A Ride through Amsterdam

Today, we arrived in Amsterdam. We flew in on a Bowing Triple Seven; we then took a train to the city on a double-decker train, which was the first time for many scouts. We then walked to the hostel that we were staying at. After we unloaded our supplies, we walked a few blocks to a Mike’s bike rental for a private guided tour. We split into our two patrols: Canya and Hada. Ashley from Canya and Michael from Hada enjoyed the bike tour around the city.

Michael says “Amsterdam is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture. It is very different from what we were used to in Canada, the sky seemed to be bluer and the air seemed cleaner. This was probably due to the fact that most of the population either walks, or ride bikes to get around the city. This is a fast and efficient method of transportation. Unlike some cities in Canada, we saw little in the means of police, or hard enforced rules, everyone just made decisions based on common sense. For example, In Canada, we have hand signals for biking, which consist of us putting out arm up for right hand turn, out for a left hand turn and down for a stop, in Amsterdam, people simply pointed the way that they intended to go on intersections. There were no rules, but in order to get around, you had to quickly adapt and learn from what other people were already doing.”

Ashley is a frequent cyclist in Vancouver, BC and remarks the differences in cycling in Vancouver and Amsterdam. “In Vancouver, there are a lot more cars and fewer cyclists. At first I was overwhelmed by the number of cyclists in Amsterdam. The atmosphere was completely different from cycling in Vancouver because it seems like the cyclists dominated the streets more than cars which is the opposite from where I usually cycle. As a frequent cyclist, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride even though it wasn’t my own bike and the tour guide was informative and funny. We learned about Amsterdam’s history and how it came to be today. I look forward to coming back one day and cycle through the busy streets again.”