Shopping in Amsterdam

Today Rachel and bicycled into Amsterdam and walked around doing some shopping. It was really reat to bike into town. I borrowed Rachel's bike and she rode Pieter's. Rachel is quite a bit taller than me so we discovered that we needed to lower the seat a bit to prevent me from falling on my face. Her bike has backpedal breaks! I haven't been on a bike like that since I was 6 or 7. Only one gear on this bike and this big touring handle bars. There are all kinds of rules about cycling here. There are separate lanes everywhere and each bike lane has its own set of lights at intersections. The light is a little bicyle shape that is either red or green. So it was a pleasant little 30 minute tour into town. We got into Amsterdam by going through this park near the south-west edge of the downtown core called Vondelpark. This park is just mostly grassy with trees and big broad paved paths as well as more narrow dirt paths weaving through it. It was a nice way to come into the city.

We parked our bikes at the edge of the park and walked into town. Right away, I saw the combination of canals and tall buildings that you always see in photographs and paintings of Amsterdam and are always hearing about. We spent hours wandering around the western section of the downtown core and did a lot of window shopping (of course this is one of my favorite ways to spend my time and just get a feel for the place). I looked into a shop selling Delftware and saw lots of tulips; both the fresh kind and the brightly painted wooden kind were everywhere. I think I'll buy a bunch of wooden ones as a souvenir. There are large streets as well as more narrow little winding streets all wit interesting sights and shops. We ate lunch at this great pizza place right next to the Palace. Not only was it great pizza, but I think the owners were sephardic jews because there was some judaica on display in a case behind the bar!!! Kind of surprising and pretty cool and it just added to the experience. The city and shopping areas were chocked with people and by 4:30 we were tired and headed back home. Ending the day with a relaxing bike ride back to Rachel's place was a great way to finish off my first day in Holland.

Rachel lives above a series of practical stores including a post office and a grocery store and so we bought some food for dinner and then I bought one of those transit cards called a strippenkaart. Tomorrow Rachel and I will take the train to Zandvoort. Zandvoort is in Noord-Holland and is a short train ride from Amsterdam. I'm looking forward to exploring the beach and walking a bit along the dunes. Someday I'll have to come back and have a proper tour of the actual countryside.