Amsterdam, what is even going on (Day 23 Netherlands)

Though I left early, I still managed to miss the office door for our morning meeting so many times that I arrived late for Chris Bruntlett of Dutch Cycling Embassy lecture. Luckily, I've followed his work off and on via Twitter for several years so I knew the backstory. One of the bonuses of Chris's talk was that he covered some of the history and turning points in the Netherlands' path toward making biking for everyday needs am everyday reality. Similar to Connie's explanation of Odense, Denmark finding itself in a car-based conundrum after destroying neighborhoods for city-intruding highways, Utrecht, Netherlands had had its own expensive blunder. They filled in part of a canal to build a mall connected to the central train station and constructed a (very short) portion of city-averse highway. Having the wherewithal to admit the mistake and pay to fix it severe decades later, Utrecht reopened the canal, revamped the shopping mall, built the largest bike parking garage the world has seen at that point, and restored public space along the waterline.

We pedalled around the train station, checking out a pedestrian/bike bridge along the way. It doesn't (yet) have a bike ramp path to the ground level on the train station side, but it's for an elevator and the standard stair ramps. Much like in Odense, this bridge connects newer development to the older city center. This allows people to access the full range of resources and urban amenities at either side without driving in a car. The view of the other side of the tracks was a stunner that day. 

Alas, our time in Utrecht ended as we continued on to our final Dutch destination--Amsterdam--via train.

First class, oh, so red, so fancy. Technically, my ticket was for second class, but the train was packed, I was tired, and I knew we only had one stop to go.

A simple transfer.

A switch to the Metro after dropping off our bags.

And then we picked up our new-to-us bikes!

Next up: A Fietserbond (Bike Union) bike tour of Amsterdam.

Random pic of the day: Thirsty pigeons at Utrecht Central Station.

A note: One of our crew tested positive for COVID-19 that night, so we all tested that night and every day off the trip thereafter. I was sad for my fellow travellers missing out (on top of them not feeling well). Thus far, all are recovered or recovering without major illness.