We’ve been riding south of Amsterdam, today we motored north to Amsterdam for the next part of our bicycling adventure. Someone spotted a speck moving across a lawn – a Roomba-type lawnmower! Great idea.
We docked in Aalsmeer and got ready for a “little” walk
to Flora Holland, the world’s largest international trade center for flowers and plants supplied by growers and purchased by traders. This auction is 24/7 all year long, the building is 1/2 mile long and 1/2 mile wide. Flowers by type are on one side (of the walkway we followed).
On the other side, workers on carts deliver plants to specific buyers. Many many carts scurrying around in a well-organized dance.
We walked to and from Flora Holland (14,000 steps!, got back on the barge and motored past Schipol Airport, through the canals of Amsterdam
past the big-ship docks
to a good place to begin our day’s bike ride.
Even though we weren’t in the central part of the city, there were still many challenges to riding on crowded streets with cars, pedestrians, confident Dutch cyclists, and scooters (which are allowed to use the bike lanes!).
We rode to Zaanse Schans, an historic village and location of the first Albert Heijn – a grocery store chain with many locations.
Perhaps a “tourist trap” but a totally enjoyable stop for us.
At the cheese shop, there were many samples available for tasting and a presentation about cheese-making.
We continued our ride on the bike path behind the windmills
to where Claire de Lune was docked in Wormerveer. Wormer is actually across the canal, “veer” means ferry, so we’re on the other side of the canal accessible by the ferry (but it was actually a bridge). 10 miles of bicycling + 21,000 steps in rainy windy weather. Everyone will sleep well tonight.
arletelouise 