Amsterdam, part one

When Anne and I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday we were overwhelmed with the transition from a small, quiet town to a big city. We bravely started our Rick Steve's walking tour, then gave up and retreated to our hotel room after dinner. Today we started out with a tour of Anne Frank's house and had a marvelous time. The tours takes you through the whole house, with video recordings, written materials and displays of the setup of the house throughout the tour. There were also quotes from her diary throughout the tour that greatly enhanced the experience. Anne and I were both crying by the end of it because it was so touching. I have a picture of one of the postcards that we purchased from the museum store. Then we had a fine lunch and went on a cruise of the canals. There are nine canals in widening concentric circles (actually more pentagonish) that make up the structure of the city. During the cruise, weended up sitting next to the only Dutch people on the boat. We had a nice discussion with father of this family about water management in Holland, as his wife is an engineer who specializes in water management. I also asked them, and the later the hotel manager, about the wooden shoes. I did not see anyone wearing them--they were only sold as souvenirs. I was informed that the wooden shoes were originally worn as mud shoes because nothing was paved so the Dutch had to constantly walk through mud. These days,some of the farmers still wear them but Anyway, I am including a picture of the canal, a large bike storage area that sits near the train station, and a picture of a crowd at a square listening to a wonderful singer (notice the cute child in the foreground in the bicycle cart, dressed in a ladybug coat).