An American in Amsterdam, writing in Slate:
One night, strolling in the evening air, I happened by a theater as a play was letting out. A crowd of distinguished Amsterdammers poured onto the sidewalk. The men wore blazers and ties, the women wore dresses and cardigans. Most of these theater-goers were in their 50s and 60s, with wrinkles and bifocals and graying beards. It looked like a scene you might witness any night in Manhattan, when a throng of well-dressed New Yorkers emerges from a downtown playhouse. But there was a key difference: The New Yorkers would stride toward the curb with one arm in the air, hailing a taxi. The Amsterdammers, by contrast, were unlocking their bicycles from nearby racks, hopping up on the pedals with a little two-step, and riding away. I can’t tell you how absurd it looked—and how utterly gleeful it made me—as these older couples, in prim evening wear, mounted their bikes and rode side-by-side into the night. They whooshed past me, pedaling with ease, and their conversations carried on undisturbed. The women’s dresses fluttered about their ankles; the men’s cigarette smoke trailed behind them.
“There’s something about riding a bike that makes you feel like you’re 5 years old,” my American friend Carey, who lives and works here in Amsterdam, said to me. Indeed, these proper Dutch couples outside the theater seemed to morph, before my eyes, into bouncy little children. I half-expected the ladies to shriek, “Wheeeeee!” as their bikes picked up speed and rounded a corner out of sight. The next day, totally inspired, I rented a bike from the shop by my hotel. (Of course, a helmet was unnecessary or at least unfashionable—no one wears them here. Nor do they wear Spandex shorts; or wristbands; or water-dispensing backpacks. They just hop on the bike and go, like normal people. You’ll often see a mother with two kids perched on the bike holding groceries in one hand and a cell phone in the other.)
Since Amsterdam worships bicycles, there are separate bike paths on nearly every street. There are even bike-specific traffic lights to prevent you from careening into traffic. I still assumed that I had about a 70 percent chance of causing some sort of horrific accident (tram car, canal, Belgian tourist) but decided not to worry about it. Within moments, I was zooming around the city, elbow-to-elbow in a pack of Dutch cyclists, feeling—yes, a bit like a 5-year-old. It was fantastic. I hadn’t ridden a bike in a while, and I’d forgotten the tiny thrill of coasting along with the wind in my face … standing on the pedals and leaning over the handlebars … weaving back and forth down an empty street. Ignoring the wonders this does for your fitness (everyone’s thin here, with shapely calves) as well as for air pollution, perhaps the best thing about biking is the utter silence of it. At night, rolling along the elegant western canals, the only sound I’d hear was my own wheels rumbling on cobblestone streets (or the polite ding of another cyclist’s bell; or the watery echoes of a boat passing beneath a bridge).
On weekend evenings, young couples go out on bike dates. She sits sidesaddle on the luggage rack above the rear wheel, her skirted legs crossed daintily. She wraps one arm around his waist, while the other lifts an umbrella over their heads to ward off the drizzle. (Every time I see this, I find it incredibly hot.) Carey let me ride on the back of her bike for a minute, to see how it felt. It felt really painful. I lack the narrow Dutch ass one needs to sit comfortably on a metal luggage rack.
Thanks to Pablo Monsivais for the link. Image by Michael Jacobs
Yup, I do love the Dutch. Without exaggeration, the Dutch embrace of the bicycle gives me more hope for humanity after fossil fuels become too dear than any other single thing I can think of. Bicyclist : Amsterdam :: Muslim : Mecca. Straw poll: how many Velorution readers have not been to Amsterdam?
I’ve not been, but I drool every time I read about it. I’d love to go.
Two Years
I moved to NYC two years ago today! Tomorrow there is another rally in NYC to defend our rights to freedom of speech and assembly, followed by the monthly Critical Mass ride.
Ride on, New York! People in Toron
People in Toronto are thinking of you.
It’s not just Amsterdam, it’s the whole fine country. I spent a month there years ago, and have longed to return ever since. Hope abounds though, for Portland, Oregon has been quietly transforming itself into the Amsterdam of the States for the last twenty years or so. It has taken a while, but this city is a completely different world when it comes to riding somewhere. If you can’t afford to get to Amsterdam, check Portland out. Not the same, but heading in the same direction.
Spent a week in Amsterdam in July. What a paradise! Since that trip I can’t help but feeling we make things to hard on ourselves here in North America. In order to ride we need 27 (now 30) gears, spandex, rear-view mirrors, helmets, gloves, flashing lights, and reflecto-everything. The dutch taught me all you need is your freakin’ bike.
I just looked at the original Slate article, and ironically, there are many ads for cars on the page!
Anyway, I just found this web site and I posted a review of it here: http://www.wechange.org/passionate_about_selling_bicycles , and I also made a mention of this blog entry.
I do love the Dutch, too (also because our site runs on Drupal, a Dutch-created software).
Holland seems like a great place, even paradise for a while, but living here, you will eventually see drawbacks. I personally find the Dutch very cold and unfriendly (not to mention dull and uninterested in culture), they hate foreigners despite having a reputation for multi-culturalism, the service is a complete sham, and transportation (besides riding your bike in weather that’s rainy 80% of the time) is slow, crowded and extremely expensive (almost $5 PER HOUR for parking in some parts of Amsterdam). Despite having a reputation for tolerance, homophobia is rapant outside of Amsterdam, and even Amsterdammers look down on people smoking weed, though it’s practically legal.
I’m about to leave now, but I’ve lived here four years, and I gave up on bikes- the weather just wears on you after some time, after you’ve figured out that the sun eventually just won’t come out. Good on the Dutch for riding their bikes (although they could be just too cheap to buy a car) but after a while, the rain here will make any American feel like a slave on a bike. You’ll miss your climate controlled bubble and wide roads. You don’t want to be on a cheap bike in the rain with a car an inch from your elbow. Trust me- we don’t know what we’ve got ’til it’s gone. Check out this website: http://www.itsnotpossible.nl
I’m Dutch and I like to give a comment on Max’s comment.
Yes, we are indeed cold and unfriendly, but that’s when we don’t like you. Certainly we are not dull, at least, the people I know aren’t. We don’t hate ALL foreigners – only the ones who come to take benefit of the great care system but do completely nothing with their life. Homophobia? About 30% of my teachers are openly gay and I’ve seen no-one who has a problem with that. And this is outside Amsterdam – upon the North.
Probably we use bikes because it is cheap, but also because it’s the fastest way to get somewhere. On top of that, you can’t call/put lipgloss on/flirt/text message/window shop in a car, can you?
And haven’t you noticed how greatly we speak English? Have you ever been anywhere in the Netherlands were they didn’t understand you? No. And that’s really a big plus. Even in Belgium/Germany/Luxemburg/Sweden half of the younger generation doesn’t speak English.
I am married to A Dutchman and have been living in Holland for
27 years. If it wasn’t for the children and our business, we
would of left a long time ago. We recently sold our business
and are planning to move. The nice thing about Holland is that
it is small and close to other countries and the biking. The
Dutch sell Holland as open and liberal, but it’s all lies. The
Dutch are unfriendly, cold, mediocre, racist, xenophobic, boring, small minded and just plain mean,(exceptions ex- cluded), but they will always tell you differently and defend it. The reason is not like or dislike it is thier nature.
Most foreigners want to leave and are leaving including the Dutch and not for nothing. The english is also mediocre.
At least the biking is enjoyable.
Its true we, the dutch, are stubburn, closed in personal live and very direct (what comes across as cold, unintrested and unfriendly). But we are proud of it, it is us, it is the way we live.
And I do understand a lot of expats have a hard time with that.
Love and kisses!
If you don’t like Holland,maybe Kyoto will be more to your liking .
http://utilitycyclism.blogspot.com/
I can't agree more with Maria even though I am a dutch myself.
What a sad thread this has become. This smearing of the Dutch as being intolerant and xenophobic is unpleasant as the behaviour they claim to be complaining about.
And a complaint about the price of car parking and smoking dope not being respectable ? On a cycling blog under a subject about the country which has the highest cycling rate in the world ? What's that all about ? You sound like the worst kind of tourist. The sort of person who travels half way around the world to complain that your destination is not like certain aspects of where you came from mixed with your misconceptions about how it should be. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
As an Englishman living in the Netherlands, I have to say that I find the Dutch to be a charming people. Yes, they are direct in their comments, but this is a positive difference from some other places. I would prefer to know what people think than to have them hide their thoughts and feelings.
I have found everyone to be remarkably helpful, everyone to be remarkably polite and honest, and I'm astonished that no-one makes fun of my dreadful grammar and pronunciation when I attempt to speak Dutch. This is a great place to live.
It's true that any cyclist who hasn't seen this country ought to, if not by visiting (we can help with this), at least watch films (I've put dozens on youtube myself), read blogs etc. There is much for the rest of the world to learn from the Netherlands – not only about cycling, but also about creating a cohesive and peaceful society.
Oh, and BTW. There are quite a lot of cities here with much higher cycling rates than Amsterdam.