Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/107892
Not that this is my problem. I have my own tried and true pleasures to indulge in. At the top of the list is simply basking in the city's beauty. Canals spanned by postcardperfect bridges. Narrow gabled houses lined up like boxes of pencils, their shimmering reflections in the water adding to the artistry. I never feel as if I'm strolling through a stage set because these perfect scenes are also teeming with contemporary life. And everyday life begins in Amsterdam with bikes. They are everywhere. There's almost one bicycle per person in this city of 800,000 people. (Not necessarily the same lifelong bike, however, since theft is part and parcel of Amsterdam's bike culture.) I can't help but be in a good mood when I see a weathered old man cycling home in his "sit up and beg" Dutch bike. Or young lovers sharing a ride, she sitting sidesaddle in the back. I once saw a guy reading a book while cycling over a bridge. And there was the memorable sight of a half-dozen toddlers being bike-pooled to school, all of them sitting in a big wooden box affixed to the front of a bike. Bakfietsen, the cargo bikes with these wooden boxes, are increasingly popular among Amsterdam's young parents. I always try to rent a bike myself to 34 W E S T W O R L D p30-35_Amsterdam.indd 34 >> experience Amsterdam at its best. Two wheels allow me to be more of a participant than an observer as I careen along on my oma fiets (vintage granny bike) over the bridges. It's easy to pull over time and again for spontaneous stops – either at a secret garden or one of the city's fabulously quirky museums (such as the one devoted to handbags that I discovered on my last trip). Interestingly, in all my time in Amsterdam, I've never once seen a person wearing a helmet. My reaction has always been one of bemusement as I try to imagine what would happen if a North American parent sat their helmet-less toddler on the handlebars of their bike. Well, it happens here. I once even saw a kid sitting on his father's shoulders while Dad power-pedalled. I remember asking a local about helmets and was treated to a lecture about how riding without them is only natural in a bikecentric city. Yes, accidents do happen, yet a helmet law in a nation with such famously liberal laws would never wash. Bike lanes have cycle-specific traffic lights, cyclists have the right of way and intrusive pedestrians are ticketed by the bike police. (I remember on an earlier trip innocently stepping onto a bike lane only to have locals shout "Fiets! Fiets!" to me in a rather aggressive manner. I thought they were telling me to watch my feet. I quickly learned fiets was Dutch for bike and subtextually meant "get off our path, pedestrian.") A msterdam is a particularly childfriendly city. Families can pack the youngsters in their rented bakfietsen and start exploring. One unique stop is Kinderkookkafe, a daycare centre that doubles as a restaurant run by kids who cook, serve, bring the bill and wash up. Parents drop the kids off, they learn how to cook a meal with help from the friendly grown-up staff and then serve it with a proud smile when they come back a few hours later. The Artis Royal Zoo is an oasis in the heart of the city with hundreds of species of animals, a planetarium and wonderful gardens. Just outside of town is Efteling, a fairy-tale wonderland featuring the A-list of northern Europe's storybook characters in fanciful settings – Hansel and Gretel's candy house and Sleeping Beauty's castle included. Kids and adults alike love another of my own tried-and-true Amsterdam pleasures: glorious, golden, twice-fried frites. There's always a lineup for cornets of these magical, s p ri n g 2 0 1 3 13-01-21 2:40 PM