Now, this is the autumn weather I was hoping for: golden leaves, golden light and clear skies with a nice nip to the evening air.
You know it is autumn when chestnuts which have burst from their prickly pods are scattered on the side of the roads and leaves flutter down on you as you pass through shady glades. Such days are too good to spend any time inside!
Now that Luke really loves bike riding we are trying to fit in some time for him to ride each day. It is too dangerous to ride on the roads of Amsterdam in the city, but here on our one laned road, it is safe and the few vehicles are slow and careful. I wished I had had my camera with me this morning at the supermarkt just to show how many bikes were parked there! Seriously elderly people do their shopping on bikes which is great. I hope I am like that when I am elderly!
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| The Amstel being prepared for 200 years of monarchy celebrations |
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| River barriers in place |
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| Checking the view - Hermitage Museum across the river |
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| Antonskerk and Waterlooplein Market |
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| Patat Frites....always a lovely aroma |
On the bikes again we rode into Waterlooplein where there
is a market. The other day in the pouring rain, it was pretty dismal
but today it was buzzing. Annika bought her long awaited clog slippers
there (10 Euros) and we wandered about both curious and a little
disturbed by the cannabis products and items openly for sale which one
would normally find in an X-rated shop (I presume!).
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| Clog slippers |
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| Kinda interesting, kinda creepy |
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| It's in the bag! |
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| Not my style |
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| Not my style either! |
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| Every Dutch market has to have cheese! |
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| I liked this hat but no one else did! |
Then on to the harbour - Museumhaven - which shone like a jewel, so
pretty. The Maritime Museum, the Architecture Museum and the NEMO
(Science Museum) and all the old boats are part of this precinct and it
was well worth visiting.
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| Museumhaven |
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| Maritime Museum from across the water. |
First stop was a climb onto the terrace to sit and have our afternoon
snack in the sun. There are a few sun chairs provided and we managed a
brief sit in luxury before heading down to NEMO.
NEMO
is like a glorified Scienceworks and is totally interactive and exciting
with illusions, experiments, puzzles and activities. We will be back
there!
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| Boy in a bubble |
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| Girl in a bubble! |
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| Trying to improve Luke's learning abilities! |
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| "Illuded" |
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| "Illuded" again |
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| We put Australia on the wall! |
Our route home was diverted because of the big celebrations for 200 years of the Dutch monarchy on the Magere Brug (Thin Bridge) and the roads were closed. Whilst it was tempting to join the locals and celebrate, the crowds were already building and cycling already hazardous with people everywhere and it wouldn't be much fun trying to get about. I think that whilst bikes have priority on many roads, pedestrians (especially foreigners) have no idea and wander aimlessly across roads and stop randomly and cause many near misses and given these observations, we choose to avoid populated spots.
Cycling home was so so lovely, back to our peaceful spot by the river.
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