Our Introduction to Amsterdam

Mike's Bike Tours- highly recommended.
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Hallo! We woke up at 4:00 in the morning excited for the upcoming day. We spent the next half hour or so discussing our plans then, deciding we'd like stay awake for them, we forced ourselves to go back to sleep. Three hours later we woke up again. We got showered (separately), dressed and went down for breakfast, which was included with our hotel room. We were pleasantly suprised to find that meant more than tea, coffee, toast and rotting bananas. It turned out to be like a mini buffet with fruit salad, yogurt, meats and cheeses, breads, cereals, bacon and eggs, and packaged "biscuits" which, since we had little idea what they actually were for, we ate with cheese. There was also an abnormal selection of bread spreads ranging from the usual butter and jellies to hazelnut (hazelnoopasta), peanut butter and pate (which is just as gross as we had remembered it to be) We filled out plates, ate and then went outside to check the weather. It was pouring rain. And windy. And cold. Because we were planning on doing a bike tour, this was a grim discovery. But the weather did not detour us. We went upstairs, grabbed our umbrellas and raincoat and braved the elements in search of a bike shop. It wasn't long before we stumbled across Mike's Bike Tours. Although we had never heard of this place before, we thought we'd give it a whirl (just kidding! A few weeks ago, Christina's mom sent us a link telling us about Mike's Bike Tours...thanks!!) The front desk was staffed by a hippie and a bald man with about a dozen facial piercings. When we asked about the next bike tour, they told us that we were just in time for the next one beginning at 11:00. After using the restroom with a mysteriously wet floor, "Bushisms" taped to the wall, and the softest toilet paper we've used (separately) since we've been in this country, we were introduced to Pip and Stewart. Pip was a tour guide in training and this was the second tour he'd ever given. Stewart, who had been doing this for 3 years, was there to help him out. Because of the foul weather, we were the only ones to show up for the tour. They set us up on our bikes and Stewart began the tour by telling us 8 centuries of Dutch history within 10 minutes. What was particularly interesting to us was all the radical movements that this country has achieved during its' recent history. While we were already aware of the legalization of marijuana and prostitution, the following were new to us: The Netherlands was the first country to legalize abortion, gay marriages, and allow homosexual couples to adopt. By the time our guide was done with his brief historic monologue, it had stopped raining outside (yay!) We were excited about the break in weather and hopped on our retro seafoam green bikes and began our tour.

Chris and I on our bikes in the Dutch countryside with the classic windmill in the background.
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The tour lasted over 4 hours and included stops to various sites such as parks, the China Town of Amsterdam, and lots of canals. As our ride went on, the weather got better and better and the sun even came out for a while. Towards the end of our tour we were taken to one of the 1,000 windmills that are left in the Netherlands. After that we went to a cheese and wooden clog factory. Eddie, a handsome Chilean boy wearing a ponytail and personalized wooden clogs, explained to us how cheese was made. We had no idea that it takes 4 weeks to make a cheese wheel and after that it has a shelf life of 3 or more years if stored properly. While we were finishing our cheese purchases, the lady ringing us up informed us that it was raining outside. We went to see for ourselves and it wasn't raining, it was down pouring. There was no way we would be leaving anytime soon. Along with our guides we went up to this loft area overlooking the shop, had coffee, and talked while we waited for the weather to clear. After about 15 minutes, it was dry again. We got on our bikes and started on our way back into the city, seeing a few more sights and ending with a stop at Dan Murphy's Irish Pub where we ordered light cider beers and sat down with Pip and Stewart. They gave us some recommendations about some local clubs and shows we may want to check out.

A half hour later, we left the pub and made our way back to Mike's Bike Tours. Overall, we were extrememly pleased with the tour and were glad that we had decided to take that up. We thanked Pip and Stewart for the awesome tour, and began to make our way back to the hotel. There was a mexican food restaurant listed on one of the maps so we thought we would try it out. Unfortunately, it was about 4:15 and they didn't open until 5:00. We got pizza instead.

It's only about 8:30 right now and we're planning to go out a little later and check out the night scene since we didn't have the chance (or energy) to do it last night. We'll let you all know what we ended up doing when we blog tomorrow.

We've also learned some impressive Dutch phrases. Unfortunately, our inability to work these phrases into normal conversation caused us to forget them. Thanks to the internet, we able to look up only one of the translations for you...sorry!

"terwijl het pissing" translates to "while pissing"

Pip did teach us another phrase that means "Fuck off, you ball bag" but we weren't able to find an online translation for it...yet.

"Halo" means "Hello"

"Dank U" means "Thank You"

"Ananas" means "Pineapple"

We love you and miss you all!

-Christina and Jessica