The Netherlands - Amsterdam

Having seen vast number of canals in Venice we decided to continue with the theme and visit the many canals of Amsterdam. There are actually more canals in Amsterdam than in Venice.

We were staying on the edge of the red light district. Its famous for sex and drugs, and both were very visible. All of the shops in the district are either sex shops, coffee shops (places where you can buy, and smoke drugs), or brothels. At night the windows are filled with women in their underwear trying to lure men in. It's a really strange environment and you really don't know where to look.

We took a day trip out to Haarlem (30 min outside Amsterdam) to see the tulip fields. When we flew in to Amsterdam (oh the luxury) we saw huge blocks of amazing coloured tulips, and these were even more impressive up close.

We hired bikes, and rode about 28km around the countryside looking at the flowers. The whole place is flat, and the roads are really well set up for bikes. There are bike lanes on most roads, and separate lights at intersections. The bikes are also really cool. They're old style city bikes, and you don't have to hunch over to ride them. It really is amazing how many bikes there are in the Netherlands, and how much they are used. We actually saw business people in suits doubling each other down the road on one bike.

Also in Haarlem we went to a church that had a cannon ball embedded in the wall from the time of the Spanish invasion.

We went to see the Van Gogh museum one day. It was an amazing collection of his works going from his first paintings thru to the end of his life.
After all that art we needed to relax with a walk thru vondel park nearby.