A Bike Ride through the Countryside - 9/17/2010

Woke to downpouring rain this morning which did not bode well for our plans to take a bike tour into the countryside, but the ride was not until 11:00 and the weather here seems to be as capricious as the weather in Denver so we thought we would wait and see. In the meantime we had a leisurely morning and then set off to the train station to figure out our train trip to Berlin the following day.

This Eurrail Pass certainly has its advantages, but it does take some figuring out, which we are still doing. With the pass you can travel many, if not most trains and routes, without paying an additional fee. Sometimes, though, you must make reservations (particularly for high speed trains called ICE), and for that you pay a fee. Sometimes reservations are recommended but not required and often times there is no need to reserve, you can just hop on and hop off. When you purchase the Eurrail Pass, you are sent a schedule of train schedules for all of Europe (though in small font and on thin paper it is still an impressive booklet), that indicates when reservations are required. What we did not realize was that this book does not reflect all of the options available to us and we discovered that many routes, including those using the ICE, are not identified. So we find it useful to check in at the train station ticket desk to ask specifically for ICE trips as the trains are faster and very comfortable. It seems that almost always we are presented with options preferable to those not found in our booklet. I think the Eurrail can be easy if you just go by the booklet, but for high maintenance folks such as ourselve,s it can get a little more complicated and confusing, by our choice of course.

As mentioned in a previous post, Amsterdam Centraal Station is confusing. We went to an information booth and after standing in line for 20 minutes, we were informed that we needed to go to the international information booth. We stood in line and then when we walked up to the first available window, were informed that we needed to take a number, for which needed to, you guessed it, stand in line because a woman was handing out the tickets and before doing so had to quiz us to ensure that we took the right ticket. I was losing my patience while Rick remained wonderfully calm. At least when we finally got to the right window it was pretty straight forward and we managed to find an ICE route from Amsterdam to Berlin with only one transfer in Duisdorf.

Pete, our Fearless Guide

By that time, the sun had come out so we took a tram to the bicycle tour place where we met up with our tour guide Pete, a Canadian expat, and 10 others from Australia, US, and Canada, for a bicycle ride in the countryside. A word about the bikes. The most popular brand seems to be Townies. In the city you see none of your fancy touring or mountain bikes. The bike is strictly intended to be a form of reliable transport that is plain enough that no one would want to steal it. So the bikes are like those of my and perhaps even my parent's childhood, the ones where you sit upright (no leaning forward). Rick noted what wonderful posture the bike riders have. You might have gears, you might not, you might have brakes, you might not. I noticed that when we went biking with the group, must of us were slouchers. Anyway, I like these bikes (despite the constant grinding gears on my own rental).  The ones I've had during my adult years had me leaning forward and it seems that ever since I developed hips, I couldn't balance myself well. On these Townies, it was a breeze.

You know what this is

The bicycle ride in the country was a great respite from all of the walking we've been doing. Along with the tour, Pete gave us an overview of Dutch history and provided enough detail about dikes and the pumping system to please an engineer but not so technical that us non-technical types couldn't understand it. We visited a windmill, no longer in use, and had to stop for some tourist kitch at a cheese AND clog making factory. How efficient, all of Netherland's stereotypes, minus the cannabis, rolled into one. I guess Pete needs to get his

You also know what this is

kickbacks in some way. Despite the feeling of getting sold a bag of goods, it was educational nonetheless. Before long we were back on the road, in the rain this time, making our way back to the city. We passed through a protected hardwood forest, and a number of parks. In total it was about four hours long and our biking mates were all good natured and fun. Good luck to Karen from North Carolina on her ascent to Mt. Kilmanjaro!

And you know what these are

After the bike ride, we went in search of stamps for postcards (Elena, Michael, and Matthew, you each should be receiving postcards from me from every country though you might not receive them until after I get home) and an afternoon snack, then it was back to our B&B, where found Ken playing with the neighbors next door kids, to organize, pack and prepare for our trip to Berlin the following day.

Pretty Tree in Amsterdam Park

Dinner was taken in another part of town, the West Canal District, in the form of tapas and Sangria. Tapas has been a great way to eat dinner given that, because we often each lunch so late, we aren't so hungry for a full meal, but need to eat a little something otherwise we'd be pretty hungry when we go to bed. The restaurant we picked was Duende and it started off sleepy enough, but come 7:30 pm it was packed. We swear that the bartender must have been pretty high because he was continuously messing up our order and we had quite a few plates delivered to our table that we hadn't ordered, but we ate nonetheless because we weren't sure as to what we had ordered and it was hard to place orders given how packed it was. You could tell that the waitresses and chefs were getting a little PO'd about this, but, as it turns out, he owns the establishment so there isn't much that they could do. He then delivered to us our bill which was about half of what it should have been. We sorted things out, paid our full bill, fools that we are, and appear to have made friends for life. The food was good and the Sangria delicious.

Happy Me on a Bike

We came back to our room around 9:00 pm when Ken appeared and asked us what he thought of the new painting that he had just finished and place in our room. It was a beautiful modern style painting of cherry blossoms against a red background. Ken said that he wanted someone's honest opinion of the work. Despite our not being art afficionados, we both raved about it. Honestly, if I wasn't already struggling with our baggage as it is, I would have offered to buy it on the spot. I'm upset with myself for having forgotten to take a photo. Ken seemed satisfied with our response and then said that we were the best guests ever (of course) and that he feels like he should be doing more for us. We assured him that he more than exceeded our expectations and that we would stay with him should we come to Amsterdam again and that we would recommend him to all of our acquaintances. I almost feel sad leaving him.

Final thoughts on Amsterdam:
- Bikes have the right-of-way, pedestrians, cars, trams, and busses duke it out for second place.
- Amsterdam businesses do not like taking credit cards and many won't. Good idea to have a bit of cash with you when you visit . . . and know the location of the closest ATM.
- Had no luck finding a post office but was able to buy postcard stamps at a grocery store. Mailboxes are red but small and inconspicuously located along the streets.
- Coffee shops are where marijuana is openly smoked. Cafe shops are where you drink coffee.  It is, however, illegal to smoke tobacco in these "coffee" shops. Only cannibis is permitted. We do NOT know this from personal experience. Our bike guide, Pete, told the group about this. We got a sense that he likely came by this knowledge first-hand.
- Couples of all ages firmly believe in public displays of  affection.