Getting to (and finally enjoying) Amsterdam

Until a few days ago, we would have told you that train travel in Germany was actually pretty good with a bike. That all changed when we began our trip back to Amsterdam. What was supposed to be an “easy” 10-hour connection from Cuxhaven to Amsterdam stretched into a 16-hour endurance test: slow trains, missed connections, attendants with zero flexibility, and—most maddening of all—no space for bikes.

The low point? A grumpy train attendant who threatened to call the police if we didn’t immediately remove our bikes. (I don’t know what the penalty is for “illegal bike parking” on a German train, but we weren’t eager to find out.) Luckily, we smoothed things over and escaped without a police record—though it was touch-and-go for a minute.

By the time we finally rolled into Amsterdam Centraal at midnight, we felt like we deserved a medal - and we still had a 20 minute bike ride in the rain to get to our hotel!

The one silver lining of that long day was a two-hour layover in Bremen, where we met up with our friend and former coworker from White Sands, Gabby! She now lives there with her husband and daughter. They were fantastic tour guides, and when things got dicey with our train connections, Julian even came to our rescue. We treasured every moment of that unexpected visit. ❤️

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Back to Amsterdam

After the train saga, it was wonderful to be on foot for a few days. Here are some highlights:

Pancakes worth the climb!

Savory pancakes at The Upstairs Pancake House (a Somebody Feed Phil stop). I had bacon, Parmesan, and baked apples; Bob had bacon, honey and Brie. Both were dreamy! The only challenge was navigating the narrow staircase to get there—but trust me, worth it.

Ships and stories

Unable to snag Van Gogh museum tickets, we opted for the Maritime Museum, where we explored a replica of a 1749 trade ship. The exhibits dove deep into colonial trade, including the inequality it created. It was both sobering and fascinating—and yes, we crawled all over that ship like excited kids.

Windmill Wonderland

We spent our last day at Zaanse Schans, wandering among the iconic Dutch windmills. At its peak in the 1600s, this area had over 650 windmills! I’ve always thought of windmills as water pumps, but here they were used for everything from grinding spices and grains, to extracting oil, processing pigments, and sawing timber.

The mechanics inside the windmills were mesmerizing—we could have watched them all day.

We capped things off at Zaanse Shans with a demonstration of wooden shoe making. The craftsman showed us the modern method (under 5 minutes per shoe), compared to the hours it would take by hand. Even today, wooden shoes are still worn by farmers and gardeners—they’re waterproof, warm, and float if lost in the muck.

And that’s a wrap!

We spent one evening in the hotel room dining on cheese and wine while breaking down the bikes for the trip home. Also got a kick out of watching the Dutch version of Survivor.

Back to the Amsterdam Airport.

Final blog post in work!

Like any trip, this one ends with a mix of eagerness to get home and a little remorse that it’s over. We’d been planning and anticipating this adventure for months, and it’s hard to believe it’s already behind us. We don’t know yet where our next journey will take us, but we’re grateful you came along for the ride—and we hope you’ll join us again when the next adventure calls!

Tot ziens vrienden!