Some thoughts as we reach the last day of bicycling. We expected that after ten days of riding and after-dinner walks that things would get easier. Some things did – we got better at “the system” of:
Surprisingly, the riding did not seem to get much easier. The days are long and pretty full of activities (if you take all the walking tours), with not much free time to yourselves. We often returned from the evening walks near or after 10 P.M., and I was often too tired to write more than a couple sentences in my notes for this trip journal. I am doing some catching up on the plane ride home (including this reflection), and I found a couple days of notes where I had written only the destination and a couple sentences, then I must have been too tired to continue. In the Volendam case, though, that late night drink at the Hotel Spaander might have contributed to this… But full days are good when they are full of scenery, exercise, learning, and good food.
Back to the trip: The boat took us from Volendam across to Marken after breakfast. Marken was an island, and we started by riding up to the northern tip of the island to see a lighthouse. Unfortunately it is undergoing restoration construction.
As I mentioned, Marken used to be an island, but a dyke was built as part of a land-reclamation project which did not get completed. On the dyke you can drive to and from the mainland. It was our first day of bad weather for most of the riding day, with a steady wind from the southwest, and rain for much of the morning. Unfortunately the dyke leads to the southwest, exactly where the wind was blowing from, so it was slow going.
Once back on the mainland, we stopped in Monnickendam for cocoa and coffee to warm up and dry out a bit. The rain lightened so we could shed some layers. We passed by some swans with younger-looking cygnets.
We stopped at a church in Broek in Waterland, then went just a few blocks further in this small village to a pancake restaurant in a very old house where we met with the “short” riding group for lunch. I had a super nutty pancake with ginger, and Julie got basil, mozzarella, and tomato.
We then found our way to the North Holland Canal and crossed it on a ferry at Het Schouw.
Once across the canal we simply followed it into Amsterdam. This turned out to be a route with almost no traffic lights and few intersections. Before we realized it, we arrived at the ferry which goes crosses the IJ river to the main train station where we first arrived in Amsterdam. That is, Amsterdam’s traffic seems hectic and confusing, but we managed to sneak in without encountering much traffic at all.
We arrived back at the barge, now moored just one dock down from where we originally boarded almost two weeks ago. We said farewell to our trusty bicycle steeds as they were stripped of their yellow saddlebags and loaded into a trailer. They will be tuned up and repaired for another tour, meanwhile a load of freshly-tuned bicycles were loaded onto the barge later in the evening. Our mid-afternoon arrival allowed time for a walking tour of Amsterdam. We had roamed the city on our own when we first arrived, but now we got some history and fresh perspective on things.
Amsterdam was a walled city surrounded by canal moats for a long time, but it also grew over the years, so as we walked toward the city center we passed a series of what had been outer-boundary canals. This was once a gate-house, but now seems quite close to the city center. After outliving its usefulness as a gate, it was used for other purposes, and apparently part of it was an early medical research center.
The Old Church.
The Old Church is right in the middle of Amsterdam’s red light district. Our tour route passed some windows from within which scantily-clad women beckoned. While not the best part of town, it still felt safe to walk through, something our tour guide confirmed.
I had noticed this Anrath Hotel on our earlier walks around Amsterdam because it is quite close to the boat, but on the tour I learned it is another example of Amsterdam School architecture.
We had a special dinner that night on the boat. Here is Daniel, the chef, introducing it. The young lady seated at right is Ingrid, one of our guides.
The cake for dessert featured some fireworks.
After dinner the fellow in charge of tour operations came and gave a speech, then handed out bonus checks to the tour guides, the chef, and barge staff. We “tourists” had also purchased some note cards to give to the guides and staff, and we passed them around so everyone could sign them and leave a note, and maybe put some cash in the envelope as a tip. We then bid farewell to the guides, as their part of the tour was over and they went home.