The moment we had walked out of the train station
the night before, there was no question but that bicycles were a major means of
transportation for the Dutch population. As I learned, this would be true for
young and old, regardless of the state of the weather at any given moment. Yes,
there were cars, but obviously bikes were the mobility of choice! (You would have
thought we were in Indonesia – alternatively, for that matter, by the
ever-pervasive canal system, you might have thought instead that we were in
Venice!)
Outside of the Centraal Train Station there had
been rows upon rows of bikes – not only along the ground, but on a tiered
bicycle parking garage, as well. I couldn’t understand what possible reason
there could be for SO many bicycles in this location. Someone explained that as
thousands of persons compute to and from this central location, they get there
on their bicycles and then leave them behind. Their means of commuting during
the week, I suppose, and then as they travel home at the end of their work week
or off for a weekend getaway, they leave them behind. That makes sense.
As I said, age or inclement weather was no
deterrent to riding ones bike; neither darkness or if you were a woman, in a
dress, on your way to work even – and especially not if it was freezing cold
out there! (Scoff, scoff.) Whereas in Utah, we’d pack ‘em away till spring,
here that is NOT the case. In fact, irrelevant – ya still gotta get to where
you need to go. For example on Saturday evening when we got to Andrew’s
apartment and were scrambling to figure out HOW to get to church the next morning,
Dick, the manager of Andrew’s entire building, as well as flat mate, (not fully
realizing the cultural shock I would have experienced at his suggestion) kindly
offered his own personal bike for my use to get me to church. (It was just a
stock thing for Andrew’s company to assign him a bike right off when he first arrived
– not that he’s used it so far.) The man who passed us on our way to church –
who greeted us inside – was the one who instructed us on the correct way for conducting
ourselves about– when traversing the specially designated bike-walking paths – stand
on the right side, out of the way. (One time I inadvertently got in the path of
this vigilant young woman’s course, and to get my attention she kept saying, ‘Hey!’
‘Hey!’ until I finally got the message and jumped out of the way!)
An interesting thing to me is that whereas biking
for us in the states is primarily recreational, the serious biker (McKay, for
instance) insists on a pretty sophisticated assembly. Not so here – doesn’t
seem to be the place you flout your ego. Bikes rattle by, old and worn, rusted,
tied up with wire. (Andrew tells me there is a whole underground of bike
stealing operation around here – no
doubt, what with how necessary they are to everybody! Reminds me of the old 1940’s
Italian neorealism classic, the Bicycle Thief – saw it in my Film Appreciation
class at BYU a few years back. Very moving and makes the point about how much
ones bike is if it is their only means of transportation. Watch it, supposedly free,
online at: http://www.alluc.org/movies/watch-bicycle-thieves-1948-online/367959.html)
[Today
I’m not on good old, original American Google.com, (nor on Google.co.uk, for that
matter, where I have been for the past 4 months) but rather Google.nl!]
Every since I was a girl and my older
brother was called to Holland to serve a mission, this country where I’m at has
been Holland to me. Of course, I was aware of the name ‘Nederlands’ as at about
this same time I was a stamp collector, and on the country’s stamps, it was
referred to as the Nederlands. Only now, at this very moment, when I went to
untangle the difference between the two names, was it that I learned the
quintessential truth: while the term Holland is frequently used as a pars pro toto to refer to the whole of the
Netherlands, Holland itself is a region in the western part
of the country. North and South Holland – including the
Netherlands' three largest cities: Amsterdam,
The Hague and Rotterdam - are actually only two of its twelve
provinces.
While this usage is generally accepted, it is disliked by some of the
Dutch population, (well, yeah, the parts who aren’t North and South Holland, no
doubt!) That was certainly an eye opener to me – we surely did have it wrong
back in the day! (Still can’t help wondering how this misrepresentation got
started in the first place . . . )
With
50% of
its land lying less than one metre above sea level, the Netherlands
literally translates to means the ‘low countries.’ Continuous drainage is necessary to keep Holland
from flooding. In earlier centuries windmills were
used for this task. The landscape was (and in places still is) dotted with
windmills, which have become a national symbol. Of historical significance: the people of Holland, areas closest to
the coast, found themselves living in an unstable, watery environment. By the
tenth century the inhabitants set about cultivating this land by draining it.
However, the drainage resulted in extreme soil shrinkage, lowering the surface
of the land by up to fifteen metres. This development led eventually to
catastrophic storm floods that ended up literally
washing away entire regions, as the peat layer disintegrated or became detached
and was carried away by the flood water. Starting
around the 16th century, people took the offensive and began reclamation projects, converting lakes,
marshy areas and adjoining mudflats into usable land, which continued right
into the 20th century. As a result, maps of mediaeval and early
modern Holland bear little resemblance to the maps of today.
In the evening,
when Andrew was finished with his work, we took off to get those pants – and we
needed to go no further than that fine five-story H&M at The Dam. We spent
a good deal of time looking, and trying on, the multitudinous selection of
pants - and other men's clothing (I
remarked to Andrew that I could see he was in for some serious exercise in
restraint, here in the European, one of the main fashion center of the world,
for wanting to buy everything in sight. He said, I don’t know why you say that
– I’ll just get them!) Got a coupla pair, then headed for a fun restaurant,
east beyond Centraal Station, known as Va Piano, that Stephanie had recommended
in the email correspondence we had gotten going. (On our path along the canal’s
edge, we passed a Chinese restaurant, all lit up AND floating in the water.
Pretty fun!)
Vapiano was a
ideal place for our first meal out in Amsterdam – not too expensive, but really tasty, and nice to look at, too - pizza and pasta, salads, desserts. And then drinks, of
course, there’re always drinks. (Imbibing is BIG everywhere – England included!
After all, we ARE in the middle of a major city and tourist spot, so it’s available
everywhere and you SEE it everywhere!) When you enter the restaurant, they give
you kind of a credit card thing – each person must come up with it in the end,
or else you’re charged a ‘mere’ 50 euros (remember we’re in euros here in
Amsterdam, part of the EU – great for my pound sterling exchange, 12 for my £10
– not so great for Andrew’s dollars, 7.64 for his $10). When you pick up your
food, the card is scanned, the information of which is then transferred by the
cashier as you exit. Kind of kool. Also cool, and what I would call their
gimmick (not sure what the Va Piano name is all about –no pianos anywhere that
I could see OR hear), at the high tables where we sat, (think airy, sleek
European-motif styling for the entire interior – very much the design element
everywhere we went!) were metal trays that held pots of fresh herbs. Also in
the center of the room was a display of multiple pots. Really nice, you know –
to bring the out-of-doors indoors. Oh, yeah, and what I forgot to mention is
that the pots of herbs are for you to use to enhance your dish, as you see fit.
We had a lovely salad, large enough for two, €4, plus a lovely homemade-ish
thin-crust pizza with 5 cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes and thinly-sliced fig.
(Interesting, huh? Good, too!)
Photos_
2- bicycle queues outside Centraal Station
3- parking garage outside Centraal Station
4- designated paths, 430p – l to r, sidewalk,
bicycle lane, sidewalk/median, roadway with cars going in a familiar direction
5- Bike City
6-7 commuters
8- 3 on a bike (dad with two kids)
9- street views
10- the lowlands
11-12 Vapiano –
in and out
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