Bikes

Bikes are everywhere here. I have heard more stories about how firmly bikes are embedded in Dutch culture than I have about anything else (cheese, clogs, the colour orange). There are 800-900,000 people in Amsterdam. And 1.2 million bikes. My taxi almost hit someone biking while carrying a bass under one arm. The instrument, not the fish. All of the bikes look the same, and like they came out of the 50s. It is very neat. I took this picture of some packed bike racks on my way to work this morning. Apparently there are two buildings of 4 stories each at the central train station just for parking bikes. And they don't have enough space. Will have to upgrade to a picture of that when I can get one. For now, here is the mini pile of bikes:

If you can't see it well try clicking on the picture. Considering the number of lanes of traffic I had to take it across I consider it quite impressive :-)