A day in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We docked around 8:30 or so this rainy Friday morning in Amsterdam. Thankfully we hadn't booked an excursion today and didn't really have anything planned, so we spent a lazy morning around the ship. We ordered room service breakfast and the guy showed up with enough food for 4 people! Apparently someone (likely kids) thought it would be hilarious to go around adding items to people's breakfast orders (these are left on doors at bedtime). So what arrived was 3 boiled eggs, probably 1/2 dozen slices of bacon, pancakes with maple syrup and butter, wheat toast, a chocolate croissant (guilty, I did order that one), frosted mini-wheat cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, coffee, tea, milk, prune juice and tomato juice. I tried telling the person who delivered it that we really did not order all of that food!

Needless to say, we ate what we could so we weren't hungry before leaving the ship around noon. By that time, it had stopped raining so we walked from the cruise terminal to a nearby Hop On/Hop Off location to catch the bus for a ride around the city. We considered going to visit a cat cafe (yes, this is a real thing) but it was still a 20+ minute walk from the closest drop-off point that I really didn't want to walk, so we decided to just complete the 10-stop route and get off at the drop-off point nearest the ship. 

Unfortunately, it's hard to get decent photos through a bus window while riding in heavy traffic, so there's not a lot to show for today. But we at least hit some of the high points of the city through a bus window.

 

arrival in cruise port, Amsterdam

Ronnie titled this "Old Woman in a Shoe"  ha!

cruise port, Amsterdam

 

outside a group gets ready for a bike tour

got our tickets, map and ear pieces

Hop On/Hop Off - our ride around the city

 

I wish I could have snapped better pictures of them, but we saw quite a few of these very small cars driving around the city. Try to compare their size to the bicycle next to them. Now these are what I call tiny cars!! 

compare car size to bicycle

see why I call them tiny cars?

 

There are more bikes than people in Amsterdam. Even the bike lanes are two-way with a stripe down the middle! Pedestrians have separate walking lanes. Bicycling is a normal part of life for the Dutch, whether they are going to work or to play. There are plenty of places for visitors to rent bikes or take bike tours. Bike theft is very common in the Netherlands and cyclists are wise to lock them up. They ride rain or shine and we saw many of the cyclists' umbrellas come out during a rain shower this afternoon. Most do not wear helmets, nor are they required to.

Here are 10 rules for riding a bike in the Netherlands. https://bikefair.org/blog/cycling-rules-in-the-netherlands

2/3 of daily transportation is by bicycle

supposedly there are 881,000 bicycles in Amsterdam

the famous Rijksmuseum

apartments line canal

While cruise passengers were out and about exploring the city, ship personnel were busy unloading and re-stocking supplies at the dock. A police officer and her K-9 dog were carefully going around all the deliveries to ensure there was nothing suspicious coming on board.

re-stocking supplies

goodbye Amsterdam