Amsterdam, November 18-19, 2010

While we were visiting the cheese farm and Gouda our ship sailed on to Utrecht where we caught up with it and sailed onward to Amsterdam. We docked downtown in the midst of the beautiful, modern buildings that comprise Amsterdam's tourist facilities, convention center, public library, and cruise port. Amsterdam's infrascructure is amazing and still evolving. Bikes and dedicated bike paths are everywhere. From our cabin window we could see the old train station which still services Amsterdam with trains to all parts of Europe.






Bike path in red and walking path in white...







Building cranes on the skyline and a floating Chinese restaurant in the water...







Overnight in the harbor and a canal cruise the next morning...







Swans can be beggars, checking out the tourists for left over breakfast rolls.?







A draw bridge in the early morning light...

We have been fortunate to make a good number of trips to Amsterdam, and the canal trips are always interesting...







On to the flower market...







Cactii...






Bulbs aplenty...






Lithops...







Tulips, of course...







Pitcher plants...







And old Rembrant himself selling tulip bulbs...







Views over the city...







From a department store viewing deck...


We found an art supply store to replace some of Jack's supplies, and walked the long shopping street back to the ship.






A really small car for easy parking! Cozy, for sure.