20th Anniversary European Bike Adventure Day 4: Amsterdam

Our first city day! A down day! After.. 1 day of riding. So we didn't really need recovery yet, but we were excited to explore Amsterdam a bit.


We managed to sleep in a little, and then very slowly made our way back out of the houseboat. And back onto the bike! If you're gonna explore a city by bike, Amsterdam seems like the right city to explore.


First up, obviously, breakfast. Matt found us a cute little cafe, and we locked our bikes up outside and headed in. Note: nobody else in Amsterdam locks their bikes. They just ride up and lean it against something, park it on a bike rack, or put it up on its kickstand. But when everyone in the US wants to steal your bike, and your bike is an integral part of the next 3 weeks of your life, it's a little hard to get past that paranoia.


 

"All Day Breakfast" are the kind of words Matts live for.


 

Some sort of .. egg.. bacon.. croissant breakfast sandwich. And proof that pretty much everything in the Netherlands comes with a salad. I missed that when we moved on to other countries.


After breakfast we headed over to the Rijksmuseum to see what we could see there. It's a Dutch national museum, and among other things features a Rembrandt work.


 

Look at our bikes, blending in with the locals!


It also featured a WHOLE lot of people, and a ton of tourists, and Matt was more interested in the Van Gogh Museum, so we decided to enjoy the grounds and the outdoor art, then head over to the Van Gogh Museum.






 

Nifty spider.. thing!


 

Cocoon possibly incubating more spider sculptures!


I mean, why would you stand right in the middle of a thing that is cute and fun and tourists are obviously going to want to photograph?


 

Thanks, random dude.


 

Matt's interpretation of "Random Dude".


 

I took a TON of video with the GoPro, but mostly I took it to compile into something later. Every once in a while we'd pull something off and upload it to youtube during the trip. This was the touristy area around the Rijksmuseum.


So then we headed to the Van Gogh Museum and found out.. it was sold out. No tickets left to be had. Okay, so .. maybe no museums for us!


 

Outside the Van Gogh Museum


Except lo and behold, as we started wandering around the green space outside the Van Gogh Museum, trying to figure out where to go next, we found.. really weird art! Which was part of another museum! Turns out the MOCO Museum (Modern Contemporary Museum Amsterdam) is dedicated to "attracting broader and younger audiences, and of making art accessible to the public", and they were featuring a lot of Banksy art! And there were tickets available, and barely a line. Sold!


This ended up being one of my favorite things we saw on the trip. I'm usually not a huge museum goer, but this was my kind of museum. I'll not link ALL the photos, but I'll include a few of my favorites.


















 

Rideable art!


 

(Yes, you were allowed to ride it.)


Then back on our bikes for more touring. We rode around somewhat randomly, no real goal other than sightseeing.





Stopped at a random bakery for lunch.


 

Look how naked our bikes look when we have a place to leave our gear!


 

This contained a salad because it was a salad.


After lunch we headed back toward the houseboat.






 

This was the only day of our trip where we decided to try to blend in with the locals by going helmetless. Practically nobody in Amsterdam wore a helmet. The further north and east we went on the trip, the more common they became, until it eventually became mostly the norm.


 

Another GoPro video, trying to show how chaotic it is with bikes and cars and so many pedestrians. Mostly it all works, but this does have a moment where we go over a bridge and sort of lose our fietspad, and bikes and cars have to figure out how to co-exist. Mostly bikes win every time, and as long as everyone knows and respect that, it works pretty darn well.


On the way, we stopped at a bikeshop Matt had found via google maps, to see if they could take a look at Matt's derailleur, which had been acting up. (Before we left, even. Two Austin bike shops worked on it and failed to resolve it.) (Spoiler: Even though this bike shop was able to resolve it temporarily, it started acting up again, and was a non-deal-breaking problem the entire trip.)


 

You bet your ass I pet this bike shop dog a lot.


While the bike shop looked at Matt's bike, we headed down the street to the market to take pictures of weird food and pick up food for dinner. We decided we had had enough People for a few days, and would eat a quiet meal at home. At homeboat.


 

We did not buy these, but I'm delighted that they exist.


 

I'd say you almost can't tell they're real, but THEY WERE YAPPING SO LOUDLY AND CEASELESSLY THAT THERE WAS NO DOUBT. Sign says "Your dog waits here for you."


Matt's bike was ready when we returned, so we rode back to prepare dinner.

After loving on the host dog a bit.


 

Chicken-walnut salad sandwiches!


 

Matt set up our dinner area. Best table, best view in the house.





Another early bedtime, because on day 5 we leave Amsterdam and head northeast through the Netherlands.


Total miles for day 4: 16.61 miles of city exploration.