This last week saw the arrival of my new roommate, another week at the office completed, and my first cross-fit work out led by Maya on Friday after work.
Woke-up early Saturday and feeling last night's squats in my thighs, took off by bike to Waterlooplein, a large market in central Amsterdam with many used bike sellers. You can't live in Amsterdam without a bike (I'm pretty sure it's been legislated) so we needed to find some transportation for Maya. While the buses, ferries, trams, and metro are fast and reliable, they are also quite expensive. Buying a bike turned into several hours as we went back and forth between sellers looking for a bike low enough for maya, in good condition, and cheap enough. We met up with my friend Gavino who is a seasoned bicycle buyer and knows how to recognize a good bike and how to get a good price. Well bike selection wasn't very good that day, and after hours of looking and bargaining and what not, Gavino decided he would go home and get his other bike and see if it would work for Maya. So Maya and I wandered around for a while, had a terribly expensive lunch, and waited for Gavino to return with the other bike. It turned out the bike needed a few more repairs than he originally thought, so after a few hours he finally made it back, and we realized the bike would need a new back wheel. The bike seemed to be perfect otherwise, so we took it by a bike repair shop and got a new back wheel on it for 40 Euro (the whole bike probably would have cost us 60 euro if the back wheel was working) but it works well now and despite having only 1 gear, Maya got a bike for less than half of what she was budgeting. With the day quickly fading, we went for a leisurely ride through the city, through a beautiful park (Flavopark) and across a large bicycle bridge (see pictures) before heading home. We were tired from walking biking and bargaining all day and Maya was working an extra day Sunday morning so we went to bed early.
I rode with Maya to her workplace Sunday morning as it was her first time taking her bike to work and while the way is fairly straightforward, its about an hour bike ride and missing a turn can get you very lost. After leaving her to work all day, I rode back across Amsterdam to meet up with Gavino. Our plan was to check out the Amsterdam Interior Design Exhibition which took place all weekend and showcased designers from around Europe in 30+ new buildings on the man-made island of Ijburg. While the Interior Design turned out to be more Interior Decorating (a lot of furniture, lights, even clothes) which was of some interest, I liked seeing all the new buildings they were housed in better. Ijburg is a showcase of modern housing types all built in the last ten years. Each block features different housing typologies, different urban strategies, different materials, and different architects. It is also a fairly wealthy area of the city so the apartments, row-houses, and detached houses were all quite expensive and as a result, nice to look at and explore. Sunday's dinner of pizza on Ijburg drew an 8.5/10 rating from Gavino who is a an Italian and a die-hard pizza fan.
I hope we get more weekends with weather like this one- just beautiful. The beach at Ijburg was packed, Maya took a canal cruise with some of her work-mates, and a t-shirt was all that was needed to stay warm. Next weekend is Gavino's last in Amsterdam, and Maya and I are contemplating going to Rotterdam.
