Day 27 - Amsterdam

Our final ride from Haarlem to the center of Amsterdam seems to include everything we've seen and enjoyed on this bicycle trip: green fields, canals and dikes, quaint villages with their sturdy steeples, a forest canopy and beautiful parklands, and finally, the web of movement on the urban bicycle path. The memories come sweeping past as it all comes circling to its end. We round the last corner of the final fietspad and there it is: the A1 Bicycles shop where it all began four weeks ago. Our journey is finished. Tears well and a big hug confirms our mutual enjoyment. We've had a great trip.

I'm convinced there is no grander way to travel than on a bicycle. The clever two wheel transport dates back to the early 19th century, when the Americans, with all their inventiveness, excelled at adopting the novel form of mobility. But by the turn of the century, Americans attention began turning to the automobile and the Dutch pedaled past the Yanks to become the world's leading bicycle enthusiasts. So popular were they with the Dutch that the government had to respond, which they did by building dedicated bicycle paths throughout the country. The legacy of that early commitment to two-wheel travel is still being enjoyed today in the Netherlands. Thirty-six percent of the Dutch use the bicycle as their primary mode of travel.

For me, the bicycle has allowed me to engage more deeply and fully with the quirky and complex country at the top of the European continent. "Seems like a wonderful, relaxing and wholesome way to travel," my son writes in an email after browsing through this blog. "You see so much more on a bike...plus you get extra senses such as smell and sounds."

That pretty much sums it up. The freedom to look around, up and down, across the wide open flat land, to stop whenever something calls out for more attention, to smile or nod at the many passersby sitting high and proud on their upright bikes. Such a total sensory immersion allows for greater intimacy with a country and its people than you could ever get from behind the window of car, bus, or train. Holland has sunk into my bones. I look forward to returning one day.