Today was the last day on our touring bikes. We were off on our last long ride from Utrecht to Amsterdam. The ride was 44km through the countryside and along canals and rivers. Along the way, we stopped at the Castle De Haar, but didn’t get to see the main castle because of the time and the cost, so we just sat in the grass and played some riddle games. After a nice break, we were back off to Amsterdam. Mikah, Wally, Jaden, and I were all the way in the back and there was a group, led by Adam, that broke away at a fast pace. We decided to see if we could catch the group way out in front and took off on a sprint for quite a while. By the time we finally caught up to the group, they stopped to wait for everyone else, of course, but it was still fun to be on a big bike path, with little traffic, and just go as fast as we could for a while. Almost the entire ride was on bike paths that were separate from the road, which was very nice and enjoyable. The ride took a little over 4 hours and all the sudden we road up to some buildings and we were in Amsterdam. It made me think of how the two cities were separated from a lot of farmland and rural areas and not connected through urban sprawl places in the US. We were in the countryside and then, bam, we were in Amsterdam. That is one thing that has been consistent throughout the big cities we have been to- the density of the cities and the lack of urban sprawl, compared to the US. Once we got to our hotel, I needed a cold shower. The temperature was 87 degrees with the humidity somewhere around 40%, so I was sweaty and sticky. After a nice cold shower and getting our bikes from our hotel, the Bicycle Hotel, Jaden, Sean, Micah, and I went out to explore and find a snack. We walked around an area that is an outdoor market and I had to go to another vape shop because I broke the vape I got in Malmo. Sean then split off from us and we returned to the hotel to get ready to go for a swim. A group of us road our bikes north to take a ferry across Markermeer, which I thought was part of the saltwater inlet of the North Sea, but I found out that it was dammed off from the sea in 1932, making it a fresh water lake. The ride over to the swim spot was right in rush hour, a little after 5pm, and the number of bikers was insane. There was a constant flow of bikes everywhere we went. It was actually a little scary trying to cross streets, not because of the cars, but because of the river of bikes you had to cross. After a nice swim, Jaden, Micah, and I went to find some food and settled on a bar that I later found out was about 100ft from the red-light district. After a delicious burger and a cold beer, we went back to the hotel where we split up with Jaden and met up with Wally. We decided to go out and explore the city a little and ended up in the red-light district. Honestly, it was crazy and kind of sad to see. The women were just in windows in skimpy outfits and there were thousands of tourist and kids walking around looking at them. I have never seen anything like it before. By this time, I was getting tired, so we returned to the hotel to get some sleep before our 9am meeting the next day.