Amsterdam

Hi all,

Well our cruise finally came to an end yesterday. It was a blast and we both had a great time over the 2 weeks. Too many highlights to mention but we did enjoy the smaller towns we visited on the river.

We did a couple of things yesterday before we disembarked today. We had a canal boat cruise through the narrow canals here. Did you know 1/3 of the Netherlands is water? 

They have at least 3 unusual things here.

1 - More bikes than people. Bikes have more rights than people!! They have special lanes all through the city as car spaces are very few and expensive to own or park. Around $8-12 AUD a hour to park.

Most people have 2 bikes, 1 a each end of the journey so you ride to the train or whatever then you leave that bike there go to work etc and pick up your other bike at the other end. Rain hail or shine they ride bikes and are crazy like Parisians in their cars!! You have to watch out for bike more than cars!!

This is at the train station only part of it!!

2. A lot of house are leaning as the subsoil is very wet and the building shifts left or right. Most are stable though. The main city centre they houses are similar and are 3-4 stories high and mostly divided into apartments on each level these days.

3. The government does not reside in the capital but remains in the Hague. Please don't ask what the difference between Holland, the Netherlands and Dutch is, a bit confusing. Though the Netherlands is named because most of the land is below sea level and therefore the name comes from the lowlands it resides on.

After lunch we did a tour of Haarlem. Yes the USA did get that name from the Dutch settlement there. It is a small town area where they brew lots of beer! Did you know that a lot of Europe in the past drank lots of beer and wine as the rivers were polluted and so the process involved got rid of the impurities. Even kids drank beers (though low alcohol %) each day.

Beer tasting - Pilsner

Cheese shops

Today we disembarked from the ship and said goodbyes to people we made friends with and the crew. We dropped our bags at the motel, walked around the corner and caught a tram to central station and from there caught a train to see some windmills at Zaadijk Zaanse Schans. You can catch a train from here to the Hague, Berlin and other German towns, and Denmark, Copenhagen.  

Busy station 14 platforms

Well this was well worth the visit. It turns out to be a small tourist type place with shops and windmills. They had open a windmill and a clog shop. We watched a couple of videos on these - really interesting stuff.

windy cold and rain at times

Lizzy's footshot

Watched the wheels working from the mill

Yes we bought a couple of souvenirs as keepsakes. Some Delft design things. Come visit us to see these things really cool.

work clogs

Skate clogs

Souvenir clogs

Tomorrow is our last day here and we fly out on Tuesday morning local time and arrive back in Aus about 5 pm Thursday roughly all going well.

We will probably have a get together some time so we can catch up and show anyone interested all our cool goodies and yap about our 2 month adventures.

Happy to give advice on things we learnt about moving around and the tours and sights to see.

No more blogs for a while now till we head off again sometime in the new year.

Hope you enjoyed our blurbs and ramblings.

Rob & Liz