Canals and Bicycles and Flowers, Oh My!

This weekend we had a little getaway adventure to Amsterdam! It was so nice to explore and relax in a city full of canals and boats and bicycles. And the weather was amazingly cooperative - I maybe wanted to play hooky and stay another day in the sunshine. If only!

SO MANY BICYCLES. And so many varieties - cargo bicycles, a mother with a baby strapped to her and another small child riding at the handlebars, passengers riding sidesaddle, and one guy transporting a stack on chairs, just to name a few! On Sunday we took a bicycle tour of the city and pretended to be locals. Well, pretended to be locals if we ignored the duck-like line of our fellow tour takers.

Pretty purple canal side houses - apparently they are built to lean forward a little bit so people can use a pulley system to move their furniture in! Or at least that's the story we were told...

Flowers in the floating flower market.

I also kind of want to live in a houseboat now. And maybe walk to Pancakes! Amsterdam a few times a week. I have a serious pancake/waffle weakness.

More flowers in the market. We brought some tulip bulbs home with us - fingers crossed they do well!

We stayed in the Museum Quarter, which made it super convenient to visit the newly renovated Rijksmuseum, the symphony -because we fancy like that, clearly ;-) - and the Van Gogh Museum.

I would love to go back again sometime and and see the tulip fields in bloom, enjoy a leisurely afternoon drink by a canal, and take a long bike ride out of the city. Have you been to Amsterdam? Are you planning an adventure there anytime soon?