Venice of the North-the Weather is Here.

The forecast was for low 60's and light rain, and it did rain briefly this morning, but since 1pm it has been high 70's/low 80's and sunny here in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and is called Venice of the North because of the vast canal system. Tom and I have been taking the Canal Bus all day to various sites. Believe it or not, they played ABBA music on the boat. We started our day with traditional Dutch Pancakes, with powdered sugar. We rode through the canals to downtown, walked around a bit, and went through the Red Light District, not sure I've ever seen more long-haired American college aged kids. The Red Light District is really a few side streets between 2 main roads right in central Amsterdam near the train station. Outside of that area it is very nice, and even there during the day it is pure tourist attraction, I have read that it definitely gets shady at night. (We won't be going back).

After that we again took the canal bus past Anne Frank's house, but the line was long, so we will head back there first thing in the morning. Instead we visited the Van Gogh Museum, which was great. They have 200+ of Van Gogh's 800 paintings, inlcuding the famous masterpieces, "The Bedroom", "Wheatfield with Crows", "Self-Portrait", "Sunflowers" and many more. They also have more than 600 of his roughly 1,000 drawings.

Along the canals, there are many houseboats, we've been told there are about 2,500 in Amsterdam, but they currently have a freeze on any new houseboat moorings. There are bikes, bikes and more bikes. At the train station there is a four story parking deck- for bikes. It is also the most challenging place to cross the street, there is a sidewalk, a bike lane, a car lane, and a tram lane. So to go across 1 street you need to look for bikes, cars and trams one way, then you are in the middle of the street and you need to now look for trams, cars, and bikes. There are almost no curbs, so most of the time I end up in the bike or car lanes while I still think I am on the sidewalk. Tom, of course, has this mastered and thinks I have some sort of street-crossing disability.

We just enjoyed a late afternoon snack at the Hard Rock Cafe, directly across from our Hotel, and are now taking our afternoon break. Later we may walk through VondelPark, their Central Park, which is right next to the hotel.

Tomorrow we head to Anne Frank's house in the morning, and Rijkmuseum in the afternoon, then a good nights rest for our trip home on Tuesday.

See You All Soon,

Kevin and Tom