Amsterdam: flat and indecisively wet

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Here's a recap of Day 1:

We were too excited to sleep on the plane (which turned us into zombies later. More on that...)
Our bikes arrived intact and we built them back up without a hitch! Next we had to find our way to the campsite, just outside of Amsterdam, on the water. After buyng a map "Amsterdam op de fiets" (Amsterdam by Bike) we headed out of the airport on a superb bike route.

Holland is flat. We already knew this but it was very alarming to behold. No wonder everyone and their mother and small infant ride a bicycle. Old rusty bicycles.

Signs pointed us on our way towards Amsterdam... or at least they should have. What should have been a 10 to 15 km bike ride somehow turned into 35km. A few friendly old Dutch men helped us find our way. We finally arrived in the center of Amsterdam and found ourselves lost... again. Sara went in to a little shop to ask directions while Paul guarded the bikes outside. It immediately began to rain like we have never seen before, let alone biked through. We were soaked before we could put on our rain gear, which couldn't stand up to the downpour anyway.

We rolled into camp soaked just as the sun came out again and we hung everything to dry.
Tired and hungry, we decided to go back into town to keep ourselves awake.
In the long quest for food we stumbled upon the redlight district. It looks just like any other street except for the scantily clad ladies on display in the windows like mannequins at a lingerie shop.

We almost fell asleep at the Indian restaurant as we paid for our food. We went to camp and fell asleep promtly before 8pm. The night was filled with off-and-on rain showers and a few noisey campers and a confused rooster.

Lowlights: Being a soaked starving pair of cranky zombies.
Highlights: The beautiful, flat, Dutch countryside on the way to town and all the friendly Dutch people.

-Paul and Sara

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Photos

SeaTac
Off we go!

Some Assembly Required
Here's Sara putting her bike back together before we rolled out of the Amsterdam airport on our way to the campground.

Break Time
It was great to move around after our long flight, but we were definitely feeling tired.

Snack Break
On the way to the campground.

Comments

[Alyssa]

Memories
Sounds like you won't be forgetting this day in a long time!

[julie santos]

Brave!!!
You two are so courageous!!! But it also sounds like GREAT fun - learning and exploring! I look forward to reading more! Take care of that knee Sara! God Bless Julie

[David Owens]

onthaal aan Holland
Hallo Klinkt het als u had een aarrdige eerste dag Gutes Gluck auf ihremReise Aufenthalt sicher und halten Verbindung Bye for now Love Uncle David