A Very Free and Happy People in Amsterdam!

We have had incredible weather during our entire trip out of the U.S.  Just a little rain in Scotland and only 1/2 day in Tallin, Estonia but everywhere else the weather has been warm and sunny or only slightly overcast.  The biggest mystery though is the fact that the seas have been so calm.  Granted, the Baltic isn't a huge body of water but the North Sea is notorious for rough and unpleasant crossings.  Our North Sea day was glorious and we arrived into Amsterdam at 8:00am on Wednesday morning.  I didn't realize that Amsterdam was so far inland on a very narrow canal and through a lock.

We were all excited to get off the ship and discover Amsterdam and the people were happy to see us and the terminal decked out to greet us!

Flowers, wooden shoes and CHEESE!

Getting friendly with the "moos" as the twins used to call them!

We got into the terminal and instantly found free Wifi!  So we all stopped to "check in" before proceeding to the Central train/tram Station just under a mile from our ship along the narrow channel.  On our way we notice millions of bikes!

Arriving at the Central Station we bought day-long tram tickets to get anywhere in the City.  The Central Station is beautiful....

Central Station

and we took the tram to Dam Square, the original square in Amsterdam built around the original Dam.  Along the way Gordon asked Jillian if she had heard the story of the boy who put his finger in the dyke.  Remember that story?  It seems it was a story or book that we as children read or heard about.  Both Gordon and I are familiar with it but Jillian had a rather strange and shocked look on her face and we wondered why.  The boy who put his finger in the dyke?  She thought her father was talking about a lesbian!!!!  Now we are looking strange and shocked!  But, no worries, you are in Amsterdam and just about everything is shocking!

Dam Square

My 5'11" husband made the comment that he feels like a "pygmy" in Amsterdam.  Everyone is SO SO tall and slim....6 feet plus!  Gorgeous!

Dam Square in panoramic.

Many, many cute row houses with shops and restaurants below.

And, of course, the canals.

We hopped back on a tram and headed over to the Rhyks Museum hoping to get in for a quick look around before our per-purchased tickets to the Anne Frank House and Museum at 1:20pm.  Unfortunately the lines were HUGE so we walked in the sculpture gardens and discovered many, many Henry Moore sculptures.  I love Henry Moore and was dazzled to see so many large sculptures in one place.

If you know German sculptor Henry Moore you know he is famous for his modern nudes

The exterior of the Rhyks

A very cool garden of Liriope and small trees on the perimeter of the Rhyks. 

We walked through many interesting neighborhoods, along a park and over lots of canal bridges to the Anne Frank House.  Truly it was an unexpected and sobering experience. 

The building in blue is the old office space of Otto Frank and the back upper portion of the home is where the Frank and Van Pels families hid.  The little cheese shop we go to later is in front of the cathedral to the right along a busy main road.

They've done a brilliant job with the museum.  There are pictures and video recordings and Anne's actual diary pages.  You literally walk through the entire office of Otto Frank and step past the bookcase that hid the little opening leading to the "secret annex".  As you step through the entry you must step up and duck under an opening and up a very steep staircase to their former hiding place.  It was eerie - dark and small and sad.  The whole experience is so thought-provoking, that one man could change the lives or take the lives away from so many millions of people is still so incredibly maddening.  I guess Anne's life HAD to be the way it was so her story could be told to help change the lives and open the minds of many people after her.

After our hour experience through the house and museum we were hungry so decided to head over toward the Red Light District.  Another tram ride and we started a meandering walk and explored the various streets of Amsterdam.

This canal had not only beautiful flower baskets but rows of houseboats.

We stopped in to this cheese shop to taste and buy a delicious cheese, interesting honey waffle crackers,a yummy chocolate bar and bottle of Holland red wine for our cocktail and appetizer hour.  Just outside of this cheese shop there was a large gay information booth called a Pink Zone.

Coming into an area of coffee houses where it is legal to purchase and smoke marijuana.  We stopped in to sample the goods but unfortunately, Jillian didn't have her license on her and our passports were on the ship so she couldn't prove she was over 18 and we weren't allowed in.  My one chance at being legal!

Paraphernalia shops!

The legal, U.S., course though we did stop and purchased some "magic truffles" to try out later!

This guy has had enough of the legal choices of the coffee houses!!!!  haha!

So we grabbed a bite with our beers and headed over to the Red Light District, hey, when in Rome.

The canals are lined on either side with large windows in very small rooms with women "showing" their wares in small bras and panties.  It was mid-afternoon so most windows were vacant but there were some women.  You are not allowed to photograph any of them but let's just say the women looking for business in the afternoon are not high quality physical specimens and were looking quite bored!

The Red Light district is big!

You can kinda see the long, vacant ground floor windows in the building  just ahead.

We needed to be back on the ship by 5:00pm so we walked back toward Central Station and headed over to the boat.  We felt like we had walked miles and miles in Amsterdam and all our feet hurt.  We decided on dinner in our room that evening and put our feet up and watched a movie waiting for our next adventure which will be Bruges.

As we left the port and sailed along the canal we passed another interesting modern architectural building.  I looked for this online, found a picture but it doesn't say what it  is.  Anyway it took about an hour to sail down the canal and into a lock and it took about 15 minutes to close and fill the lock to let us back out into the North Sea for another smooth sail.