits of the languages of the countries we pass through has given me a greater appreciation for the common themes and sounds in so many of these languages. I just wish I was better at picking them up!

We headed back to pick up Whitney, who had made a miraculous recovery, and headed off for a dinner, before basically collapsing at bedtime. Here are a few sunset pictures from the day!

This was a much-needed 'quiet day', but the pace picked up in the next few days! Also, I didn't hit my face on the ceiling while sleeping in the bunk bed, so it was all good!