Getting around made easy

  The silence and lack of motorised traffic feels like another century. I arrived in Amsterdam for my first visit to the Netherlands on a sunlit snowy morning and was welcomed by a Brazilian friend who has lived there for three years.  After dumping my bags at her apartment we got onto bicycles and she took me round a city where pedestrians and bikes rule. I had to get used to having total right of way! What a change from Harare (or Sao Paolo for that matter) where smoky autos and grinding engine noise is the order of the day.
If someone had told me I would be a riding a bicycle in temperatures of minus 10, I wouldn’t have believed it – but it was enchanting and just the way to shake off body kinks from a long flight. Took advantage of KLM’s new direct link from Harare to Schiphol via Lusaka. It does make a difference leaving at night giving a whole working day before departure.  Most other flights via Joburg, Nairobi, or Addis leave midday – so really the whole day is gone. KLM doesn’t measure up to the Middle East airlines in terms of comfort and food – but I guess   the reduced travel time makes up for that. Supper passed me by as that was served well after        1am once we had taken off from rainy Lusaka but I was hungry for breakfast the next morning – scrambled eggs, mushrooms and tomato – accompanied by a glorious view of the sunlit, snowcapped Alps breaking through the cloud base.
I was very taken by an electronic time code ticking on the carousel predicting our luggage arrival for 1037 – twenty minutes after touchdown. So was very disappointed when it didn’t clunk into action dead on time. There was a delay of perhaps five minutes which wouldn’t have bothered me at all back home but did in efficient Europe.
Our cycle ride took us to the city centre through a large snowclad park.  Everyone is doing their      business on bikes. Kids cycle to school.  Moms and Dads carry small children in weatherproof carriers mounted on the front of their bikes.  Even         little dogs get a ride in the carrying basket while big ones run alongside on leads. One man had a huge             portfolio of paintings strapped into various panniers back and sides of his bike. I found it a great way to              get around and to see the sights              – trundling over cobbled streets and humped bridges over frozen canals where seagulls strutted on the ice.
Amsterdam is famous for its liberal attitude to soft drugs and the city centre is marked by ‘coffee’ shops where you can buy, eat, drink and smoke marijuana – a big tourist attraction. All other cigarettes must be smoked outside on the frozen pavements! A no smoking room in Holland means no cigarettes and no recreational drugs and a card strategically placed in my hotel room threatened eviction as well as a large fine for additional cleaning costs if breaching this rule.
We had lunch in famous cultural centre De Balie – not only a café and restaurant but also a venue for films, theatre and discussions. We enjoyed a clove flavoured cheese on sour brown bread with onion pickle and roasted tomatoes.
With a local as guide I wasn’t going to mistake the coffee shops for cafés – so we finished the afternoon with sweet apple tart and hot chocolate in a steamy crowded café – no smoking, no marijuana!
– g.jeke@yahoo.com