Arrival in Amsterdam

 We've arrived! Yesterday we and our bikes made it through long delays that affected both legs of our flights from Calgary to Shiphol Airport, Amsterdam, via Toronto. The post-pandemic travel surge combined with staff shortages in aiport security make for very unpredictable  air travel these days. But at least our delays were well synchronized and long enough that our baggage made it along with us.

Our original departure time from Toronto was 8.15pm, then changed to 9.15, then further delayed to 10.45

Assembly of the bikes at the airport took a couple of hours.

Almost ready to go here

Bike assembly in progress at Shiphol airport. You can tell it's not very warm - only about 7C.


But finally we were back in the saddle following excellent cycle pathways to our hotel in central Amsterdam. We managed  to do a little walking tour and dined Italian style before collapsing  into bed to catch up on sleep.


This morning feeling refreshed and rested we headed off for our morning appointment  at the Van Gogh Gallery, followed by a boat cruise through the labyrinth of canals around the city. Trees are green here and beds of tulips add splashes of colour to the city streets, very different from our Alberta home we just left where spring has not yet sprung.

The Rijksmuseum

The Van Gogh Museum

Enjoyed watching these kids being inspired

Close-up of one of Van Gogh's many olive tree paintings



One of many houseboats on the canals seen from our boat cruise

We have another day tomorrow to be tourists around Amsterdam before we start the real riding. Meanwhile our bikes are inside our hotel room, safe and secure ☺



Comments

  1. Ginette QuintilioMay 5, 2022 at 7:46 AM

    Hi Daphne. Hana shared the blog post with me. How fantastic to see your adventures! Looks like a wonderful adventure. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 5, 2022 at 11:19 AM

    Well you are off on your adventure. Love being able to follow you via this blog. We will be enjoying your pictures and your updates. Safe cycling!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaphneMay 5, 2022 at 2:58 PM

      Thank you! (Your comment came as anonymous, maybe you can add a name) 🙂

      Delete
  3. Eva and GeorgeMay 6, 2022 at 10:15 AM

    So happy you made it to Europe safe and sound. You are troopers guys! Looking forward to see what you are up to next!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaphneMay 8, 2022 at 6:05 AM

      We're happy you're following along with us 😊

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Big Plans Ahead! Another European Bike Tour

Image
 The count-down is on for our next cycle tour! On Sat Aug 24th (that is tomorrow!) we leave for yet another cycle tour in Europe. This one will see us flying to Frankfurt and riding from there south towards the Alps via Bavaria, a little part of the west of Austria (Tyrol) and on into Italy, eventually ending up in Venice. Lots of similarities to our last tour two years ago, but quite a different route. We have set aside six weeks for this journey. The main goal of this tour is to cycle a route called the Via Claudia Augusta . This route starts in Donauworth, Germany (located on the River Danube) and ends either in Venice or at the Po River south of Verona (depending which fork of the road you take). The attraction here is that it follows an old Roman road that once connected the northern part of the Empire via the River Danube, with the Adriatic Sea via the River Po or the Venetian lagoon. So there's lots of history attached to it, and it takes you through a lot of beautiful scene...
Read more

We reached the Danube!

Image
  Yesterday's ride on the last day of August will be memorable because of the village we reached halfway through the day, called Harburg. Here an impressive castle sits atop the hill, this one dating from the 11-12 th century, and said to be one of Germany's oldest castle fortifications. Hamburg and its hilltop castle We didn't climb up to the castle (these hilltop establishments are oft best viewed from afar in our opinion, especially when you're on a heavily loaded bike). Instead we stumbled on a delightful little café on the old stone bridge over the slow-moving Wornitz River where we had coffee and the most delicious pieces of homemade cake. We had quite the chat with the owners who seemed quite surprised to have Canadians on bikes in their place. Our large pieces of apple cake and plum cake Chilling in the heat of the day   Anyway the eating was followed by a good hour just relaxing in the shade under the trees along the river, resting up before hitting the ...
Read more

Complications at Reschen Pass: Italy here we come!

Image
 Monday morning Sep 9th Pfunds, at the foot of Reschen Pass, the route to Italy Before leaving home, I had read about a road closure here at Pfunds that would affect the main road, causing the diversion for traffic to use the minor road up the pass that is the official Via Claudia route for bikes. So it sounded like our bike route would not be affected, although it might have a lot of traffic. However, at breakfast this morning we learned that it's actually the cycling road that is completely closed for the building of a rockfall shed, effective Sep 1st. There is apparently an alternative signed diversion for bikes that follows a really rough gravel path. Not the best for heavily loaded bikes, although we did it over Fern Pass in good weather. Fortunately, there is a Via Claudia bike shuttle service, and we've just secured ourselves 3 spots at 12.00. This will save us a ton of hard, unpleasant riding in damp weather up the pass, and get us to the town of Nauders, several km bel...
Read more