Euroadventure: Last stop: Amsterdam

Amsterdam was always our if-we-can-find-time-at-the-end stop. We were only there a day. But I think, all things considered, we did a pretty good job of squeezing a full day of Dutch sightseeing out of our one day and our four tired legs.
We started the day with a walk through the Red Light district to some famous churches and squares, since we did want to at least see the infamous neighbourhood for ourselves and we thought it would be pretty empty and lifeless in the early morning.

Amsterdam is a city built on canals. It actually has more canals than Venice! And it has one of the most 17th century-esque townhouse collections in all of Europe. Big parts of the city have gone unchanged for centuries.

Oude Kerk, or "Old Kerk" A big cathedral/church in the heart of the Red Light district, although I'm given to understand the church predates its slightly more risque neighbours.

A flower stand in Nieumarkt. Lots of - surprise - tulips!

This one might need some explanation. When I saw this corn-on-the-cob seller in Nieumarkt I almost laughed out loud. My Mom told me an old story about how her Dutch immigrant mother never gave them corn on the cob when they were little because Dutch people didn't think of corn on the cob as people food. Corn on the cob, according to my Oma, was pig food.
Well, guess what, Oma? Apparently there are enough Dutch people who disagree to keep this vendor in business.
Then again, it's easy for me to be brave about it; I'm pretty sure my Oma doesn't read the blog. Not unless my Mom shows it to her.

This is our only photo of the Red Light district. This little church was set up right next to a big sex club and paraphernalia shop. I wonder what the story of the place was.

Eventually we got tired of walking back and forth so we decided to splurge on a canal boat tour of some of sites. Plus, the lineup at the Anne Frank house was so long we would have wasted half the day there.

This is a bicycle parking garage next to the central train station. It houses about 3000 bicycles. Regardless, another 9000 are still parked illegally around the station on average EVERY DAY. Plans are in the works for a big bike garage upgrade. Nuts.

 The boat tour was nice but we eventually saw a neighbourhood nice enough to explore that didn't make us feel seedy. The big parks and nice little cafes was a much more serene and peaceful way to spend our day.

 We rounded it all off with a big classy dinner at a nice Indonesian place near the hostel. For those of you who don't know, this isn't cheating. Eating Indonesian in Holland is like eating Indian in England. Or eating American in Canada. It's so commonly consumed it's practically local cuisine. We had a full Reistafel (spelling?) with all the fixings just for the two of us. Some of it was great but I think I prefer how my Mom puts it together.

 We didn't get a good look at the Dutch countryside on our way in, but the way out was much nicer. I got a couple blurry photos of windmills, but the fields of multicoloured tulips are what really blew me away.

We got to Brussels in time to catch our train back across the channel and back to the UK. All told, we had a lot of hours on trains and a lot of diverse experiences to chew on for the foreseeable future. Our holiday here ends on Monday, and I think we're both happy to be back in an English-speaking country and cooking our own food for a change, but I'm proud that we were able to see so many different places - albeit briefly - in one excellent 10-day adventure. Thank you all for your prayers of safety. If you have questions, etc. let me know. Til we get around to updating again, Ciao!