Family Christmas Tree by Bike in Amsterdam

Here in Amsterdam, almost everything is done via bike – and that includes getting your Christmas tree. Come along as we pickup the tree in our cargo bike (with three little kids onboard as well), for a tour of the city by bike…with a Christmas tree. We’ll hit up the best sights while keeping that conifer secured to the Urban Arrow cargo bike.

This is our eighth year doing so, first in Paris with the Velib, and now in the Netherlands with a carbo bike and three kids.

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#Amsterdam #CargoBike #ChristmasTree

So here in The Netherlands almost everything is done by bike, and that includes the Christmas tree. So let me take you on a little bit of a journey about what getting a Christmas tree is like, here in Amsterdam,

[kids singing in background] via cargo bike with three kids onboard as well. It’s the whole package deal! Let’s start back at the beginning. After getting our bikes loaded up, the first thing we need to do is to find ourselves a Christmas tree stand.

In much of Europe, flower shops become Christmas tree stands starting from around mid-November. The key though is getting a tree early, as they rarely re-stock. We ended up checking out three stands before landing back at the same place we’ve bought trees from the last few years.

While in other countries the battle might be finding a car parking spot, here the trick is finding a bike parking spot. Like the world around, we poke and prod at the trees repeatedly and with way too much overthinking. But that’s part of the game!

Eventually we found the perfect tree, which was dragged down the bike lane in between light cycles, for us to check over one last time. Next it’s time to get our tree bundled up for it’s Tour..umm…I mean ride home. Don’t worry, I’ll explain that all a little bit later.

However, there’s one little catch. I’ve gotta make room for this thing in the bike. First up is child removal – not helped by the fact that one of them has a broken leg. Then like clearing out the minivan, there’s ‘all the things’ removal.

We’ve got blankets…and more blankets…. (And as an aside, see who knows where those are from) Gloves…why aren’t they not wearing their gloves?!? Baby of course. That’s the doll right there, as if there wasn’t enough passengers on this journey. A Dog leash…and bungee cords. And I think that’s about it.

Next comes the all important tree to bike insertion process. Mind you, the littlest one up on the back there gets a front row seat. Then I’ll bungee cord it in place, which is mostly just for show. Because the trunk of the tree is actually wedged underneath the bike seat bench.

The littlest Peanut is still not impressed or convinced with my rope skills. Now it’s time to load this minivan up. However, the most important part here is deploying the first wave of waffles – Stroopwafels to be exact.

While American parents have those tiny goldfish, we’ve got waffles – and waffles win every time. With everything loaded I push the kickstand out of the way and hope the weight and balance gods aren’t upset about anything. To which we immediately get a red light.

But here the traffic lights not only detect cyclists as they approach, but even give priority to them. So before we know it, we’re off and cooking. With three little humans, one big human, one Christmas Tree, two blankets, 88 gloves and a dozen waffles

It’s the first few seconds getting up to speed, getting going again that can be a bit tricky stabilize. But once up at full speed, it’s just like…well…riding a bike again. From there we entered Vondelpark, one of the biggest parks in the city. It also acts as a bike superhighway to get across Amsterdam.

As we navigate this busy stretch of bikes and pedestrians, one of the things you’ll notice is that nobody…well…notices. That’s because carrying odd objects on bikes isn’t a rarity in the Netherlands. Rather, it’s just a daily occurrence.

In fact, throughout this entire video, it’ll be extremely rare for local to even give so much as a glance as to the circus act that is this four-person one Christmas tree, one bike situation rolling down the street.

To the Dutch, this is nothing other than just another bike in the ebb and flow of the city. With that we exit Vondelpark back into the cityscape, and immediately stop to watch boats pass under us.

On a normal year, these canals would be packed with party boats lit up to see the canal Christmas lights throughout the city. Now, any Amsterdam local knows it’s simply a requirement to pedal through the Rijksmuseum when showing off the city.

And I certainly wouldn’t want to violate that unwritten but very much enforced rule. Plus, why wouldn’t you want to pedal a Christmas tree on a bike through a building?

Like other aspects of the city, on any other year we’d have plenty of tourists taking our photos. And there’s usually street musicians playing under the building. Still, this is one of my favorite spots in the whole city to pedal through, and I always make an effort to include it when I can.

After that it was time to check off the next item in the list: Getting Dutch donuts. These donut trucks pop up all over the city and country once the holiday season arrives. And realistically, who can say no to a freshly made donut on a day like this?

And frankly, as far as our kids were concerned, this was the most important rart of the adventure. The one thing left in our parental arsenal after waffles to keep this roadshow upright. Though, one choose to simply get a bigger waffle – upgrading from Dutch waffle to Belgium waffle.

And the little one in the back is upset because she’s not certified in holding her own donut yet. Now with the kids busy eating donuts, it was time for the most important moment of the day: Getting the YouTube thumbnail. Or that perfect Instagram photo.

Thankfully given the light and how far away the camera would be, we didn’t have to worry to much about all the donut still left on their faces. And astoundingly, we actually got a good shot. A random passerbuyer offered to snap a photo for us, saving us

Having to dig out the tripod from under the tree. Still, not one to put all our ornaments in one basket, we took a few more passes just to be sure we got a usable Instagram shot. Just in case the other ones didn’t quite work out.

With the light fading and our GoPro’s struggling, we headed out on to the last spot before actually pedaling home. Why yes, of course we’re going back through the Rijksmuseum again. Rule #1: Always go through the Rijksmuseum. And maybe next year I’ll use a gimbal on this old cobblestone street.

Now if you’ve seen a Christmas card of Amsterdam, it’s probably of this picturesque street right here. Peanut #2: Daddy, I don’t know who put these lights up? Peanut #1: Santa! Peanut #2: No, Sint! [Sinterklass] Peanut #1: Sint….AND….SANTA! Peanut #2: YEAH!!! [World-impacting problem now resolved]

With that decision now made, we turned around the bike around and set course for home…finally. And of course, it’s a bit of a team effort making this all work. In this case – both of us on bicycles. Time to go!

Now for those of you that are familiar with Amsterdam, you’re probably wondering by now why we’re taking such a Drunk Uncle route to get home? And the reality is we make it a bit of a tour, it’s the whole tradition each year.

To get around the city with our Christmas tree and eventually making our way home. And of course that includes things like stoping for donuts and hot chocolate and everything else along the way. Anything to basically just keep them happy… [background scream]

Here we are traversing back across Vondelpark – that bike expressway across the city. It’s just as busy at night in here, as it was earlier in the day. Now watch carefully here at the magic of well designed bike lane infrastructure. That roundabout gives priority to bikes, making cars stop for us.

Albeit the other side of this intersection is a complete and total dumpster fire. Getting back into our side of town we’ve got Olympic Stadium from the 1928 Summer Olympics. You can see the rings up top there if you rewind a second.

On the backside of Olympic Stadium, a local restaurant has setup an outdoor drive or bike-through, as a method of takeaway. Obviously, we had to pedal our Christmas tree circus through this. And later on we’d circle back around again later on to pickup dinner.

Now thankfully we just cleared underneath all these lights trips here, otherwise we have decorated our tree in one shot. And yes, they’re still eating waffles. But nobody is crying or trying to jump out of the bike.

With this last bike-activated traffic light complete, we arrived back home to procrastinate setting up our tree for a few more days. But eventually we got it all setup, making it another successful Christmas tree by bike year in the books. We’re coming up on nearly a decade of tree by bike adventures.

But no matter how you get your tree home, or if you celebrate at all – we hope you have a happy and safe next few weeks. Because the best thing is, in just a few days, 2020 is finally over. With that, thanks for watching and have a good one!