Day 84: Amsterdam

October 10, 2013

The area between Schiphol terminal and the forest camping, ten km distant, is a bit complex. so to prevent any slip ups on Saturday, we started today withh a dry run. On of the advantages of heading for an airport terminal is the airport tower, which they have graciously placed as a marker. Nonethess, even though this is the most bicycle oriented country in the world, there is one and only one bike way in to the complex, and it is unmarked.

We can see it, somsurelynwe can find a way in!

Part of the only way in to Schiphol for a bicycle.

We included in our dry run passing our bikes through the tricky double revolving doors of the terminal, and then taking them to the second floor Departures on the escalator. Once we were up there, we said why not try to find the Air Transat counter. There were counters for all sorts of weird airlines that we had never heard of, but no Transat. Apparently they are too "fly by night" to actually have their own counter. Rather, a few hours before the flight, someone will haul down the Air Burundi sign, or whatever, and the space will magically become Air Transat. The Information Booth in Departures is comprised of a telephone. However, the man on the line was able to guess that when the time came, Air Transat would take booth 21. Ok, fine.

10 km to Schiphol from Amsterdam Camping

We scoped out a quiet spot where we will spread out and repack our stuff on Saturday.

We retraced our steps, pausing to squabble over the best way to pass through the tricky doors, and headed for downtown Amsterdam. To change things up, this time we took the way through the Amsterdam Bos. This is a small forest preserve near the airport. Maybe it is something more special than we think, because it has a large visitor centre.

Through the Amsterdam forest as a partial way into the city. From the end of the forest there is a short urban bit before entering the Vondelpark, which leads tomthe inner city.

Our plan was for the minimum a tourist can actually do: Canal boat city tour, and slow walk through the shopping district. Nothing so advanced as visiting an actual museum, or something like the Van Gogh exhibit.

Our first step in not doing very much was to stash the bikes in one of the guarded storage sites. There are a number around town, but we chose the one by the train station. Getting there requires passing through the town. The town, of course, is gorgeous - amazing - crazily historic, scenic, cool. But also the people are buzzing around like bees, mostly on bikes, but some on foot or in cars. And they go fast, and seldom stop.

The streets of Amsterdam again. Some photos below are just labelled "Amsterdam" because they are general atmospheric scenes.

So we were glad we decided to stow the bikes. A dozey Canadian tourist holding up a camera while slowly cycling with one hand one the bar is asking to get mowed down - by a fellow cyclist. Even in the lockup, then, we paused to ask how it worked. Both the attendant and the people behind were totally impatient with this. Get on with it! We have places to buzz to (and presumably, joints waiting to be smoked.)! We took the time to berate the guy behind us for his impatience. Unfortunately, he had no time to argue with us!

So many rental bikes, this is just a selection. This town is nuts!,

Since we had spennt most of the day snooping around the airport, we realized we too had no time, for the boat ride. So we set out on the shopping trip. We did have one real objective for this - to findd a knitting store, where Dodie (an avid and expert knitter) could find some dreamy European yarn. I had done some research, and had a store in mind. But standing between us and this goal was an infinite number of cheese shops, chocolate shops, and bakeries. We bought all we could reasonably carry, which in no way was enough. The quality of this stuff is supreme. With the cheese, the price is lots less than we would pay at home, but quality chocolates were about €2 a piece. On the other hand, it did not take much to feel you had had a real treat.

At the wool shop, selection was quite limited and prices high. We had already read of this on the net. However Dodie got two really super pattern books. One has some original and exciting kid's designs, and the other has traditional sweater designs from 40 Dutch villages. Both of these are great souvenirs.

The boats not taken. Oh well, tomorrow may be another day.

At the wool shop, Dodie checks out the pattern books

We noticed the light was fading and started the long trek home to the camping beyond the airport. Soon we were riding in the dark, but we have good flashers and lights, and we now know the way fairly well. The distance is just under 20 km.

This chocolate lady demonstrates the slimming effects of the product!

Shops with cheese to taste are everywhere

This mohn pastry was excellent, but it is not a general product, just a fluke that we found it.

We got home and headed to the kitchen building to cook the eggs we had bought at the camp store in the morning. We found only one grocery in Amsterdam, and it was useless.

At the kitchen, the place was filled with students on a field trip. Oh no, we thought, the Grampies nemesis, noisy unsupervised teenagers. Our attitude turned around sharpely when two of the kids came over with salad and dressing, oranges, and apples, and asked if we would like these spare items. Wow, bonanza!

Plus, they we not unsupervised at all. One of the teachers came over and we soon exchanged information about our trip and their trip. We learned that rather than just lead the kids around, the teacher had gambled on giving them a bit of autonomy, and that he felt it had paid off in improving their experience in Amsterdam a lot.

So a possible annoyance became a valuable experience all around.

Meanwhile, some of the discussion was overheard by the fellow at the next table. We had had a brief word with him in the morning, berating him for eating just ramen for breakfast. This turned out to be Viktor, from Kiev. He had just flown in last night, and biked to the camping from the airport in the dark. When we first encountered him in the morning, ramen was all the food he had.

Viktor is cycling from here to Paris. He is an electrical engineer, involved with making headlamps for mining, that also contain gas warning sensors. Needless to say, his accent is sooo cute.

Viktor is big, strong, and competent, so we were bemused to see the track his GPS made of him trying to find the camping. Apparently, you don't have to be a Grampie to go in circles!

Listening to usntalking to Viktor, Tilak came over and introduced himself. Tilak is studying mechanical engineering near Duisberg. He is a runner, and is preparing for his first marathon, Nov. 3. He is also interested in mountain climbing, and adventure generally. So he seemed happy to have me prattle on about adventure cycling. I prattled on so long, that now I get to sit up and write this after midnight.

Tomorrow, we plan to cycle back in to Amsterdam to pick up on that boat ride we missed today. We surely will learn more and do more, so stay tuned. This tour is not over until it's over!

These kids turned out not to be a problem - far from it.

Viktor's trajectory to the camping. We should make him an honorary Grampie!

Tilak and Viktor. Sorry for the fuzzy photo!

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 5,601 km (3,478 miles)

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