Ride: 35km; total: 1,809km
Fine, partly sunny with cloud patches, 9-13deg
Had a lovely cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon. Then banana in Greek style plain yoghurt washed
down with a couple of cups of coffee.
Left the unit about 7:00am and quickly found the path to Amsterdam. It was
smooth traffic-free and well sign-posted. At the same time Wendy would have
been just making her way out of the airport.
I wished I could have been there to meet her but accepted that it wasn't
practical or possible. She was also
travelling from a work trip to China
with other international pharmacists and they were sharing taxis. Got a text about 6:40am to say she had
landed ok. Just as I was riding under
the flight path of the airport I got a rear tyre flat, my third for the tour.
It was a tiny piece of glass. Fixed in no time and rode on.
Fairly easy to find the motel but I often find in Europe
signs to the centre of cities usually run out when you get near them. I think
they assume you know the way once close but it isn't that easy sometimes.
Reached the motel, Hampshire Hotel - Lancaster Amsterdam about 10:00am the time I had
told Wendy. She was waiting in the lobby with Sylvain (Canadian) and Jane
(NZ), who I knew. The room wasn't ready so I secured the bike and
luggage in the cloak room and went exploring for the Pharmo conference and then
into the city.
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. Its principal language is Dutch. The city's
status as the capital of the nation is governed by the constitution and it has
a population of 820,256 within city limits, an urban population of 1,209,419
and a metropolitan population of 2,289,762.
The city is located in the province
of North Holland in the
west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, which has
a population of approximately 7 million.
Amsterdam's
name is derived from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin; a dam in
the river Amstel. Settled as a small
fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam
became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden
Age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the
city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the
19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded, and many new neighbourhoods and
suburbs were formed. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam
(in Dutch: 'Grachtengordel'), located in the heart of Amsterdam, were added to the UNESCO World
Heritage List in July 2010. The
Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in
the city centre. Amsterdam's
main attractions, including its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum,
Stedelijk Museum,
Hermitage Amsterdam, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam Museum,
its red-light district, and its many cannabis coffee shops draw more than 3.66
million international visitors annually.
The city has an excellent tram / underground public transport system
which we used all the time.
Had a nice chicken salad at McDonalds for lunch and then
back to the motel to sort out the rooms. Wendy had a sleep as she was tired
from the trip to China.
That night we went to a steak house for dinner. I made
the mistake of having salmon. It smelt a
little dodgy as soon as he brought it to the table, should have trusted my
instincts! At 2:00am my stomach was doing cartwheels but I didn't get
sick. Lesson; eat steak at a
steakhouse!
After dinner we all walked around the city; Sylvain wanted
to look at the red-light district so we did that and then Wendy wanted to go to
sleep so we walked back while the other two continued in the city.
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