more about bikes

cycling is king here. i am amazed at the number of bikes, number of stores that revolve around buying, selling and repair, and the wonderful bikes lanes everywhere in this city. cycling trumps every other mode of transportation except trams. i don't think trams stop for bikes so please be careful if you ever come to the netherlands and rent one. but cars and people absolutely give bicycles the right of way and do it graciously!

i can bike down a one way street the wrong way and still make a car stop or move out of the way for me. i can nearly run down somebody on my bakfiets and with a simple 'ching ching' of my bell have them step aside. i can bike on a crowded street, taking up far too much room, and NOT get honked at. it's craziness!

in 3 months only 1 person had the nerve to beep at me while cycling with the kids in the rain. an onlooker glared at them and then looked at me with a certain look in his eye like 'clearly that asshole is from germany'.

people lock their bikes anywhere they can - to trees, other bikes, bridge railings and even boats. the bike parking at amsterdam's central train station houses thousands upon thousands of nearly identical black bicycle (with the occasional orange spray painted variety).

you would think that with a country crazy about cycling they would take good care of their bike but you would be wrong about that. most bikes are pieces of crap but they do the job. poor unused bikes lay dormant with deflated tires and bent wheels like fallen soldiers. police tag bikes that are obviously abandoned and eventually cart them away leaving more space to lock up new ones.

but getting around this city by bicycle can totally elevate your mood. you can get anywhere in a matter of minutes and there is really nothing like cruising down a canal street on two wheels.

dutch minivan bike

i can't believe the trip is nearly over and i haven't discussed my bakfiets. pictured here is how the kids and i have been getting around town for the past 3 months. i bought it on the second or third day after arrival here off craig's list for 200 euros. it is a chinese knockoff of the nice dutch bikes most people with children have here. the bike clearly had issues and needed some repair work and was 'joyless' to ride, if i can quote mike here. it was heavy, wobbely, and took tremendous effort to propel forward despite the flat terrain. the front brakes grabbed at different rates, sending the box portion wrenching to the left or right in inopportune times. however, it was our main mode of transportation and allowed me to go to the market and buy 4 or 5 bags of groceries AND haul the kids at the same time. getting up and down bridges was challenging with it completely full and the kids would give me a turbo charge and chant 'i think i can do it' as i attempted to get up, typically having to pop off almost at the crest of nearly every bridge for a final push to the top. as the weeks went on i got better at the bridges and we would cheer like crazy as we zoomed down the other side.

i sold the bakfiets this past sunday for 300 euros which recouped almost all of the repair work we did. the things is still a piece of crap but at least now it has a new chain and coaster brakes. the people who bought it are using it for their new newfoundland puppy. if we lived in a flatter area of WI i would totally consider importing a nicer bakfiets. i have really enjoyed being car free for 3 months and the kids love being biked around everwhere. nice dutch brand bakfiets go for 1600-2000 euros but are quite beautiful and hopefully much better made than the one we had.

bye bye bakfiets. i will actually miss your squeaky ride.

more videos

i am not sure if i posted this video link on facebook or not, but here is a night cruise in our canal neighborhood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBGakUY69cg&feature=channel

and also a video of us in the bulb district, about 45 minutes from Amsterdam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFlaPDnGl9M&feature=channel

david going to school. i think i did post this one earlier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI4rdG3IxkU&feature=channel

more on Queen's Day

here is a video clip of our early outings on Queen's Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtuByJUfvjk&feature=channel_page

you can also see other people's QD videos - there are a slew on youtube for your watching pleasure.

we did have another unusual thing happen that day - for the most part this houseboat moves very little - every now and then you get a swift moving boat that causes too much wake and the house rocks every so slightly. well, on QD there was a boat moving WAY too fast which caused a tsunami-like effect on our block, making all the houseboats rock violently. it caused one of the rings mounted on our house that we tie our little boat to to be ripped out, sending the back end of the boat drifing into boat traffic. the poor people across the canal, sitting out on their terrace and boat enjoying some food, were drenched by this wave. all i could think about was the nasty canal water in their faces and food. yuck.

dutch names

while holland has its share of emmas and hannahs, what this country does NOT need is another sophia. i have met more little girls under the age of 3 named sophia than i can count, although most of them have been from expat families. this morning i copied down the more interesting dutch names from the cubbies at david's school.

i think most of these are girls names: fije, sanna, elisa, suus, pilou, isa, lotus, benthe, meis, jacobine, maud, bien, feelin, hylke, sita, riva, nomi, philein.

i think most of these are boys names: lars, arlen, pascal, cosmo, luuk, bas, ramses, thymen, noortje, jep, milou, mels, teun.

not a lisa or heather in the bunch.

we survived Queen's Day!!! and enjoyed it!

Queen's Day has come and gone and we survived - it actually was not as crazy as i thought it would be. i expected it to be very loud throughout the night but once it got dark the traffic on the water died down quickly. i am sure the streets were still crazy but we didn't venture out past 5pm or so, as managing the streets was nearly impossible. and forget bringing kids out in that mess of humanity. but alas, i am getting ahead of myself.

the morning started very early - i woke up around 6am and ventured out on my bike. people were starting to set up their blankets on the ground and unpacking their stuff to sell. it is the one day where anybody can sell anything without a permit so people tape off stretches of sidewalk a day or two beforehand and claim it as their own. i saw pretty much everything being sold (except for old bras, sorry mary!).

our local park, amstelveld, is designated as a kids only sale. young merchants sold all their old toys and clothes to make money for new stuff. they also sold baked goods and set up games to make money. our neighbor's children sold cupcakes and had a manicure station as their money making scheme. my kids had been saving their (well MY) money for weeks and circled the park over and over again with their banks in hand searching for stuff to buy. i indulged them in basically anything they wanted since we had been hyping it soo much. the photo here was taken early in the morning - the park got much more crowded and busy by mid morning.

after amstelveld we ventured into vondel park. holy crowded. it took forever to get into the park and navigate anywhere. again, more sales were going on, as well as kid friendly activities like acrobats and kid dj's.

by the time we got out of vondel park the canal streets were incredibly crowded and it took us quite some time to go the short distance home. music and people were spilling out of bars congesting the intersections and mini raves popped up with very loud music. and let me tell you, techno is alive and well in europe.





the canal boat traffic was also incredible. we enjoyed watching it from the safety of our terrace as were not NOT about to navigate the boat in the sea of watercraft. we saw some pretty stupid things, too, like 2 large boats roped together which caused a traffic jam which caused both boats to be hit and one of them almost slamming into our house. boats were jammed with people and had large sound systems blarring techno music. it was quite a site to experience. every canal in the area probably looked like this.

i also saw massive amounts of public urination. despite hundreds or portable urinals throughout the city most men found it perfectly appropriate to pee anywhere they felt like it. on one block i saw 6 men peeing. and what really ticked me off was that port-a-potties were not free so women were forced to pay to pee, unlike men... grrrrr. i didnt see a single woman squatting to pee in public but then again, i didn't venture out past 5pm....

the only odd thing that happed was that a boat of men pulled up to our house and tried to gain access to the street by going through the house. there are many places you can pull your boat up to and disembark - why they felt the need to do this at our place is beyond me. i nearly shoved the guy into the canal. and i was standing right there when they pulled up - why they didn't ask me if they could do it just boggles my mind. i would have said no anyway but jeez, just ask me!!

tulips anyone??

a few weeks ago, upon returning our babysitter home, our babysitter's father suggested we accompany them to the tulip parade in Lisse. Jan grew up in the bulb district and his father and other family members were in the flower business for many years. we certainly didn't want to pass up this opportunity to be guided by a local to see one of Holland's most famous events!

the day started by a well executed rental car pick up, so horray for that! and we even got car seats this time, so horray for good parenting! we set off around noon with our guides in the car in front of us. Jan would call us and point out sights to us along the way and pulled over once to show us a very important dike.

we arrived into the town of Lisse which was inundated with large tour buses. clearly, this was a big deal! people were arranged on the parade route for what seemed like miles. since we had about 90 minutes before the parade started, jan took us into the flower fields and told us about the flower industry - the money you can make on bulbs vs cut flowers, how to tend to the bulb fields, etc. the kids enjoyed running through the never-ending tulip beds.












we headed back into town for the parade but could not get where Jan wanted to be - it was sooo crowded and walking through the crowd was just not possible. we took a spot in the town square and enjoyed the parade and some beers. we also tore into the bread and cheese we had been carrying around but unable to eat until now. the parade is like the tournament of roses parade - the floats are all made of plant material. david, who was pressed up against the barrier, was about 1 foot from the action, while we stood on a picnic table to see what was going on.


after the parade we toured a different flower field and then made plans to go back into town for a meal but naomi threw up all over the place so we headed back home.