Barcelona skaters in Amsterdam, Holland. (August 15th, 2003)

Especially for the Amsterdam Skatefestival, 25 skaters from Barcelona came to the capital of Holland to join us for a long weekend full of skate fun. Carlos and I met a few years ago in Barcelona (see my other reports) and he has been an excellent host (as well as other skaters in Barcelona). So it was my duty and pleasure to guide them around and show the beauty of Holland.

On day one of their visit we skated from the Vondelpark in Amsterdam to Marken a small ancient fishermens village North of the city. It took a while to get out of the city, because our guest were not used to so many bicycles around and all those tram tracks being everywhere. Some skaters took there first lessons three weeks ago at Carlos' Friday Night clinics.

We skated out of the city to Ransdorp and further to the IJsselmeer. The big lake (sweet water) which was once a sea (Zuiderzee), but the Dutch build a dike to capture it and gain new land from it (called "polders"). There is a smalle narrow bicycle track on top of he dike next to the lake which you have to share with cyclist as well.

The worst of the heatwave that hit Europe this year was over leaving excellent weather for skating. In Marken we raided a fish stand. After a short stay we took the bus back to Amsterdam, to be on time for dinner and the Friday Night Skate.

I hope to publish the rest of the skatefestival pictures soon.:-)