A mellow day at sea.
We had a light breakfast of muffins and beverages from the Dutch Cafe, then went to an origami class. It had a nautical theme, so we folded a small boat which was pretty easy, then a compass rose which was quite a bit more challenging.
Afterwards we went to an educational presentation about the impact of bicycles on society and infrastructure in Europe. It included a history of the bicycle, explaining their evolution from “useful but challenging” penny-farthings to the practical modern style bicycles. Once the modern style bicycles became widely available, their popularity skyrocketed - no wonder given they were relatively inexpensive and immensely useful. But, once Europe’s economy began recovering from World War II in the late 1950’s, increasing wealth and a growing population that led to construction of suburbs also led to increasing car ownership in Holland in the 1960’s. By the late 1960’s, the growing automobile traffic led to an increase in fatal accidents, including a notable number of children on bicycles being killed by cars. After the second or third tragic death at just one intersection in Amsterdam, a few local mothers started a grassroots movement asking politicians to change the infrastructure to save the children. It took years, but the movement grew and held increasingly large protests, and things did eventually begin to change. Initially the politicians suggested that helmets and reflective vests should be worn by bicyclists, but the movement, which had grown to be very well organized over the years, insisted that children should not be made safe for cars to speed past, but that the proper response was to create an environment that is safe for the children to be walking and bicycling in. The politicians eventually capitulated, and committees were formed to include various stake-holders, research was done, and after decades it eventually lead to The Netherlands becoming the bicyclist’s paradise that we experienced on our bike and barge tours in the past few years.
Julie has been wondering about pickle ball, so we went up to the sport court outside on the top deck because the ship’s activity schedule mentioned a pickle ball tournament. There did not seem to be a formal tournament, but we watched several games of doubles and the game does look fun and not too difficult.
We got some pizzas for lunch then watched A Walk in the Woods with Joann. It wasn’t a great movie, but we are interested in the Appalachian Trail and the movie had some redeeming qualities. Afterwards we went to see if we could experiment with the pickle ball gear but some people were playing basketball on the court so we tried some of the exercise equipment they have outside by the jogging track up there. It was windy!
Eventually we got our chance a bit before dinner to smack the pickle ball back and forth for a few minutes.
We had dinner at the Canaletto “upgrade” (extra cost) restaurant. It offers Italian cuisine for sharing and it was pretty good, although we were surprised that by six they had already run out of a couple menu items.
