I flew home. Thank you for an amazing trip!
Author Archives: alizaw
Day 25 – 29 July 2019
This morning I finished up my final presentation before joining the group to enjoy everyone’s work and final presentations. 5 Takeaways: People bike because it is easy and efficient. To encourage people to bike we must build appropriate, direct infrastructure. The bigger the street, the better the bike infrastructure must be. Biking must be the …
Day 24 – 28 July 2019
I visited the Rijksmuseum which was … fairly unremarkable but got me thinking about museums. If I remember correctly from Art History classes, there are basically two camps in thinking about museums: some believe in global museums that house art from all over the world, and others believe art should stay where it is “from.” …
Day 23 – 27 July 2019
After grabbing breakfast out, I worked on my final project briefly before heading out to explore on my own. I headed to Foodhallen and stumbled upon a maker’s fair, and biked around popping into shops and briefly visited the Conservatorium Hotel, which Galen had recommended. I felt very listless throughout the day until we met …
Day 22 – 26 July 2019
We met up with Meredith again today, first heading out on a bike tour. In the historic center of the city, she explained that there is less infrastructure but high density and shared space that acts as intensive traffic calming. One of the main aspects of her tour was showing us examples of intersections that …
Day 21 – 25 July 2019
This morning, we met with Meredith Glaser, a PhD candidate developing educational programs for visiting student groups, among other research. She tasked us with completing a scavenger hunt that brought us to the post-war, pre-war, and city center of Amsterdam. The post-war area is outside of the ring road and accessible by transit, car, or …
Day 20 – 24 July 2019
This morning, Marjolein de Lange, a mobility consultant for cycling, walking, and road safety, and a campaigner at Fietsersbond (the cycling union in Amsterdam), taught us about the history of transportation in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is about 219 km^2 and has 4,852 inhabitants per km^2. Amsterdam initially encountered challenges because of the necessary separations between living …
Day 19 – 23 July 2019
Today we rode our bikes from Utrecht to Amsterdam! We passed through small towns and rural areas, and had a long stretch along a main canal. Passing through a suburb of the city, we enjoyed a dedicated cycle track along a large road with 2-3 lanes for cars in each direction. Motorbikes were allowed in …
Day 18 – 22 July 2019
On our last day in Utrecht, I took a mellow morning to catch up on writing before returning my bike and heading out for a run. It was my first time really traveling on foot in Utrecht, so it was cool to run through pedestrian-only parks, and try running in the bike lanes (no one …
Day 17 – 21 July 2019
This morning, Ronald and his wife Bea graciously hosted us for some treats before we set out on our ride. Taking a roundabout way out of town, we followed bike paths over an enormous highway, along a large canal, and into the countryside. A portion of our trip was on a road that had two …