As I write this I’m on my way to the Netherlands, never mind it being 17 May, Norway’s national day, which, you may recall, is bigger than Christmas.
Last time I was here was on a blistering cold and wet day in December. But rain, sleet or snow – the weather is no hindrance for getting around by bike. Same in Norway, can’t let the weather rule your daily life too much, so come winter, we exchange summer tyres for snow tyres, often studded – on cars and on bikes.
In the city centre of Amsterdam, next to one of the city’s many canals, I drifted past a shop hiring out green bikes. A more unusual alternative were these green scooters (green in colour, at least, not so sure about emissions), a fun alternative to bikes if you’re feeling a bit lazy.
This time, amongst other fun stuff, I’m looking forward to biking on Scheveningen Beach, using a special fat rider (yeah, I’m not entirely sure what that is either; will let you know). And to testing a new odd place to sleep: a sea container.
What is the quirkiest place you’ve slept in?
World at a Glance is a series here on Sophie’s World, portraying curious, evocative, happy, sad, wondrous, unexpected little encounters.
Disclosure: My quirky sleeping quarters, beach biking and… well, other fun stuff, come courtesy of Den Haag Marketing. Anything I write is mine, all mine. You know the drill.
These scooters look like an awesome way to get around town! Enjoy Amsterdam!
I do like scooters 🙂
The weirdest place by far was in London many years ago (33 years). We answered an add (in TNT I think) for the cheapest accommodation in London at 1 pound per night for 2 people. Turns out it was in a campervan sales yard under one of the train station lines (Waterloo I think), run by an Aussie called Bow Wow with bright blue hair. He rented out the vans that were there to be sold. I am sure it was highly illegal, but we did it for a week. It was very cold and most people including us kept warm by running the gas stove! There was a makeshift bathroom and you could hear the trains trundling overhead as they entered and left the station. Great Fun.
Sounds like fun – and like a very creative Aussie enterprise 🙂
I guess those scooters have been green technically as well; their emission is really low because they have hybrid engines built-in. I’ve seen them in Amsterdam as well, although I don’t like motorized vehicles in the historical downtown. By the way there aren’t any differences in topology of the country so you easily can ride any kind of bike and it doesn’t take a long time to get anywhere because it is such a tiny country.
The quirkiest place I ever slept was an abandoned light tower in Croatia at the my grandparents house. It was scary but in a good way, we were with my friends.
Thanks for the added info about the scooters. Sleeping in an abandoned light tower sounds fun.
The scooters look like a great way to get around (I’ve been called “lazy” more than a couple of times in my life) but I’d be a little concerned about sleeping in something called a container. Looking forward to reading a little about that. Good luck!
It was fun (but a bit cold). Post coming up 🙂
Actually those roller are technically green, their emission is minimized because they have got a built-in hybrid engine to be environmentally friendly. Btw you shouldn’t be afraid from cycling in the Netherlands, there aren’t any long distances or height differences, you could ride your bike through the whole country in one single day…
Glad to hear they’re green in every sense. And biking was fun, even in pouring rain.
Can’t say anything, we are now in Normandie in France and it’s been raining for 3 days now. Great bikes, saw them also when we were in Toronto last year.
Makes sense. Canada is quite green, too.
I’ve never saw so many bikes in my life, as I did in Amsterdam and Ultrecht!
The only other city to rival the Dutch ones is Copenhagen 🙂
Colour and repetition make this such a nice detail shot, Sophie!
That’s fascinating to get around on scooter in the winter!! Wow, that’s hard core. Funny answer to your question – as it would be my parents house. Only I couldn’t sleep there period because it was TOO quiet. I’m used to some sort of white noise 🙂
I’ve heard New Yorkers say they couldn’t sleep if they didn’t hear a siren every 15 minutes. All what one is used to I suppose…