To fiets or not to fiets?

I had meant not to fiets this day.
But first off, I was glad everything went well with this bus tour, apparently organized via Facebook only, and which initially seemed somewhat dubious to me; I was also a bit worried that not having any mobile devices, unlike most people these days, would put me at a disadvantage. But then again, I'm also smarter than most people and capable of handling things the old-fashioned way... :D

In this manner, the year 2015 won't have passed without me seeing my dear Amsterdam at least for a day.
Arriving there in under 4 hours, I first was bewildered when the bus driver continued past Amsterdam Centraal and all the way to Houthaven ("wood port"), but then turning back to reach the station on a wide detour. I figured it probably had to do with the IJ Tunnel being closed, as a sign had informed earlier.

Amsterdam Centraal (Central Station)

Good to see my Amsterdam once more, even in winter - it wasn't even very cold for the season, just mid to upper 40's, hadn't it been for the very stiff wind of more than 20 mph which made it feel a lot colder. This supported my original decision not to fiets,  I'd be here only for a few hours anyway so it wouldn't be worth it, I thought, but then...

All these fietsen! :)

Me, standing over a pile of shoes
at Waterlooplein Market

 ...after walking around for just a brief while I quickly got sick of it and wanted to fiets!

Mine for a few hours - a fiets! :D

And at Waterloopleinmarkt there's a MacBike rental, and so I went there and rented a fiets.
(For those who still haven't guessed it: "fiets" is Dutch for bicycle, and the verb "fietsen" means "to cycle".)

Police (station?) on stilts, no idea why.

So I rode on to Albert Cuyp Market where I bought some incense, hair ties, and a pair of leggings; then I went on to a little mall where I knew there's a butcher's where I could get a very good grilled chicken leg for lunch. The rest of the day I lived off granola rolls.

"Bottle Holders". Are you supposed to
wear these around your neck?? Weird.

 I found nothing at the bookstores that I'd have needed by all means, although I did see a few shark books. On the bus there had been no reading light anyway (I guess because most people have funky gadgets instead of books these days), and the entire trip back, starting at 8:30 PM, would take place in deep night. Night starts falling just after 4 PM at this season.

This kite seems to be part of the
"Amsterdam Light Festival".

In the end I did find the little agenda I'd been looking for. I'd been looking for one in Germany already; last year I'd been so lucky to happen upon one in multiple languages and since I got used to writing little diary entries in it (mainly tracking workouts) I wanted one for 2016 again but the only ones I could find were entirely in German. I didn't find any English or multilingual ones in Amsterdam either, at least not for affordable prices, so I bought this one in Dutch for 3 € at a sort of drugstore, and I like Dutch. Even when it says nothing about fietsen. ;)

My little Dutch Agenda 2016.

The only little disappointment was that after walking all the way to the public library (I'd had to return my fiets by then because MacBike rental closes at 5:45 PM) where I meant to spend the remaining time until the return trip, I found the library closed due to some internal event there. So I kept walking around some more, at least most of the stores were still open although most usually close by 6 PM otherwise.
At one souvenir store there were lots of plush animals, but no sharks among them. The shop owner asked me what I was looking for, and I said that I'm looking for sharks, and he asked, "what is that?" LOL!
I tried to explain it's big fish with sharp teeth - I was tired, else it should have come to me to simply try and say, "haaien". :)

The bus left Amsterdam even a few minutes early with everyone accounted for; I had been worried that some people might have gotten lost somehow and we might end up having to wait for them, but fortunately not. Pretty exactly at midnight the bus arrived at Bonn main station. I had written out in advance my possible connections home from there, and the next opportunity was a subway train; I'd have to walk a mile home from the nearest station but I preferred that over waiting half an hour for the bus which would stop closer. It was still lively at the subway station, some drunk was shouting around, lots of people passed through changing trains, two guys came pushing along bikes and I thought, I wish I could borrow that fiets from you right now to get home... and then an old man came along with a huge oar that was 10 or 12 feet long. He ended up sitting across from me and another man and apparently tried telling us how he ended up with that oar on the train, all jolly and laughing; I understood very little but had to get off after a few minutes anyway while the train would continue toward Cologne.
I was home and in bed just before 1 AM.