Jocelyn's blog
Apr. 10, 2009
Riding Along....
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It was an overcast and gloomy looking day in Amsterdam yesterday but that didn't mean we adopted that attitude! Certain things were ruled out for the day - Nanna was spending the day with her sister - it was probably not a good day to go to Keukenhof (the Tulip Gardens) - in the end, we didn't make it to the Vincent van Gogh museum So, what did we do? Well, the quintessential "Dutch" experience has to include a bicycle ride and that was what we did. With the vdBs, all 8 of us rode from their home in Amstelveen into the central area of Amsterdam. Our whole afternoon was spent in a relaxed style, just taking in the sights and sounds of life here. What we saw were the little things - a decorated window to show that a baby boy had been born to that household; a piano being loaded on a furniture ramp to take it to the fourth floor of an apartment block and through the top window; a bakery that had some yummy treats for lunch, a bike repair shop because Andrew's bike lost its chain twice and it needed to be fixed; cars and bikes sharing the road and actually respecting one another's positions; a place to have coffee (and I mean the regular sort); going past a school whose motto was Potius deficere quam desperare - "it is better to fail than to despair"; a street side market place where anything and everything was on sale, so we bought some lovely cheese and hot fritz (chips or fries). It was such a pleasant way to spend the day, and even though both of us had been to Amsterdam before, so much of it was new and interesting. We ended up riding 16 kms that afternoon and just thoroughly enjoying it. More "touristy" sightseeing is being left for another day... |
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Apr. 12, 2009 - Only thing missing is some photos :)
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