Bikes and more bikes
27 September 2010 | Amsterdam, NL
Overcast, showers
Photo: The main means of transport in Amsterdam
A busy day, as today we picked up our new rental campervan (the one we will live in for the next three months), and then headed into central Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank House museum. A steady stream of people progresses through the narrow halls and staicases of the museum, which receives over a million visitors annually, and it is of course a haunting tribute not just to one of the many who perished in the Holocaust, but also to those who continue to suffer discrimination everywhere today.
Walking anywhere in Amsterdam, one is struck not only by the number of people out on the sidewalks, but one needs to be aware of the bicycles that are everywhere, and that one is more likely to be run over by a bike than by a car! Some of "bike parks" around the Centraal Station are truly impressive, as there are thousands of bikes parked all around. It is also impressive (but not a practice I would recommend) to see how some riders manage to pedal while holding on to an umbrella and talk on a cell phone at the same time!
We met up in the evening with Michel and Robert, two sailors we met when they sailed into Halifax in Michel's boat Pas de Deux, and whom we met again in Luperon in the Dominican Republic when we sailed there in Semper Vivens. We had a great chat at a local bar, and learned that Michel was also in Hoorn the day before us, at the World 2.4M Champioship regatta....and he knows Paul Tingley....the world gets smaller!
After dinner we took the van and drove to the eastern edge of the city at Muiden, near the Royal Netherlands Yacht Club, and spent our first night in the van....more blankets required!