Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Quirky Bikes & Cars

I didn’t realize why the bike had so many toys on it, until I looked behind me and saw the toy store. It’s not unusual to see bikes in Amsterdam, but a plastic duck, riding a bike, covered in toys, dragging a flower pot? I mean, how often do you see that? Also, I thought the little yellow footprints were cute.

This was my first visit to Amsterdam, and I was struck by how old the houses and canals were. And basically, the Dutch keep whatever works, regardless of how quirky it is. That certainly holds true with the bicycles and the cars too. While most other tourists fixate on the bicycles, I couldn’t help noticing the weird and old cars. This photo shows one of the smallest cars I’ve ever seen. It’s a Spykstaal, a Dutch-made service vehicle that looks like a toy, but it really runs (I saw one of them being driven around very slowly by a couple that just barely fit inside it). After I noticed some other odd cars, I turned it into a game for us to spot them wherever we could, and it inspired my Instagram page and #greatandcuriouscarsofeurope .