Saturday, December 16, 2017

Amsterdam, Day 2

Probably everyone knows that Amsterdam is the bicycle capital of the world. It lives up to its reputation as there are bicycles, bike riders, bike racks and bike lanes all around the city.






Dutch cyclists really know how to make a bike a utility vehicle to haul just about anything, including children, groceries, and Christmas trees, among other things. Below are some pics of the rigs we saw there.



We were considering renting bikes to get around the city and experience the culture. We decided to walk instead, and that was likely a wise choice. Cyclists in Amsterdam have many obstacles to be aware of, and we would have likely been highly stressed trying to ride around the city.

One obstacle to overcome would have been the other cyclists. Many of the cyclists had their cell phones out fiddling with them, either talking, texting, or listening to music while riding. A large majority of them did not give any type of warning when passing other cyclists in fairly narrow bike lanes. Safety does not seem to be a high priority for cyclists in Amsterdam. I only saw a very few cyclists wearing helmets, and those were usually the "spandex clad" cyclists.  Most of the cyclists looked as though their photo could be placed directly into a fashion magazine when they got off the bike due to the way they were dressed, stillettos and all. Rear view mirrors for cyclists must not be cool in Amsterdam as we saw none. 

Another obstacle would be the motorized vehicles that are allowed to ride on the bike paths. Scooters are allowed on the paths, and they did not slow down much when passing the cyclists within inches from them.  Photo below


There is also a small car called the Canta that is made in The Netherlands, and it is also allowed on the bike paths even though it can reach speeds of 30 mph.  We saw a few of those cars on the paths with the bikes. The drivers of the Canta's are not required to have a driver's license. Canta pic below


Then there are the pedestrians, primarily tourists, that are not paying much attention to their surroundings and could easily walk onto a bike path in front of a bike. There were times when we almost crossed bike paths without looking for oncoming bikes. 

And, of course, the cars.  In addition to the obstacles listed above, there are also a lot of motorists in Amsterdam to be on the lookout for while biking. Some of the roads were very narrow and required motorists and cyclists to share them. On several occasions, we saw vehicles pass cyclists within inches. Even if there was a 3-foot law in Amsterdam, some roads in the city are not wide enough for a motorist to give that much space for a bike. 

Lisa: and I don't even think there could even be a 3 inch law as we witnessed. But it did make for much entertainment as we walked around today (BTW, 28,200 steps today)

Today we found the I Amsterdam sign and finagled ourselves among the other tourists for a few pics:



We went to the Van Gogh museum, and as surprising as it may seem to some of my friends, (ahem, you know who you are), it was really good. I enjoyed getting to know the man with so much talent who had a very sad ending to his life. I have read that there is often a very long line to get in, and even though we had already bought our tickets, there was hardly a line to purchase tickets when we got there. So if you want no lines, I highly recommend going this time of year. I got to get as close as I wanted to The Sunflowers, which is one I recognized well, because the students at Big Ridge Elementary, when Alyssa was there, were taught by my friend, Caroline, and this was a painting they got to recreate while they learned about Van Gogh.


A little fountain:


Gentlemen enjoying a heated game of Chess.  They were really taking it seriously.


Amsterdam, it was great seeing ya'






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