Bob and I don't have our bags yet -- but we're having a Heineken in Amsterdam, what more do we need?

First impressions

Bicycles

Bicycles

Bicycles

Streaming along with the traffic

The smart cars, the little euro machines

Basic bikes, clunkers, nothing fancy

No gears, but no need,

Not a hill in Holland

Some with push carts on the front

Filled with kids, dogs, groceries

little minivans

a young woman pedals hard, three kids aboard

a businessman in a suit flies by, he’s texting with one hand

a guy carries his date on the back, she rides sidesaddle

dreaming of the night ahead


Bob and I, travel weary, but with a second wind

Are in a brasserie drinking Heinekens

Listening to a motley mix

From Van Morrison’s Brown-Eyed Girl to

Bollywood dance music

To a Dutch rendition of Girl from Ipanema

In front of us a young couple smartly dressed

Smoke and laugh, the air sparkles with their joy

Their excitement for one another

The waiters are Hollywood gorgeous

They flirt with the girl

While steps away in the street

Bikes whisk by

Look, there goes a woman in a party dress balancing a bouquet of fresh flowers

On the handlebars

We’re not in Rapid City anymore.