Amsterdam to rhineland

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  Koln, Germany
Saturday, June 25, 2011

First thing this morning we met our local guide and embarked on a canal cruise around amsterdam. It was raining, but the boat was enclosed with windows. However, pix were hard to get today in the rain and/or through the windows. There are more canals here than in venice, and amsterdam is also sinking but much more slowly than venice.

We toured a diamond maker/polisher, whatever you call them. Gassen. Not so impressed with diamond tour, and prices didn't seem that great would have rather seen a museum.

Amsterdam is very interesting, but the rain and the cold made exploration kind of miserable. I ended up at a nice restaurant that I thought was Dutch but think it was more french than dutch. You'd think I would figure that out since I had four semesters of French, but the menu was in dutch and included a few of the things our tour guide recommended. One of which were croquettes, but the Dutch word sounds slightly different, do I've determined it is sort of Dutch/French. But the place was such a nice sanctuary from the rain. My view by the window is a bit obstructed by some construction across the street, but I can't still see the 17th century buildings and people watch. I also had a coke, as I've determined their coke light doesn't taste like diet coke. I swear it has cinnamon or something in it. It is served in a tiny bottle which they pour over three pieces of ice--at home, I would jus prefer it in the bottle. I also ordered some kind of Dutch ice cream for dessert. It was described as "Dutch candy" ice cream, and I have no idea what was in it, but it was to die for! I believe there were chocolate pieces in the ice cream which also had a hint of banana flavor. I think there was a tad of a liqueur. topped with whipped cream and with Dutch koffee candies on the side.

Amsterdam is the antithesis of the bible belt. Our tour guide informed us that coffee houses, spelled with a c, where actually places to buy soft drugs. So only go to koffee houses, unless you are adventurous. Pretty sure I caught a whiff of a joint on the street earlier. They told us that it isn't really legal, but more tolerated. It's not illegal to have a small amount on you, but they have recently had more trouble with the soft drugs getting too hard and they may have to move some to the hard drug list. Good thing I'm not a toker, I would be really confused!

We were told on the tour around town where the red light district is located, but didn't actually see it. If we wanted to explore during our free time we were told not take pictures of the ladies in the windows or your camera will end up in the canal. Prostitution was legalized in 2000, but I also heard that the control of this industry went back to Napoleon, as they tried to control the sexually transmitted diseases.

I met the coach back at the Victoria hotel, happy to get out of the rain. From there we headed south to Germany. Within a couple hours we were on the autobahn, and made a pit stop at a convenience store where I had the pleasure of paying 70 cents euro to use the toilet. It was a nice, clean toilet--one of those that rotates and cleans itself after each use. I also like to check out the different snacks and candy in each country. This time I picked up prinzen roll, which is a roll of little sandwich style cookies--not bad. Evian is much cheaper over here :).

We made it to our hotel (ramada, but nice) in Koln, Germany. A dinner buffet at the hotel was included tonight, and it was quite good. Not sure what all I had, but I try a bit of everything. We have an early departure tomorrow: 6:45, so I'm getting ready to go to bed soon. I hope everyone back home is doing well. Nighty night!

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