Glad you enjoyed your time here! 'Oostenburger' is literally Eastern borough - see this etymology. IJ is prononced as the y in why. I f'ckn love pepernoten - they are only supposed to be eaten in the Fall, before Sinterklaas. There's a specialty pepernoten store here where you can get all kinds of chocolate coverings for it with a few dozen types of chocolate. The thing about bikes that I love here is that they are upright - you ride them with a straight back, as opposed to pretty much every bike I've seen in North America. It's technically less stable, but it is much more comfortable over longer, casual rides which is why they are the norm here. I park my bike regularly in the world's biggest bike garage, which already houses 7500 bikes but will soon house 12500.
We had a great time, thanks for the suggestions! I did not miss another chance to sample a pepernoot after the first one. And I brought a bag back to the office to ingratiate myself with coworkers. While I was working nine miles (14 km) from home, I bought a decent used road bike and commuted with it until I figured my metro savings had paid it off. It's fun, but the ride was hard, I didn't save so much time, and flat tires were more of a headache. Now I'm commuting half as far, and when I ride I almost always take my heavy old hybrid. With the wider tires and upright posture I feel more stable at low speeds, and can even manage a track stand. Slow, safe and comfortable is better than arriving a few minutes sooner.