Amsterdam - Day 3

After a very late night out, we didn't wake up until 11am on our third day in Amsterdam.
My husband loves to take long bike rides, so I knew that would be one of the activities we would do  for sure in while we were there.
So after grabbing some sandwiches, bananas, chips and drinks at a tiny market, we headed to Mike's Bike Tours for the Countryside Tour.

We set off in a group through the city before heading out into the countryside.

Just the two of us on our bike tour in Amsterdam on July 31, 2017.

We rode along the river for awhile until we reached the first windmill on our stop.

I loved the shutters and flowerbox. So pretty!

Here is Daniel our tour guide who was fabulous. The tour lasted a little over four hours and there were 16 total in our group. At the beginning of the tour, Daniel asked if there were any experienced riders who could help him out. So Mike definitely being one volunteered, which resulted in us bringing up the rear to make sure we all stayed together.

We reached the cheese and wooden shoe farm pretty quickly after the windmill.

The shoe maker was quite a character. He flirted with the ladies and gave some of the men a little trouble in a joking way.

 After the shoe workshop, we had a picnic lunch and then got back on our bikes.

Mike took a photo of me with my pink bike that had flowers on the handle bar at the stop where we saw some deer. At this point, Daniel also shared stories about how they used to flood the plains in certain areas as a defense tactic during the wars. But once there were planes, it wasn't as effective. This was definitely an interesting part of history that I was unfamiliar with.

We stopped at a second windmill before heading back. Our ride back to the city and the tour shop lasted about an hour. I'll admit it was a little rough for me at points that last hour because we didn't really make any stops. Mike bikes regularly so for him it was a piece of cake. And the first three hours were fine, so I am glad I had been riding a little bit on my bike at home to get ready for it before our trip. Four hours is a pretty long time to bike if you are not used to it at all. So I would definitely recommend practicing before a trip if any type of biking is in your plans.

After the tour, we grabbed some smoothies and headed back to the hotel to rest and have a facetime chat with the kids.

That night we had dinner at a place called the Downtown Grill which had excellent food, but not so great service. So I would recommend it, because honestly good customer service as far as restaurants in Amsterdam was hard to come by. As long as the food was good, we were happy.

We saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen while standing on a bridge over a canal.
Then we spent the rest of the night wandering through the shopping and entertainment districts stopping to look around, have some drinks and just enjoy the atmosphere.
Before heading back to the hotel, we decided to get some dessert (a waffle with chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream) to split.

One of my favorite parts of that night, was just sitting there next to the canal talking and eating a waffle!
So I would say our time in Amsterdam was well spent. We had so much fun hanging out with family and then just each other.

For my next post, we are on to Brussels, Belgium!

Steps - 18,689
Miles - 8.01 (not including the bike ride)