Amsterdam (and all those bicycles)

This is the city of bicycles and bicycle riders.  The hotel we stayed in was even called The Bicycle Hotel.

It is the perfect city to embrace the riding of bicycles for the majority of the population.  It is a city with a small land area and is quite flat.  There are almost twice as many bicycles in Amsterdam as there are people.

We had planned to hire some bikes in Amsterdam and join the general population, but they are hard core and zoom around the city roads at a very fast clip.  We had to be very careful even on foot not to be run down.

Storing all those bikes during the day is a very serious matter and we saw many bike storage places in our travels.

All over the city, as far as the eye can see, there are bikes parked in every direction.

We loved our time in Amsterdam and feel it is a city we could easily return to and to also see a little more of Holland.

We extended our stay from 3 days to 5 and could have easily spent longer, but it was time to head south to Belguim and our planned return to the UK.

We strolled the canals, and of course like every visitor to Amsterdam, took a look at the famous red light district and the "coffee shops" selling their cannabis and all the paraphernalia.

We went to the Van Gough Museum which was really interesting and we learnt a lot about his life and his art.

We did not get to see the Anne Frank house museum as there were no online tickets available and we didn't feel we had the time to queue for the necessary time.  We did stop by and saw the actual house which even felt strange, having studied the book back in high school and then actually seeing the house where she hid during the war for over 2 years.

We had some day trips to some of the smaller towns near to Amsterdam.  We visited Harlaam with it's 12th century central church and town centre and we then continued on to the coast and had a quick look at the beach and the coast line.  By that time the weather was starting to close out on us and the wind had turned into a gale force, so we didn't stay long looking at the beach area.

The 12th century church at Harlaam

Inside the church

We went by train on another day to  a village just outside of Amsterdam which has restored some of the windmills which once were the life blood of Holland along the river ways.  What has remained of the village has been faithfully repaired and is in full working order.  Gives you a great look at what life would have been like in Holland generations ago.

 

So that is a little look at our time in Amsterdam.  All too soon it is time for us to pack up and head to the station to catch a train to Brussels in Belguim.  Our days in Brussels will bring to an end this stage of our travels.  Will update some pics of our travels south to Brussels in the near future.

Until then, take care and love to all.