sayhitojohn

We left Amsterdam this morning for Ghent via Antwerp. We were not able to get the high speed train that we first wanted because the all the seats available for reservation with our tickets were booked already.  We were worried that this was going to be a busy train given our results with the other one. We arrived at the station with plenty of time and the platform began to fill as the departure time approached. We decided to send in the seat snipers to get the job done. Tara and Riley spotted the first class car pass by and ran down the platform to score our seat.  Success!  That was easy given the fact we had the whole 1st class car to ourselves.  The realization one of our the first big 'oops' moves of the trip came on this train. When the conductor came and asked for our tickets I handed them over like I have two dozen times before. This act can be a little embarrassing as I carry them in my money belt and they have been soggy with sweat and dried a few times into...

We began today with a quest to find 2 tandem bikes that we could ride out into the countryside. The quest failed as bikes apparently rent rapidly in Amsterdam, at least the few tandems do. Our plan was to ride out to Zaanse Schans to see some windmills, that was not to be. In the end this may have been for the best as I am always careful with my kiddos on board and between our novice tourist navigational abilities and the other newbies not always looking for bikes we could have had a tangle. In any case, it was a great morning to snap some photos between bike shops and we are going to try to bike again once in Belgium.  The man that took this picture said that there is a stock background image in Windows 7 that is a picture of the building right behind my head, if you can see it through the bald glare.  Had to include another shot of this collection of bikes.  Today we saw our first Dutch style windmills live and on the canals.  These windmills were used for a wide v...

This morning the sounds of the garbage man filled the air. Pretty exciting. When we first arrived I asked the owner if we need to separate the garbage, having just come from Germany where you even separate out the composting waste. Nope, it all gets incinerated, and you dump it all in the box down there and it falls into a container under the street.  Then the fun part, they pull it high up above the street by a crane on the truck and dump it in. When I walked by driver/crane operator and he saw I was taking pictures, he winked and smiled like 'Oh yeah...this really IS awesome!'. We caught a few rides on a hop on hop off canal boat and saw the city from water level and motored by some fine houses... ...and houseboats.  We visited the Gassan diamond operation and had a little tour and were able to ask a few questions.  We are all familiar with at least a few of the cut styles that diamonds come in. I was not away that you were able to patent these cuts as Gassan did ...

Today we ventured out to Edam, Volendam and Marken in Hollands Waterton area. We had a look at some towns caught in time.  They were for the most part quiet and that allowed us to wander around apart from the busy tourist pockets. The day had a little rain in it which made for some dark photos. On that note, the weather here changes quickly and rather dramatically.  I thought Colorado changed quickly, but here you can go from hot to cold in minutes. The sun did come out after a while and gave us some better lighting.  We stopped at Edam first. They had all sorts of manually operated bridges over the canals and counterweighted so you would not need anything more than human power to operate. There were car sized bridges.  And people sized bridges.  When you park your boat out back I suppose you need all these bridges.  We next visited the port village of Volendam. It was a little busier and colder in this port. I made the poor decision of dressing comfortably...

Yah...that's a Tesla Taxicab.  Tulips...in Amsterdam?? Someday, when I grow up I'm gonna... My kids claim occasional citizenship here.  In Holland there's Heineken and everything else is just beer.  Quack.  .0175 seconds to ouch.  Vino Powered.  Everything is awesome...wait a minute.  There is no greener machine.  Van say what?

We arrived in Amsterdam a few days ago from Germany on schedule. As the train rolled into this region you could see the transformation from car culture to bikecentricity. It looked like folks were on bikes everywhere.  People of all ages were out on their bikes.  Casually dressed folks and women in high heels with men in the occasional suit. I saw two high school age kids holding hands while they were rolling along.  Where people were not on bikes there were just bikes everywhere locked to everything with the most serious locks and chains I have ever seen. At the train stations you didn't see rows of cars, but racks and racks and racks of bicycles.  You may have to see this image at full size to appreciate it.  Almost the first thing we did in Amsterdam was learn how to cross the street all over again. We stepped into the death zone without even realizing it, but quickly learned that we weren't in Kansas any more. Only the biggest streets in Amsterdam are like t...