Boris took this picture of bicycles locked to the railing of a canal bridge. I wish we had taken more pictures of the bicycles.

Amsterdam and all of the Netherlands is so flat that cycling is very common. There are bicycles of every possible description everywhere. In the city center there are far more people cycling than in cars. The cycle users are young, middle-aged and old, female and male, well dressed and not. There appear to be no social classes that do not cycle. There are separate cycling lanes in some streets, separate from the car lanes, the walking space and the tram lanes. In a few cases the cyclists have their own signal light at intersections. I wish I had taken some photos of the variety of cycles and the vast number of them. At the central railway station there must have been a thousand bikes locked to railings. Many of the bikes are sturdy basic ones without gear shifting and with high handle bars so the rider sits upright. Almost none of the cyclists wear helmets, perhaps because they feel they don't ride fast or far.

Being a pedestrian is disconcerting because one can step from the walking space into a cycling lane without noticing. Since bikes are silent compared to motorized vehicles, pedestrians are at risk of being hit.