Amsterdam

Many beautiful buildings. We took a canal trip first so thus some of the bottom of the buildings is cut off

cute mural outside our hotel

Strange name for a gay rights monument

interesting shop windows

one of the many canal photos I took This one a block from our hotel

For some reason, Dutch like English word puns

The Rijksmuseum

Lots of alliums The tulips in the same bed are well past their prime

bike path through the Rijks  So many bikes

me

Stedejel museum of modern art I bought this poster

lots of public art

more

at the bloemmarkt These alas are fake

love the shutters

alliums

graffiti and bikes The black bike has a front kid carrier Sometimes kids and groceries are carried in a big bucket in back Nobody wears a helmet, not even babies who need them the most The bikes all are cheap, heavy one speeds. As most people have to store them outside (no 4 car garages for them) they don't want to spend too much on them

The flower market used to be floating barges. Now they are permanent stalls

fancy government building in the city center

interesting shop in the 'negenstraats' area of trendy boutiques

Not too practical. Our cook wore plain wooden clogs insisting they were quite comfortable

Cool art deco theater

After 12 days of travelling, 168 miles of biking and numerous miles walking (though no running) I am back from a very busy vacation although there were some hours spent on the deck of the barge watching the world go by. We had 4 full days in the southern canal district of Amsterdam to explore before going to our barge docked in the main harbor of Amsterdam. This vacation was organized by Vermont Bicycle Tours. They take care of most details; all you do is show up. It is a bit pricey but it is easy. I did like most of the personnel we dealt with. My friend and I managed to find seats together on the plane (though VBT should have done this). An overnight flight. Would I sleep even though I awoke especially early the day before? No. Not even with all my wine (not good) and bloody marys (better). I like getting cute little dinners though I still think the European  (especially Alitalia) airlines do them better.  To get us in the spirit, we watched From Eternity(???), the movie showing Vincent van Gogh's last 3 years of life. Van Gogh again sounds like one is expelling a phlegm ball. Not a pretty language. I can read a newspaper now but with its pronunciation, I can only garble a few words and understand even less when spoken. Still I am glad I learned it.  English is all over the place in most of the big towns (not Bruges though) but not in the tiny towns we would stop in so at least I can read menus and ask for a few things. 

In customs, the agent asked why I was in in the Netherlands. I said, to bike. He then asked to see my license.

 Ha. Funny Dutchman

First hiccup, our driver was not in either of the waiting points for us. Useless time spent searching before we finally called him (I didn't get an international plan this time, fortunately my friend's sister in law did).He did then show up fairly quickly but then told us he had to search for 2 other passengers who came in an hour before we did. We reminded him that we were all told to be at a certain spot and he should stay but no, he was so stubborn and stupid, he took off for the longest time. He justified it staying we couldn't check into the hotel anyway so we shouldn't mind standing in the middle of a busy concourse. Yes but we could drop our luggage off and explore. These other people took a private taxi hours ago when he wasn't where he was supposed to be. This happened to at least half of us so black mark to VBT for hiring him. After a very long time arguing with him, he finally agreed to take us to our hotel 45 minutes away. When I asked why the many bicyclists don't wear helmets, he replied that if the government thought it was necessary, it would require them thus they are not needed. Hmmmm. Not even for babies who I saw as passengers.Bicyclists were all ages, which was cool. Everybody looked very fit. Lots of paths. In theory at intersections pedestrians have the right of way but in practice, no. We were to stay off their paths

Not only are the Dutch very fit, they are tall. I looked short.

We could leave our luggage at the hotel and explore. We opted for a canal tour to get a feel for the city. This I fell asleep on so I missed alot but I was so, so tired after being up for more than 24 hours straight. or some reason, I had a hard time orienting myself to Amsterdam It is built like a wheel with regularly spaced canals but all of them  seem to look alike as do the minimum of 20 letter worded streets. And our hotel was off an alley that even the Uber had trouble finding. We used the Mellow Yellow coffeeshop sign as a guidepost. "Coffeeshop' is code for a marijuana store. I didn't go in and partake but some of my companions did. Real coffee is spelled with a 'k'. We ate at a very cute cafe near our hotel, a healthy 'buddha bowl ' for me. Our tickets for the Anne Frank house were late in the afternoon. As our companions wanted to sleep, we took an uber to get to the Jordaan district which would have been a 20 minute walk if we didn't get lost.. I had read The Diary of Anne Frank as a teenager so the Annex seemed quite familiar. Just a sad reminder what the orange one's supporters would have us do. Walking back along the canal, we stopped for a light supper and beer sitting on the edge. So pretty. Bitterballen for me which are a typical bar snack. Fried meatballs. They are not bitter but are to be eaten with bitters.  Then to sleep. Finally