Wait! You mean this Bridge Moves?

We Set Out Today for Amsterdam

     

     Believe it or not, we've been in Holland for a week and have not yet been to Amsterdam ... until today.  There is just a lot to do, and we've been a lot of other places, but today we made the train trip to the capital of the Netherlands.  (remember, Holland = Dutch = Netherlands - it's all the same)
     We set out from our apartment here in Haarlem and didn't get very far before we came to the bottom of the street where there is a bridge over the canal.  There were some arms that came down like crossing arms at a railroad track.  We were somewhat surprised, and had to stop and wait, as did everyone else on both sides of the bridge. 
     The bridge started moving, pivoting in the middle, and swinging to the side.  They were letting boats pass through and rather than go up like a drawbridge, it swung from one side to the other.  It was cool. 
     Low and behold, some boats passed through and then along came a kayak!  It was awesome!  The moved the bridge to let a kayak through!  Ha Ha Ha!  
     Well, it wasn't really just for the kayak ... but it made an impression - hey, these people have their priorities right!  (see bike picture down below)

So we took the train to Amsterdam

     It's a small country Holland, and we walked to the local train station in Haarlem, where you can then travel by train in 15 minutes to downtown Amsterdam.  
     They have great public transportation here - we could learn something from the Dutch. 

     
     What a great city.  It's one of those places where spectacular scenery meets amazing history meets vibrant activities.  The place is so alive!
     Water and canals are everywhere.  Way more canals than Venice, Italy, but of course, it's not a competition ...

     And Bikes???  Are you kidding me?  This place is the most bike friendly place in the world.  We arrived at the train station and there was this enormous bike "garage" that contained over ... (and I'm not making this up) ... 25,000 bikes!   
     Look at this double decker bike parking lot below, wow! 
     I can picture the girls below trying to locate their bikes, among thousands of look-alikes - "I know I left it here somewhere ..." 
     "We'll find it, it's the one with two wheels ..."

     And among many other amusing and entertaining things, we went on a canal tour by boat, and viewed a lot of the historical buildings that Amsterdam is famous for.  This picture below shows a vantage point of houses (probably three hundred years old) that eventually began to lean into each other.

     It might be hard to tell from this picture, but they are pretty crooked.  And of course, see the warning sign in the bottom right corner about bicycles. 

     And we can't complain about the weather, especially compared to what Oregon is experiencing right now - it's been really good, mild, warm, and sunny for the most part with an occasional rain spell.  This place is really green!