Day 86: Lisse to Amsterdam (and back)

June 20, 2018

This was our day to travel to Amsterdam.While not the end of the cycling, this would make it the closest we will come to closing the circle we started at Apeldoorn, when we headed south from there, about 80 days and 5,600 km ago. It's 100 km from Amsterdam to Apeldoorn. We almost did cycle over there, to get a trusted mechanic to look at my stand problem. But now that the stand seems resolved, there is no real reason to go. (We were looking forward to another breakfast at the Apeldoorn Bastion Hotel, but oh well.)

We have pretty well circled France now! Thanks to Michel Fleurance for plotting this in GPSies.

To be sticklers, we would add this 100 kms.

Instead we are going to launch in to the "Waterland" circuit, which hits some iconic/historic spots north of the city, including the town of Edam. Our friends Marvin and Erika Paxman will arrive from Canada tomorrow, and the plan is to cycle the two day circuit together. Marvin an Erika will use rental bikes. After that we will pass our bikes to them, and they will pedal them to Austria. They will have a blog worth watching for. With the bikes lodged with Marvin and Erika, we will sadly return to Canada.

Will all this in mind, our mission for today was to cycle to Amsterdam and of course to do our usual survey of what is to be seen. But also we needed to find two bikes for Marvin and Erika. Renting a bike in the bike capital of the world should be easy. But no. Read on to find out what happened.

To get to Amsterdam from Lisse, all the familiar tools are available. We like the red bicycle/city direction signs, since they appear to offer the most direct route. At least, they seem to have that mystique, sitting up on the post and pointing so clearly. And maybe the promise of a short route to the desired city could be made good, if only the red signs would follow through. But alas, they always disappear, and leave you wandering in unknown territory. For us that means trying to make our way back to our gpx track, while lamenting that we should have gone with it in the first place.

At one point, while we were still working the red signs, we lost track of them for a moment. Dodie went straight on, and stopped, while I spotted the sign, pointing behind us. Too late. We were stopped and looking puzzled, so that attracted a helpful lady. Helpful people often spawn a round of UQs, and that's what happened here. I stood my ground, knowing that we had to follow the sign to behind us. But the lady collected the entire story of our 6000 km odyssey, before updating it with the information that we had to proceed to behind us. She walked from where Dodie had stopped to where I was stopped, to make sure she could point out to me the sign I was trying to follow. I wasn't really crabby, as this account might seem to portray. We like talking to people, and actually have found the Belgians and Dutch rather reticent.

Dodie and the not reticent Dutch lady. 6000 km makes for a long story.

Once the Paxman's arrive tomorrow, we will all move in to the Ibis at the airport. Today we wanted to have a look at it, to make sure we knew the route from there into Amsterdam. The Ibis was on our way from Lisse anyway, we claimed.

Schiphol airport is a pretty exciting big operation, though it takes a while to learn how to spell it, much less pronounce it. The first fun was watching a plane taxi over our bike path, and then we could see the tower in the mist as we skirted around past the Ibis.

We found a bot of parkland on the way from the airport to town, and even spotted our favourite goose - the Egyptian.

The Egyptian goose is a relatively new arrival - invasive species, but so colourful we love it.

The entree to Amsterdam from the direction of the airport is for us always the Vondel Park. The park was created in 1865 and in 1996 was designated a national monument. This is the first place where one can see the Amsterdam people doing their thing. That is, mainly riding bicycles, but also picnicking, dog walking, running - all typical park things. I guess it's the cycling that makes the park so interesting to us. But it is also a place where cycle traffic is more intense than we have experienced before, a harbinger of what is to come the moment one leaves the park gate.

These dogs were perfectly trained to stay. Their owner was across the street.

This was a harbinger of what was waiting beyond the park gates

Once outside the park, you are really in Amsterdam, and oh my. It is just pandemonium. There are bicycles, mopeds, cars, people flying in all directions, and many of them at you! You are immediately struck (almost physically) by all the iconic Amsterdam things: Narrow, higgledy piggeldy houses, canals everywhere, scenic bridges over the canals, people everywhere, bicycles piled up in drifts, the train station and other famous and beautiful buildings, marijuana in the air. Here are some impressions of the city:

Narrow buildings on a canal, at the oldest part of town

The canal bridges help symbolize Amsterdam for me.

The front of the train station. A modern mall lurks behind, on the water

Our immediate chore in Amsterdam was to arrange for two rental ebikes for Friday and Saturday. There are several bike rental companies, but MacBike had caught our attention in past years, with their excellent map of the bike streets of the town. The map also shows the three MacBike locations, one of which is indicated as being at the train station.

So we battled our way through the people and bikes to the station. It took 30 minutes from the Vondel Park, a distance of 3 km. Not bad?

At the station I had expected to see a prominent MacBike sign, so bold is their advertising on the map. But we found nothing. We did find tourist information, and got some directions. Back in the crowd and looking again confused, someone pulled out their cell phone and searched for us. Oh, its behind the station, near the water. OK, how to get there? We rode in the general direction, in front of the station. But someone semi-official stopped us. "No riding in front of the station". We made him give us more directions, and in due course found ourselves behind the station, riding along (apparently, legally). Suddenly Dodie yelped "I see it!". And yes, discreetly tucked away was MacBike. Dodie went in, but got quickly bounced out. The slightly surly girl said no ebikes are rented from this location. We had to go to the other one, in front of the station, by the "Chinese Boat". "You didn't see a Chinese Boat?" "sheesh".

Back around and we were looking for the Chinese Boat. It's by the Starbuck's. Oh, got it.

This was a large MacBike operation, lurking in an underground garage. The bikes went up and down on a sort of bike escalator. We went down with our own bikes.

The first sight down there was about 15 people getting ready to go out on a guided tour. The guide was trying to prepare them for the chaos. "Always check where you are going. Look over your shoulder for something swooping down on you. Do not pivot your body, lest you swerve. Do not just follow the person in front, you are responsible for being alert. These are three speed bikes. Speed 1 is the easiest. Good luck!"

I hope they had good luck, but we were told that MacBike had no ebikes to rent. They were all being serviced. "All?" How many do they have, two?

Anyway, they suggested Star Bikes. (Star Bikes is also a coffee shop. Ha ha. I wonder that Starbucks has not sued them yet. Starbucks sued a little native Indian bookshop with coffee, called Star Bucks, so the bike rental is so far lucky.) Where is Star Bikes? - Behind the train station. Oh no.

We found Star Bikes, and fended off being frazzled by congratulating ourselves on doing this running around now, and not on the day the bikes would be actually needed. Unlike MacBikes, Star Bikes was a small and funky place, with two friendly and communicative people at the helm. But, they only had one ebike. We grabbed that, and consigned one of our party to fighting the wind on a regular three speed Dutch bike.

We were now at the north end of town, at the station, and had to get back down to the Vondel Park to leave. Leave was high on the list, because the town was making us tired and tense. There were so many people, moving so fast, and most seemingly grumpy. Bicycles, normally a study in grace and efficiency, were piled up like cordwood, in every spare space.

Critically, the town was jammed with people. No wonder we had not found a place to Book here. One is lucky to find a place to stand. Look at this illustration:

Aside from the bikes, look at all the people!

Half way along between the station and the park lies the Bloemen Market. This is a line of large stalls along the canal, selling every manner of Dutch flower bulbs. Most of them look like very good quality, and the variety and varieties is interesting. The only thing, they are banned from coming to North America unless they bear an inspection sticker. We were told that no inspected material would be available until later in the summer, but actually we did find some. In the end we decided they were not worth the weight, and besides, our local nurseryman is Dutch, so maybe buying from him back home would be just as good.

At the bloemen markt. Exciting selection and packaging.

How about these? Soon to be legal in Canada.

As we made our way south, we were passing along narrow roadways on either side of canals. In one block, a car came behind us as we travelled single file on the right. Finding the progress too slow, the driver pushed up beside me, and proceeded to try to shove Dodie out of the road, passing her with two inches to spare.

That was too much for me. I turned on the adrenalin and chased the guy down. I arrived as he was getting out of his Mercedes, and began to shout about safe passing distances. The guy claimed he had left enough room. Dodie came along and began to berate the man too. She asked something like why he had almost run her down, and the reply was something like "You were in my way".

Earlier we had discussed with the folks at Star Bikes the legal imperative here that the bicycle is right, unless a driver can prove a very strong case to the contrary. But, we were told, taxis were known to hit tourists, and run. In such cases, the taxi might be encircled by other cyclists, and held.

This ended with the driver saying to us that if we do not like conditions here, we should go back to Canada. He was totally unapologetic. Later I ran his license number. He looked like a business man, but yes, he was a taxi.

You were eating up "this much" of MY road.

This encounter, and the generally frazzly conditions definitely coloured our feeling this time about the beautiful city. I even felt a little queasy about the wonderful cycling society of the Netherlands, where the bicycle had multiplied to the extent that they now seemed to be in the way - clogging sidewalks and shunned by merchants from parking in front of their stores or restaurants. On the other hand, as we passed the airport again I looked down on a traffic jam of cars. Which would I rather have?

If you think there are too many bikes here...

Once out of the city again, things (including my blood pressure) returned to normal. Out here, the bike lanes are a wonderful boon. And soon we passed the peaceful cows near "home", and all was well.

P.S. Optional Equipment?

The first two thirds of our trip into Amsterdam was under the sea (level). Perhaps a snorkel would be good emergency equipment to bring along.

Today's ride: 87 km (54 miles)
Total: 5,782 km (3,591 miles)

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