Goodbye to Amsterdam

Aug. 2nd

We’re leaving Amsterdam today.  After spending 5 days here I have to say that I have a much greater appreciation for this world class city.  We’ve spent the last couple of days walking through a variety of neighborhoods and it is beautiful although VERY expensive. Amsterdam is a small city in terms of land mass.  It was actually a “swamp” that was built on pilings by the merchants. The roads are very narrow because the city was built by the merchants, not kings or emperors – larger roads and buildings meant higher taxes!  It is sinking, bit by bit, each year.  You can bike the city end to end in about 30 minutes.  There are about 750,000 people here and over 1.5 million bicycles! 

Everyone walks or bikes. Bicycles rule the city!  They have the right of way and they WILL run you over and not look back!  Bikes, walkers and cars share the narrow laned streets. Bike theft is rampant and don’t bother reporting it – it’s just a way of life!  That’s why every one has cheap used bikes – you will not see the expensive bikes we have in America on the city streets here.  These bikes are for work, not recreation!

Today we have a guided tour from a local person and then a canal boat ride with lunch aboard.  After that we head back to the ship for the dinner and entertainment.

The city tour was great!  Our guide was hilarious!  Her first comment was that the Dutch are not nice people! And they are direct, hard-headed and know it all!  They don’t hesitate to share their opinion of what you should be doing and how you should be doing it! She then shared her secret about what she does when her bike gets stolen – she steals another!  I believe her!

Our first stop was the Rijks Museum to see the Rembrandt collection.  One word – AWESOME! We were able to see some other artists as well.  The best part was having our guide explain the works, symbolism in the paintings and the evolution of the artists. 

The canal boat tour was wonderful.  Lunch was a typical Dutch lunch of salad, meat and cheese – with wine and beer of course!  Seeing the city and neighborhoods from the canals offered a different perspective.

Tomorrow we leave for Germany!