Jeremy woke me up at 5am to go for a walk
The Damrak, running from Centraal Station to Dam Square, is the main street in Amsterdam
In front of the Rijksmuseum
The bucket bike for transporting kids or goods
Before we left for our trip, when I asked Kate and Chris what they think of when they hear "Amsterdam," I was looking for them to say windmills. But Chris said canals and bridges and Kate said bikes. Still very good answers - to hook them into a day of seeing all good Holland things ... I was selling them a bike ride to Zaanse Schans.
With the weather being so cooperative, a bike ride to the country-side to see windmills was absolutely in order. After a hearty breakfast at Broodje Bert (recommended), we rented bikes from "Rent A Bikey" in nearby Haarlemmerplein. I highly recommend them! For a discounted price of 10 euros a day, they rented us fully insured 3-speed bikes with hand brakes. We had the necessary equipment and I had spent hours mapping our 10-mile route (each way) to the windmill "museum" using street view on google maps - to attach to my handlebars.
With the weather being so cooperative, a bike ride to the country-side to see windmills was absolutely in order. After a hearty breakfast at Broodje Bert (recommended), we rented bikes from "Rent A Bikey" in nearby Haarlemmerplein. I highly recommend them! For a discounted price of 10 euros a day, they rented us fully insured 3-speed bikes with hand brakes. We had the necessary equipment and I had spent hours mapping our 10-mile route (each way) to the windmill "museum" using street view on google maps - to attach to my handlebars.
Easy, flat bike trails all throughout Amsterdam
Our 10 mile bike route (each way)
I can't say we had convincing courage to take on the bike culture of Amsterdam but pretending we were locals setting out for the day on the miles and miles of bike paths turned out to be a perfect adventure! We all survived unscathed - excepting some honked horns and Dutch cursing - we breathed no foul words, and we even got some exercise to boot! Plus the added cherished bonus of sore bottoms. "How much further - one more mile," was the joke of the day.
Watch out for the tourists on bikes!
Our route included a ferry crossing
Bike path along the canal took us past cute Dutch homes
We made it to Zaanse Schans!
The traditional village called Zaanse Schans was created in the late 1950's when dozens of local 17th century farms, houses and windmills were broken down and moved to the area. You can visit 6 working windmills as well as various stores and workshops. Seeing the village is a nice contrast to a visit to Amsterdam.
Enjoying a well-earned picnic lunch
The windmills of Zaanse Schans
The wooden shoe workshop has 3 places where you can make silly poses
The wooden shoe workshop
