Exodus to Amsterdam Göteborg

Shannie was off being a good ctizen today by volunteering her time helping collect donations for the local food bank. Because I’m a cold-hearted selfish jerk, I took advantage of the cloudless skies and 21°C temperatures to put my biking pants on and go for a spin around the country. Today’s route took me North from Amsterdam to a small village called Marken, almost entirely along dikes on The Netherland’s East coast.

Bikely.com map of the route I rode

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, except for the blustery head wind off the ocean that I had to contend with for the ride out. However, this made the ride back home ridiculously fast.

Also, sunscreen would have been a nice idea. I’m, um, a little torched right now.

(These photos may take a while to load, I don’t have any photo editing software on the computer I’m using right now, so they’re all just pulled straight off the camera. Patience is a virtue, etc.)

amsterdam, you big tourist bicycles, churches, windmill

Last weekend, Shannie and I took advantage of the fact that European countries are small, relatively close together, and connected by high-speed rail lines and spent two days in Belgium with two of my co-workers and one of their significant others. On Saturday morning we met up at Amsterdam Centraal Station with Matt, Kim, and Kyla and hopped a 4-ish hour train ride to the city of Brussels.

The next two days were filled with many walked kilometers, delicious beer, waffles, peeing statues, delicious beer, giant atomic structures, good food, subway rides, chocolate shops, and delicious beer. The weather, which was forecast to involve monsoon-like downpour, held out very nicely and actually gave us a mostly sunny day on Sunday other than some morning showers which mostly took place while we were eating breakfast (waffles, obviously).

Overall, Shannie and I took over 300 photos, a smattering of which are found below. Click on any thumbnail below to view the full photo.

Also, in other news, tonight was supposed to be my international rookie debut as a field hockey goalie on the company team, but unfortunately this evening’s match was cancelled. I like to think that it’s because the other team had to forfeit for some reason, granting us a technical win and, as such, making my lifetime record 1-0. Now the world will have to wait one more week.

you big tourist Belgium, Brussels, churches, pubs, rain, RIOT, statues, travel, walking

On Saturday Scottie and I grabbed the train and headed out for a day in Leiden. Thank you Danny for the suggestion.

That’s it in the bottom left to give you an idea of where it is in relation to Amsterdam. We wandered here, we wandered there, those Kosmans wandered everywhere. 

First to a windmill then to a church.

Okay, Scottie’s 6′ 3″… holy that door is huge! I say holy because it’s the door to the Reformed Church in Leiden. It was built between 1639 and 1649. We also noticed it has been through a few fires in its day.

There are a number of gates into the city and the majority of them have the red keys carved like the one depicted here.

Just going for a stroll in the park. Thought I’d rest on one of the cannons, you know, totally normal playground equipment.

We found this gate as we were leaving a cemetery. Please note the skull and crossbones situated on the posts. In the cemetery we found a gravestone that also had a skull and crossbones on it… hmmm.

This is me at the Rembrandt statue. Rembrandt? But didn’t he live in Amsterdam? Well yes, but he was born here!

Rembrandt’s plaque and the alley where he was born. Exciting stuff people! See the mom riding her bike with her kid in the wooden box in front? Totally normal, you see it everywhere. I love it when I see 4 kids stuffed in the box with a dad puffing his way down the street… classic. 

We started the day with a windmill so why not end the day with Scottie behind a windmill? Just standing on a bridge enjoying the afternoon. And thus our wandering came to an end in Leiden. A lovely day was had by all.

leiden, you big tourist churches, Rembrandt, walking, windmill

A few days ago I decided to photograph my walk along the Prinsengracht. Here are some of my findings.

First up, Noodermarkt Kerk. Just outside here in the square on Saturdays you can stop by and get your fresh bread, meat, fruits and veggies. Monday mornings is more of the flea market style which I’ve posted previously. This is the square we looked out on in the temporary place.

Every once in a while you can find a bench to sit at for people watching purposes or just to rest. There are a few I found along the Prinsengracht.

Okay, this one’s on a houseboat so perhaps not a seat for the public to sit on but it looks pretty funny sitting on top of the boat.

Need a hand? Have a seat! Hee, hee.

And finally benches with people actually sitting on them. These people are pondering life while the pigeons are waiting for the one lady to drop whatever she’s eating.

Here’s a quick shot of a trusty tugboat pulling along a boat needing some help.

These green wheel cars are all over Amsterdam. It’s a car coop program. Instead of owning a car you pay a monthly fee and sign up to take one of these cars out for certain blocks of time. I have to say I’m quite shocked at how many cars drive through these narrow streets.

Along with pigeons there are many seagulls who live here. They love trash day, market day or when people decide to throw bread in the canal. This is one of those moments.

I hope you enjoyed your wander along the Prinsengracht. I shall be back tomorrow so stay tuned!

canals benches, churches, houseboat, Prinsengracht