Amsterdam

Amsterdam was possibly my wife's favorite destination. We took the train from the airport right into downtown Amsterdam. The city is laid out in concentric semi-circles from the water outward like ripples in a pond. This city also has loads of canals running through it. We started off downtown and made our way through the red light district which was open even on a Sunday morning. The Cafes were also opened and they were serving more than coffee judging by the smells emanating from them when someone opened their door. The only map we had was one that I had torn out of the onboard airline magazine. It was very high level but the city is very easy to get around in and we were never lost.

Amsterdam is a wonderful city. We made our way all over the place walking for miles. We stopped at a restaurant down near the train station where they had a nice local beer on tap and lovely pea soup (which I guess the city is known for).

The other thing you notice even on the flight in is that the Netherlands is a very green country in that they are big into the environment. There are more electric generating wind mills there than anywhere else I've ever been. There are huge wind farms everywhere. And the city had almost no cars. There were electric trams that went everywhere but most of the traffic was bicycles. I've never seen so many bikes in one place. There were bike parks with literally thousands of bikes locked up in them. There were parents riding around on bikes with these milk crates attached to the front for their babies and toddlers to ride in.

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