Amsterdam

Bikes, canals, and liberal attitudes!

Our last train trip - from Paris to Amsterdam.

Do not park bicycles here!

As you may have suspected, Amsterdam was full of canals, bikes, and liberal attitudes. Sadly, there are no tulips in October. We were tired of traveling, recovering from colds, and ready to be home by this point in our journey, but we still managed to have a good time. We enjoyed the Dutch still lives (my favorite genre of painting) at the Rijksmuseum and the beautiful butterflies at the botanical gardens. We had fun exploring the canals, sampling local treats, and trying out a new tramline each time we made our way back to the hotel. 

Because biking is so prevalent, it can actually be difficult to be a pedestrian. At times the bike lanes eat up the sidewalk and pedestrians have to share the lane as bikers whiz by. But it was really great to see a society that has taken up biking so seriously, especially one that is not known for great weather. Hardly any bikes were locked up and because it is so flat they are all one-speeders so it was funny to watch people struggle whenever there was a slight incline. Equally enjoyable was when the occasional tiny car (technically a covered two seat scooter) would get in the bike lane and either zoom by the bikers or struggle to keep up depending on its age. Amsterdam is a city on the move, everyone trying to get to wherever they are not.

The highlight was our last night where we went to a little Italian cafe for dinner. The owners were a Sicilian who didn't speak much English and his Dutch wife who was learning Italian. We had a great time practicing our Italian with them, alas, for the last time on our trip. I had the gnocchi alla Sorrentina and Tristan had the melanzane alla Parmigiana. Both were simple and absolutely delicious. It transported us right back to Italy. We praised them for the yummy dinner, told them about our travels around Italy, and joked with them that while their three tiramisu choices looked fantastic, we had gotten used to fourteen options in Assisi. They laughed, teased us about our rusty Italian, and shook our hands when we parted. We left with a warm sense of gratitude, happy that we had the chance to meet each other. In Amsterdam, of all places. It was a perfect way to end our trip.