Social Conscience

What touches me the most in Amsterdam is seeing so many people riding bicycles as their primary means of transportation.

The bicycle riders are from all walks of life. Elegantly dressed men and women, blue collar workers, younger and older people, ride around as if this is the most natural way of getting from place to place. The fact that it's getting colder now and rains quite often doesn't seem to deter anyone from using their bicycle. It's a way of life.

Almost all the bikes are in black color (the ones in the top pictures are colorful because they are for rent). Theft is a big problem, so maybe that's why owning a nondescript bike is better, and also because bicycles are customarily left out on sidewalks and chained to railings.

Walking home today, I saw a father on his bike reaching down with one hand to help push his young daughter who was riding next to him up the slope of a bridge. Taking good care of the environment is evidently taught very early in life as is developing a social conscience.

I haven't tried Amsterdam's public transportation yet, but from what I've read and seen, it is a superb system of trams and subway trains. Water transport on the many canals is also used although I haven't seen commuter boats yet.

To discourage car ownership, the government has a policy of setting gasoline prices at prohibitively high levels.

In the bottom picture, two cats keep me company at the Minos Bed & Breakfast. My room has a window that looks out on a lovely backyard garden. You can see the front of the building in the top picture. It's dark brown and located in the middle straight above the little white boat. Thank you, Nica, for finding this great place for me!

Do you feel like singing a Dutch song? Please go here and be sure to stand up straight first.

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Photo location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands