Barely.
But luxuriously.
These obtuse comments will become clear as I share the merry-go-round of the last 4 days. Arrived from Helsinki on time, Sunday evening and was met by Willem Peeters, brother of my Healdsburg friend Henk. He offered to pick me up at Schiphol and it was an enormous gift to have someone assist in the navigation of transportation to Centrum (Amsterdam City Center). The express is apparently only available as a round trip, so I had a one way ticket to Schiphol to give away later. After that he advised me to get a 72 hour Metro Pass, graciously bought me a map of the city, and a cup of coffee while we talked about my plans. Then, pointed in the direction of the # 26 tram, to take me to my Warm Showers host, we parted, with a tentative date to share a meal.
Melanie Reiback was the very first host I had contacted when I signed up for Warm Showers and she floored me when she actually offered to loan me a touring bicycle, in addition to a stay in her apartment, . She is a professor of Computer Science at the Free University of Amsterdam, specializing in research around RFID implementations and security. She lives with her partner, Sarah and a young budgie. They moved into their apartment a month ago and were still waiting to get the flooring in. Hence, most of their belonging were still in boxes, and they hadn't purchased any furniture. The apartment is a three floor floating houseboat in a new development. Because it is difficult to cycle from there to City Center, it is the only tram line which allows bicycles! This turned out to be a good thing.
The third floor, the only space with finish flooring, was to be my headquarters. The doors are windows and can be opened like a hopper, tilting inward, or, alternatively swung on hinges to open as doors. I carried my gear upstairs, spread out my sleeping bag, and tried to sleep. I had not slept much during the eight hour layover in Helsinki but even so, it was hard to fall sleep as my head was spinning with all the things I needed to do and the strangeness of it all.
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| First Dawn in Europe |
Monday.
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| View West of the Neighborhood |
The basic tasks for the day were to get some cash, get a sim card for my iphone, and look for a bicycle. Wells Fargo had told me that ATM transactions across a teller's counter were cheaper than an ATM network transaction. After trying three banks I gave up and decided to only use ATMs. I asked a clerk in the Mac Store if he had any suggestions for a prepaid sim card for my iPhone and he echoed an earlier pointer I received in Helsinki: Vodaphone. I walked by the Vodaphone store on my way to the bank, went back and was very annoyed that they wouldn't open the door at 1:00, as posted. They signaled what I thought meant, "Just few moments." It was a full 45 minutes of standing around, going to MacDonalds for the .50 Euro bathroom, buying a postcard, and finally, when the clerks came out for a smoke, discovering that my watch was on Helsinki time and Amsterdam was an hour earlier!
I had communicated via email with Recycled Bicycles but didn't have the address. When I looked it up on my phone, using McDonalds WiFi , I found something called ROADS, the "recycled fiets (bicycle) project." Amazingly, they had a bike I would have bought, with two chainrings and a seven gears, but the seat post was frozen. I asked about them fixing it, and Eric, the mechanic/manager I was talking to, said, "This shop isn't really about bicycles, its about people, getting these mechanics into the labor force. That's why we only work on City Bikes [single speed, heavy, urban transportation]. These guys don't work on bikes with derailleurs!" I pushed a little more and he said you could probably free it with a torch. "But that would burn the paint off". I pushed some more, and finally he said, "We're out of gas!" And that was that.
However, he told me that Decathalon was a giant sporting goods emporium that I could get to via the Metro. He thought I could buy a new bike that would suit my needs for about 300 Euro! So with that tip in my pocket, I continued to search for the fellow I had communicated with. He was on Spuistraat, which it took me a long while to find. Amsterdam is very confusing if you don't have a map in front of you every moment. Instead of a grid, it is a series of concentric canals with streets on both sides. The bridges over the canals don't always keep the same name after crossing. And if you walk a long way, you nearly go in a circle!
I found Vitor Pieto's shop and he was in the process of selling a used city bike to a young japanese girl, who was with her friend. He was giving them a red tail light and showing them how to actuate the front headlight, giving them a lock for the front wheel and explaining the frame mounted lock for the rear wheel. His patience was a marvel to watch. Another woman came in to tell him she was uncertain about the bike he had showed her the day before. She was concerned about riding a bike with a coaster brake and would continue to think about it. He offerred to let her take it and try it, but she declined his offer.
Finally, with no other customers to be served, he shut the front door and took me in the back where he had a large number of un-repaired bicycles. Pointing to a mixte frame with a derailleur that he said he could fix for me for about 150 - 200 Euros. He could have it no later than Wednesday morning. He said I should come by late Tuesday afternoon to see how it was coming. He went on to say if I found something else, that was fine with him also. Very sweet man.
And then I was done for the day. I must have walked 7 or 8 miles. My legs were telling me I hadn't really been very active in the last 5 weeks!
Time for a nap, as we move closer to the appearance of luxury.
