Tuesday, May 25, 2010

To Make Our Bike Lovers Drool

The people of Amsterdam love their bikes. And for good reason. They have dedicated bike lanes everywhere, they have complete right of way and won't hesitate to ring their bells to let you know, you stupid tourist,that you just stepped into a bike lane.

Every one was on bikes, dressed for work, carrying groceries, flowers, briefcases, and once what I was pretty sure was a cello.

These black milk crate looking baskets seemed to be the most popular.

Even the kids rode bikes. These carts were popular and I saw a few that had snap on plastic sheets to protect from rain and cold. I even saw what I think was an entire pre-school class heading out on a trip, two teachers with about 5 kids each in large carts.

There were also little "bike seats" that strapped to the back or front or both (as seen here) of the bikes.

The first time I saw this sight, I told Jason that my American mother friends would completely freak out when they saw this.

And they did.

2 comments:

Sharon said...

I'm not even a mother and I just cried, "No helmets!!!!????"

But we have the behind-the-cyclist bike seats all over the place here in NYC, as well as the occasional milk crate basket upfront. And some sort of cart-like things that attach to the back of the bike to haul babies and toddlers in--those make me nervous as hell, even though we do have *some* bike lanes here. Probably nowhere near as much as Amsterdam, though.

I wonder how many bicyclists in Amsterdam ride on the sidewalk where the pedestrians are. Few, I bet. It's a big problem here, though.

JanetLee said...

Sharon - I thought the same thing. But, by my limited observation, it seems being on a bike in Amsterdam is safer than walking or being in a car. And those silly pragmatic Dutch actually ALL follow the rules of the road. Gasp!