Bikeride

I buy a bike, cross the Ij river on a ferry and ride around in my neighborhood.
Up until today I have been a frequent user of public transport in Amsterdam. It is very effective in the sense that you never have to wait more than ten minutes for the bus or three minutes for the tram. Payment is also simple, as a card system similar to the danish 'rejsekort' will always get you prices between 1 and 2 euro for your travels within Amsterdam. Almost all bus routes go to the central station, so it's very easy to find your way home from anywhere.
But why did I buy a bike then? If the public transport is so convenient? I don't think it's going to save me any money. I paid a hundred euros for the bike, and for the same price I could have enough bus tickets for the rest of my stay. It's not going to get me any faster to work, or anywhere else, than public transport is. It's not even for the exercise, as I expect to always ride slowly here (more on that later). So, why?
It's the feeling of liberty. When travelling by bike, I will never have to make plans and leave somewhere at the right time. There will be no track, no route for me to follow, and I can take as many detours as I like. As long as I know the direction of home, I can go home when I want to.
Therefore, I never really considered public transport an alternative, but a temporary arrangement until I figured out how to buy a bike. And that task turned out to be more difficult than I had first thought. My colleagues told me last week, that if you went walking around central station it wouldn't take long before some shady type offered you a cheap bike. And I believe them. But of course that was never a legitimate option for me, as I wanted a legal, second-hand bike. To get that, I visited a place where they 'recycle' bikes, whatever that means, which I had been recommended. Yesterday they had no bikes available when I arrived, but today there were several options. I ended up choosing a bike with no gear, no front wheel brake and barely visible lights. The handling is poor, it is heavy and the seat is uncomfortable, but I absolutely LOVE IT! It's redeeming qualities are, that it has a kickstand, a sturdy luggage rack and a solid triangular frame. I also had to buy two different locks, to be just as difficult to steal as all other bikes in Amsterdam. All-in-all, this is the perfect package for a cheap bike, and I am confident that it will get me to where I have to be as well as to some places I didn't need to go to.
To celebrate, I rode the bike to central station, from where I took the free ferry across the Ij river. It was insanely crowded, and even though the other ferry was arriving just after the first one left the pier it got instantly filled to the maximum 240 passengers. Or actually it took quite a while to get those 240 passengers aboard, as many tourists (a category that I am no longer part of) seemed to have trouble understanding the principle of letting everyone leave before trying to board yourself.

On the other side, I knew the way home a little too well, so I decided to go on a detour. This led me across a narrow bridge to a little harbor on the north side of Ij. I took a walk on the bridges and noticed a warning sign next to me.

It looked somewhat like this, but the man in the picture looked as if we was desperately drowning. I laughed on the inside at that, while I considered the harbor. My first impression was, that it was completely dead, but then I noticed the harbor master sitting inside something that must have once been the bridge of a small freight ship. It baffled me to see him watching over the harbor, almost as a lifeguard would over the beach, when there were so few guests! My estimate is that he had between ten and fifteen visiting boats in the harbor and most of them were there on long term stays. Well, I can't say that it disappoints me, but I had secretly hoped it would be an active harbor filled with racing yachts or dinghies. Instead, I found houseboats, old dutch sloops and a very aware harbor master.
After my visit to the harbor I followed the bike lanes through a beautiful park and some narrow streets and ended up behind my apartment block thereby concluding another good day in the city of Amsterdam.