Bikes.Scooters.& Stink

Amsterdam is the word. And it's a beautiful word. Chris had the first weekend off after arriving in Hanau so like always we take advantage in seeing the surrounding countries.

This time it was the NETHERLANDS!

We arrived in Amsterdam right as the sun was setting. It was beautiful.

But we needed to hurry and find a hotel to check in to cause we only paid for 1 hour of parking

(5 euros for one hour {cough})

You see we find it easier to find a hotel when we arrive in a major city than driving around the city trying to find the hotel which we reserved online.

If you have driven in these cities that you understand where I am coming from.

We stayed in The Mint Hotel if you ever go to Amsterdam I HIGHLY recommend it!!

We decided the best way to see the city was by cycle...bicycle that is.

So we walked out of the city behind out hotel to this little bike shop it was so cluttered like the little lady from Labyrinth with the backpack. I loved it

After only paying 7 Euros per bike for the whole day (What a steal right?) You can also travel the canals by boat for 50 Euros an hour (cough)

I got to ride with Taimi on front of my bike for 2 reasons,

1. I am a pro of the riding of the bike.

Serving in 2 bike areas on my mission will do that for ya.

and

2. The bike seat would only fit on my bike.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that it was pretty difficult to get used to. Especially getting off and on the bike with Taimi right there but I got the hang of it.

Besides beautifully breathtakingly unique

the three words I would use to describe this city would be bikes canals and stink (cannibis)

I can't even begin to describe to you how many bikes inhabit Amsterdam.

It's an incredible number!

BIKES ARE EVERYWHERE!!! EVERYWHERE!!

Not to mention all the cannabis smoke puffs that you ride into is alarming but that's Amsterdam for ya.

Here are some bikes that you may see along the way :)

We basically spent the whole day crusin around the city up and over bridges in and out of traffic dodging those darn reckless scooters that are holding a family of 5...seriously!

They have more bike paths and street lights for the bikes than they have streets and street lights for cars...seriously!

I was totally and completely terrified! You see the scooters (and there are many) can ride on the bike paths also

AND

you can fit anyone on them we saw a scooter we 3 kids and a dad also one with 2 kids and a lady!

I wouldn't have been scared because I can handle a crash but I had Taimi in tow and I don't know what I would do if something happened to her while she was on my bike.

So I was so nervous and scared out of my mind praying every second while having the time of my life

(is that even possible)

Taimi was having more fun than all of us combined

We went and saw where Ann Frank and her family hid from the Nazi's which was pretty interesting. We also went to a flower market and the local market.

We stopped at a cute little nook for some crepes. I got mini crepes with strawberries Chris got a banana and eggnog crepe.

It was nice to spend some time in Amsterdam it's a very unique city unlike any of the other countries I have traveled to.

And we got to see it on a bike with two of our friends.

Chris got his old teammate from BYU Logan a job on the team Chris plays for. Partially in hopes that Natalie would be a good friend for me to have out here.

After hours of site seeing and riding a bike Taimi gave in and rested her pretty little head.

Once Taimi fell asleep we decided to head to my top spot (tomorrows post)

But we still make some time for a few sweet bicycle tricks, marveling, and picture moments.

Again bikes, bikes, bikes and more bikes.

This picture in the grain of sand compared to the beach of bikes that inhabit this amazing "high" city.

Believe it or not I rode like this for longer than I would have liked. It was hard to prop her up on my arm steer out of the way of scooters and passersby all the while trying not to stop so I didn't have to get off my seat to put my foot down.

Like I said I am a pro :)