Our final day of cycling in Europe for 2013: Sassenheim to Amstelveen
We awoke to heavy winds and cloudy skies. The weather gods are telling us that fall is here and that perhaps it is a good time to finish our trip. It is the continuing trend on this trip for us to have head winds. We have battled them up the Rhine, in Denmark and now in Holland. We will have an invigorating ride to Amstelveen. We feel nostalgic about the wonderful trip we have had so far and packing up at camp this morning is a bittersweet process. As we are approaching Schiphol Airport and the city of Amsterdam, we are trying to choose a route that will avoid busy traffic. We will follow a lake and hopefully some farmland. Today we are wearing all of our warm clothes. The wind is very cold and the temperature has dropped. Nonetheless, it is a pretty ride. Predictably we got lost at an intersection where we needed to cross a highway. It seems that the sign had been turned around, so we followed the sign instead of our instincts. As usual, locals helped us find our way. It was great to reunite with Hans and Mieke. Enjoyed coffee and a visit before putting our bike away in its bag for the trip. Yeah, it feels good to have that task finished so that we can enjoy a few days in Amsterdam without that hanging over us. Mieke is a great cook and she prepared an Indonesian chicken dinner for us. She will be one of the local cooks participating in an International Food Festival bringing the different ethnic groups of the community together. She will be preparing a traditional Dutch meal. We had a pleasant evening together, eating good food, drinking some wine and catching up on each other's lives of the past three months. It was interesting to hear about their plans to begin construction this month on an addition to their home to do B&B full time. Tomorrow morning we will be heading in to Amsterdam to soak up the city's atmosphere and do some sightseeing. Amstelveen provides a great base for exploring Amsterdam as accommodation is reasonable and the transit goes frequently and is a quick trip.
The flags at their house show that they are Dutch of Italian descent - and in front of their home is their Pizza boat, complete with a wood fired pizza oven. In Holland, everything really does happen on or around the canals.
We're taking a break from dismantling the bike - so far the seats and pedals have been removed. We're part of the way there...so let's have coffee with Hans.
