Linda and Roxy's trip through the Netherlands & Norway

8th posting on May 14, 2024 ..... Back to the welcome page and listings for other links

Bikes and canals, Netherlands final post
What stands out from the time we spent in the Netherlands is that bikes are everywhere even in the canals! Bike diving is a job. In Amsterdam there are 780,559 people & 881,000 bikes. Amsterdam has 165 canals totaling 60 miles. Every year 12-15 thousand bikes are fished out of the canals. Cars also end up in the canals as there are no railings along the canals. On the average 1 car per week ends up in a canal! 4 professional divers are on call 24 hours a day in Amsterdam. Some fun facts & a few more pictures before we head off to Norway.

Our email address is gusrox30@gmail.com . Feel free to drop a note and say hello anytime!

Every train & bus station had literally 100s of parked bikes.

Bikes are parked everywhere!

We’ve seen so many different configurations of bikes! From 1 passenger to 3 or 4. Like this 3-wheel tandem. Or a tub where the kid is sitting for several kids or packages. Seats on the back rack and/or the top tube. Just crazy!

We saw all ages riding, regular bikes, E-bikes and even motorcycles on the bike path & bike lanes.

A beautiful sunny day at Kinderdijk. Papa broke a branch to use as an umbrella. This area is having unusually clear weather. It’s supposed to start raining in a couple days.

Windmills along the Zaan River at the Zaanse Schans Open Air Museum.

Mixed into the tulip fields, there were fields of iris too. Can’t imagine what this looked like a few weeks earlier.

We enjoyed the flowers we did find and we’re happy they all hadn’t all been harvested!

Looierspoort in Gouda is the narrowest street in the Netherlands. It’s about 3 ft wide. Apparently frontage on the canals was sought after, so builders made really narrow streets with narrow tall buildings.

The cheese runners definitely got their steps in on market days. We enjoyed sampling the many Dutch cheeses!

The trains & buses were easy once we figured it out. Tap in with a credit card & tap out with the same card. A conductor may come by during the ride to scan your card, making sure you paid.

Leaving Amsterdam, lots of water, flat & very green. 40% of the Netherlands is below sea level!