Amsterdam Bike Tour with Pete Jordan

On Saturday, 7/5 a number of us went to Amsterdam for the day to get a bike tour from Pete Jordan, author of In the City of Bikes - a very compelling book about the Amsterdam cyclist, the high and lows, the complete history, the battles to get more bicycle friendly, and much more. In other words  the perfect candidate to lead us around Amsterdam and point out unique aspects of the city. As I just had finished the book, I was very curious to what a number of the places looked like that he wrote about in the book.

Biking In The City of Bikes!

Biking through the Rijksmuseum

I am not going to run through every detail of the tour, but I do want to point out some of the highlights. We were able to see what the city has done to accommodate bike parking at the train station. This includes a massive three structure building in front of the train station, a decommissioned ferry boat to house bikes, and floating bike parking facilities behind the station. Another interesting stop was along a bike path that ran through the squatters quarters. It was neat to see buildings with large murals that have been rehabbed by squatters. We also stopped to observe construction of ongoing transportation projects, including the construction of a new Metro line, a somewhat controversial project due to cost overruns. Probable, the highlight of the whole tour was the bike path running through a tunnel between the Rijksmuseum. This tunnel was written about extensively in his book. The museum for years have wanted to close it, but due to the important connection it has remained open (except for a number of years when the museum was getting renovated). Biking through it felt like biking through a domed cathedral with beautiful lighting, and huge glass windows on both sides that you can look into and see people viewing art. Pete Jordan described it as one of his favorite places to bike, and I must agree. The tour ended in Vondelpark, a beautiful park filled with bikers and pedestrians. We talked a bit more with Pete, asked questions, and said much thanks for such a great tour. There is so much to cover concerning the history of the Amsterdam cyclist. I highly recommend reading the book, and if you have the opportunity to bike around the city.

Along the Amstel River

The remainder of the afternoon we ate Dutch pancakes, biked along the Amstel River, walked around neighborhoods, and then watched the Netherlands beat Costa Rica in penalty kicks to advance to the semi-finals in the World Cup.