When I reported that France was cycling paradise, I had not been through the Netherlands. All things are relative, and without denegrating France, the Netherlands is without question an unimaginably fantastic cycling utopia. The well-posted cycling highways run to every town in this country, and you can be cycling along a path in Rotterdam and see directional signs all the way to Amsterdam. It totally eliminates the need for maps. The paths are actually full-fledged cycling highways, with turnouts, traffic signals, overpasses, underpasses, and as pictured here, even extensive tunnels. I thought I had made a mistake on the outskirts of Rotterdam when the directional sign with the bicycle symbol pointed into a building. After circling the building I realized I was supposed to ride inside, and when I did I saw large bicycle escalators and elevators ferrying cyclists deep underground to a tunnel that lead to the city center. This two-lane tunnel here was exclusively for the use of cyclists. Everyone in the Netherlands rides bikes, even really old people - not just grey-hairs, but blue hairs - I mean the people who, if in America, would be playing shuffle board in Miami with oxygen tubes. My favorite is seeing mothers carting their kids around, with one tot in the front on a seat near the handlebars, and another over the rear tire. Ah, the Netherlands . . . (9/08/04)

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Bicycle Highway, Rotterdam, Netherlands