5am kick off today, we were setting off from Dover by 8:30 and saying
Bonjour by 10. We streaked across France and the straight line across
Belgium in just over two and a half hours where we hit the Netherlands
and soon Amsterdam itself. A quick paragraph to describe how we spent
the majority of our day, but with our fantastic tour director chiming
in with tidbits and stories all day, it really did fly past that fast.

So in Amsterdam and straight to the red light district. Everything you
expect to see here, sad lives playing themselves out. Honestly the
freakiest thing was the buildings all leaning into themselves. So the
ground in Amsterdam is all peat, for hundreds of years they've been
driving dead trees into the ground to create a footing. When they lean
too far, the really old ones are all deconstructed brick by brick, new
footings poured and the whole thing re-built at the original site. My
pictures don't do this comical scene justice.

So then to the coffee shops. I only went into one, I checked out the
"weed menu" with the sommelier (whatever the weed equivalent is) weird
talking to someone who is so matter of fact about something illicit. I have beastie boys in my head all day: "Sometimes I'm loud, sometimes I'm soft spoken; When I'm in Holland I eat the pannenkoeken", so much sugary fried stuff here!

Next we jumped on a tour boat and went for a cruise along the canals,
more of the crazy architecture. Very logical people. Small frontages
to maximize the number of residents on the water, huge RSJ's hanging
over the front of every house to make up for the tiny windy STEEP
stairwells they have inside. And they live in a country that is
something like 40% reclaimed land. It made me think what it must be
like to grow up and at some point discover that everything you care
about is in constant peril. Everyone before you are fools for not
moving away, but now you're anchored here too.

On to dinner at a little causing of the floating Jumbo restaurant we
saw on Aberdeen harbor a few weeks ago. The indo influence was all
over the menu, some welcome spice after all this euro stuff we've been
having.

We head off at 7am tomorrow!