Last Ride In The Netherlands

We had another good-weather day for our last ride on our Bike and Sail the Tulips trip.  We rode to Zaanse Schans and back to Amsterdam in a loop.

We started out our day with a quick Ferry ride to North Amsterdam.  

The ride was lovely. 

Riding in a group, I don't have the liberty to stop when I want to take a picture.  

Using your phone while riding is against the law and heavily enforced here.  It will cost 150 Euro.  

So, when I saw the cube houses on stilts built over the canal, and when I saw the house decorated with wooden shoes, I didn't take pictures.  We pedalled right on by. 

Steve and I discussed that it might be better to be on a tour with less miles and more time to stop.

Sometimes we biked on paths through flat grassy lands, sometimes through narrow streets lined with brick homes built adjacent to the sidewalk without front yards.  

We stopped and parked our bikes at a museum with lots of 15th and 16th century homes and shops. 

When we crossed the canal we saw a duck with chicks.

I knew that it would be fun to tour a windmill with Steve.  But first we stopped to make our own hot chocolate.

Two spoons of cocoa powder, two spoons of sugar, bit of water to mix well.  Then add hot milk.

Steve helped me make sense of the ingenious workings of the windmill.  The one we toured is used to make paint like that used by Van Gogh.

We watched a silent video of the process of making paint.  

We were late getting back to the bikes.  We didn't get to see much of the museum at all.  Just cocoa, one windmill, and toilet.  And still we were the last ones back.

I love all that we can see while riding bike.  

In Prague we will start a self guided tour.  We will see how that goes.  We may prefer being on our own.  Yet, we both like the social aspect in the evenings.  We get to try to converse with people from all over.

For lunch we stopped at a restaurant on the water.  Steve and I sat by the water in the sun and ate our picnic lunch.  Steve told me male mallards are the only ducks with a curled tail feather or two.  A beautiful one groomed near us.  This one had two curls!

The route through Amsterdam that the guide took us on wasn't too crowded.   We survived without crashing or pissing off many native riders.

Each day,  when we returned to the boat, there were deserts and salty snacks set out next to the coffee machines.  The bar was always open.  

When I asked the staff for the cold medicine, they pulled out a large bottle of booze. A shot in a cup with hot water.  Smiles.

Each evening we recieved a briefing about what to expect the next day.

Below in the picture are our guides, Hilde and Meike and Captain Floris.

I was wearing a face mask when in crowds.  And I must have pulled out an earring when removing it one time.  Boohoo!  I lost another UNIQUE pair of earrings by Charlotte!  Dang!  Another favorite set of earrings gone, gone, gone. 

I still have two pair, a bit more sparkly.

This morning we sang, "so long, farewell, auf weidersein, goodbye," to some of our Canadian fellow passengers before we got on the ferry to Centraal Station.

I could see our ship from the second Ferry we took.  The ship staff were working hard today to clean everything and prepare for the next group of tourists arriving today. 

My souvenir from the trip is a tag with my name on it that was on the back of my bike.

We also got a tin of mints from the guides as a parting gift.

We got to the staion in plenty of time to ask questions and find the right deck to stand on to get on our train to Berlin.  It will be a 6 hour train ride.

In Berlin we will walk to our Airbnb.  It is located by museum square and other tourist spots.  Tomorrow we have a walking tour in Berlin.

Our colds are still with us.  Steve is feeling worse and thinks it is in his bronchial tubes

I still sound disgusting.  But sometimes my energy is back.

I didn't mention before, but we booked this trip through Tripsite.com.  When I traveled here in 2019 with my friends, Mari had done all the organizing and she used Tripsite to help her.  So I knew from that experience we would get good service through Tripsite.com.