You are currently browsing the Just Danika weblog archives for the day 6. September 2009.
6. September 2009 by justdanika.
I find myself, sitting on this Sunday afternoon, on my tiny porch over looking the rooftops, canals and streets of Amsterdam. It smells like pancakes. The sound of the train, people laughing and a distant bagpipe band makes me smile. It is overcast giving a very European feel to my view with a perfect glaze over the chimneys.
The bike culture is just different here. I walked around the city (looking for somewhere to stop for a Heinekin) enjoying the architecture and the fashion. It is great how everyone from the hipster boys to the older couples are just biking around the streets on their cruisers.
No one here has a 1000 dollar bike (it would just end up in the bottom of the canals). They all bike on these worn out cruisers with oversize handle bars and high seats. Everyone is sitting erect just casually meandering around the streets.
My partner in crime this week, Caroline, mentioned the large number of Harley Davidson bikes and apparel we have seen here. There is a direct correlation to how the Dutch use bicycles and how they use motorcycles.
When you compare these uses to those of the Nor Cal folk who surround me on the streets on Sundays in packs, on bikes that cost more than my car wearing crazy spandex on their way to meet at a coffee shop, it is pretty polar opposite what these people have in mind.
Maybe the real differnce has to do with the difference between what coffee shops sell here and there.
Maybe…
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