The dangers of the ploddy peloton around Amsterdam

Further to the post about stereotypes, the Netherlands is all about clogs, cheese, cycling and 'other' activities. Amsterdam fulfilled all the preconceptions and stereotypes that we were expecting, but as far as capital cities go, it's a beautiful place with a fantastic appeal about it. The architecture was quite interesting to observe as buildings seemed to lean on each other. Window apertures were generally quadrilateral in their behaviour, but not really observing an accurate and standard rectangle, generally going for a more subtley irregular feel. It's like looking at a shelf of books where there is a little space for each book to breath and have a gentle lean.

The overwhelming feature of our time in Amsterdam today has been quite unanimously agreed. They have got the green aspect of city living absolutely perfectly right you could argue. The inherent belief that the bike is the perfect mode of transport is instilled in everyone. The sheer glut of cycles is testament to the town planning, which in essence gives the cyclists ultimate power. The high geared bikes are all of a type. Baskets everywhere, 3 gears, no brakes on the handlebars (pedalling backwards to slow), more baskets, mudguards that have unique rattles and squeaks. In fact this took me back to my time on the farm, where mother ewes could identify their lambs bleat in a field of hundreds of bleats. And so I guess that the Dutch could identify their own bikes from the squeaks, rattles, clunks etc. The major problem though was the success of velo-based travel means that the pedestrian has slunk below the car, the tram, the moped, and also the bike. Crossing a road turns into a problem of watching all directions and then hoping that if a bike comes, it may stop. Invariably you can be crossing a road with a green man flashing, but cyclists continue to bisect the zebra crossing without a shade of worry. In fact this circular peloton seems to go round and round. It's like a poor man's Red Arrows, where they cross cross......fearless indeed. It's worth a mention too, that the Dutch can really get going on these things and slip effortlessly between cycle lanes with barely a look. Which leads me to my final point. I wonder if they don't flinch, because they can't? I cycled yesterday to the shop for some essentials, and my face froze. I wonder if the Dutch have a cold weather hardened cycling face?

As I mentioned, clogs are everywhere....except on people's feet. We saw nobody wearing them for real apart from these two ...

It's worth a a mention too of our afternoon snack where we had tea, hot chocolate and schlupwaffles with caramel in. Lovely, unhealthy but warm and warming!

That all said, Amsterdam is a place full of life and vitality, we managed to take in most of the main bits, but even trying to prebook at the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank Huis was impossible so a quick external look was had. Our final capital city has been done. As and when we leave in the coming days though, we aim to take in Haarlem for the tulips beginning to bloom along the polders, possibly Zandvoort for another historical race circuit, and Delft for the pottery as we move to our final night on this side of the channel.