Some notes about our Airbnb. The most objectionable part is the lingering odor of cigarette smoke, especially after we return to the flat and it's been closed up. The bathroom is is rough shape, with a funky toilet and a hand sprayer shower. The combination washer/dryer works well. The bedroom is functional, mattress is comfortable enough, although the room isn't big enough for the bed to fit in well. The living area is okay, not great but operational, as is the kitchen, with the exception of a quirky combination oven that doesn't always work in microwave mode. We found out that the Airbnb host lives here, and one advantage is the its lived-in condition means that the normal cleaning and food items are mostly here.
We got up in not such a rush and had breakfast while we planned out our day. First up was to activate our IAmsterdam cards and transfer one to me. After some confusion, by combined effort we got it to work. Then we took the ferry over to by the main station, walking from there to go the Lovers Canal Cruise office to reserve our cruise at 5. From there, we walked back to the station and rented bikes from Macbike. I had mapped out a route mainly following the Amstel River south. Initially, it was a little dicey at the start as we got used to the bikes and riding in Amsterdam city traffic. Ann was slow on her bike. I got my Wahoo to work pretty well for showing the route turn by turn, and we were going well out to about 5 miles, when our route was closed off by a construction detour. I found a way around it, but by that time Ann was getting ready to turn around. I used the feature to route us back to the starting point, and it worked well. We rode for about 1:45, then turned the bikes in. Strava only saved the return half of the ride, so I doubled the mileage and elevation below.
Avg speed = 6.6 mph. Total mileage = 10.12 mi
Total elevation gain = 320'
We walked over to an Indian food restaurant for a fairly light lunch. Then we took a Metro back to the main station and found out where the bus platforms were, on the upper level. We took a bus out to Zaanse Schanz, was a little bummed that we had to pay for the bus. It wasn't super crowded, and the bus ride was about 20 minutes. The fun started when we got there. We initially went into the main building, but that was where the museum was, and our interest was in the seeing the village area. The paths were really crowded, and it had a definite Disney / Colonial Williamsburg feel to it. The crowded sidewalks put me on edge. We walked up the path by the main windmills, which were the primary reason for coming out to this place. It was certainly windy, and seeing them up close was mildly interesting. They had thatched roofs, which was curious. Then we retraced our path and turned to walk into the little village area, and it was not so fun. Just little shops selling stuff with people in costume behind the counters. It didn't take too much of this before we had seen enough, and we headed back to use the restroom and walk to the bus stop. The return bus was SRO, but we were lucky enough to find seats. Got back in plenty of time to walk over to the canal cruise departure point and have a snack before we walked down to the dock to get in line. We ended up getting on a boat 15 minutes before our time slot, sitting in the open air section in the very back. It was a nice place to sit, not too cold, but we couldn't hear anything the captain/cruise narrator said. No big deal, it was a nice hour long boat ride where we could sit in comfort and enjoy the scenery. I would call this activity a check-off-your-list item. Once we got off the boat, we walked back to the ferry landing and took the ferry across the river to our neighborhood. There was a Viking cruise ship just leaving, it was a big boat. I walked over to the market and got some items, then walked back to the flat for a light dinner and a quiet evening.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.