Mike's Bike Tours

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  Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sunday, October 7, 2007

So later this morning after freshning up at the hotel, I took the train to the Amsterdam Central Station.  Let it be known, that although the majority of Dutch to speak english, it was a rarity to see english signage!  I had no idea which train to take and was at the mercy of the dutch folk to point me in the right direction.  I managed to make it to downtown and was going to take a tram to the Rijksmuseum where I was to meet for the beginning of the bike tour at 12:30pm.  I arrived at Central Station at 11:30, walked outside, could not figure which tram to take, looked at my map and based on the key it only looked like it would take 20-25 minutes to walk to the museum.  Well, maybe it takes only that long if you know right where to go because it took me a full hour and I just made it there at 12:32pm.  There is rarely a street sign and the canals make it very easy to get lost, but hey, I made it!
The bike tour (www.mikesbikeamsterdam.com) was fantastic and I recommend it so much more than any walking or motor coach tour.  Plus, it was only 22 euros! There were 19 of us in the group and  before we picked up the bikes, the guide gave us a rundown of Amsterdam History.  I had a pretty cool looking green bike (named Kitten) decked out with a bell and storage bags (to hold those wonderful souvineers).  It also had gears, but you didn't need them, because aside from the occassional ramp over the canal, the city was flat, flat, flat.  We ended up cycling a total of 10 miles and even went out of the city to a cheese and clog farm, where they showed us how they made, you guessed it, cheese and clogs.  I loaded up on some cheese (Dad and Dad Eggebeen - get ready!) and we headed back into the city again to go through a couple parks (one of them even had a Picasso sculpture which was nifty to see) and then last stop at an Irish Pub for a round of beer (no, not me!).  After the tour was over (around 5:30pm), I walked around and headed to the....(stay tuned for the next blog!)

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