Posts
"What is AFAC?" you might be asking yourself. That is a good question. Until this past Friday, Amanda and I didn't know what AFAC was either. It stands for De Amsterdamse Fiets Afhandel Centrale - or, basically, the Amsterdam bike police. They haul away bikes when they don't like where the bikes are parked.
It turns our that our bikes are likely in the possession of AFAC, not a bike thief. We'll find out for sure this afternoon when we head down to their headquarters with our bikes' serial numbers and our passports in hand.
Amsterdam is an interesting place. People leave their bikes everywhere; chained up to anything. Often I'll pass a bike chained in a random place and wonder, "are they allowed to just leave their bike there?"
So this past Monday, when Amanda and I left our bikes at the metro station chained to sign along with a moped (because there were no bike racks left), I wondered, "are we allowed to leave our bikes here?" But then I brushed the fear aside because, after all, people chain their bikes to everything in the city. When we returned to find our bikes gone, we just assumed they were stolen.
On Friday, however, Amanda got into a conversation with a Dutch girl at Julia's birthday party (which was amazing, by the way!), who mentioned that our circumstances sounded more like a confiscation by AFAC rather than a theft by a junkie. After talking to a couple other of our Dutch friends, they agreed. So we're off to AFAC in a couple hours to hopefully reclaim our bikes (and praying that Grayson's bike seat is still attached).
I guess we can chalk this one up as a learning experience. What did we learn? Don't mess with AFAC. The only problem is, I still don't know where I can't park my bike!
For more interesting tidbits on the bike culture of Amsterdam, along with some amusing pictures, click here.
UPDATE: We made our way out to AFAC and they had our bikes! We were so happy to have them back, that we didn't mind the 1.5 hour ride back home...all is right in the world.
It turns our that our bikes are likely in the possession of AFAC, not a bike thief. We'll find out for sure this afternoon when we head down to their headquarters with our bikes' serial numbers and our passports in hand.
Amsterdam is an interesting place. People leave their bikes everywhere; chained up to anything. Often I'll pass a bike chained in a random place and wonder, "are they allowed to just leave their bike there?"
So this past Monday, when Amanda and I left our bikes at the metro station chained to sign along with a moped (because there were no bike racks left), I wondered, "are we allowed to leave our bikes here?" But then I brushed the fear aside because, after all, people chain their bikes to everything in the city. When we returned to find our bikes gone, we just assumed they were stolen.
On Friday, however, Amanda got into a conversation with a Dutch girl at Julia's birthday party (which was amazing, by the way!), who mentioned that our circumstances sounded more like a confiscation by AFAC rather than a theft by a junkie. After talking to a couple other of our Dutch friends, they agreed. So we're off to AFAC in a couple hours to hopefully reclaim our bikes (and praying that Grayson's bike seat is still attached).I guess we can chalk this one up as a learning experience. What did we learn? Don't mess with AFAC. The only problem is, I still don't know where I can't park my bike!
For more interesting tidbits on the bike culture of Amsterdam, along with some amusing pictures, click here.
UPDATE: We made our way out to AFAC and they had our bikes! We were so happy to have them back, that we didn't mind the 1.5 hour ride back home...all is right in the world.
2 comments:
Glad you got tose bikes back. Saved some money!
I wonder if you had to pay a fine to get them back, and how much that kind of fine would be.
I can't think a mis-parked bike is as much of a hazard as a mis-parked care.
Why don't people leave some type of ID on bikes, where they can be called, mailed, or texted to be informed of their loss? Like a dog tag.
Would that create another security risk, to have your private contact info left public on your bike, maybe. . . .
Hello guys my name is Andrew and I have been in Amsterdam two months, a day I parked my bike in Leidseplein wrong and when I came back did not find it, I gone to a police station and gave me the contact of a company to recovery it; they pick the bike and bring it at your place for about 25 euros, the company is called recoveryourbike.com and telephone contact is 0653343460. I hope this can help u!
Post a Comment