Amsterdam Day 3 - After the flowers

Conveniently, right across the street from where they dropped us after our Keukenhof tour, canal boat tours were offered. So, we hopped on a boat to see the city from that vantage point. The boats are these really cool, low, glass topped vessels. Low so they can fit under all the tiny bridges in the city.

Time to Cruise

No idea what this was but look closely. On the parking ramps
are bicycles......must have been thousands of them!

Along the tour, they had an automated recording, with several different languages, tell us what we were passing. Some facts were interesting but I found myself not listening to much and just enjoying the ride.

Skinny Bridge

On the right side of the bridge, there's a canal performer
in the boat. That's what all the folks on the bridge and the
other boat is stopped to watch. That's an interesting take
on "street performing!"

An Entrance to Central Station Below Water Level

After the one hour canal tour, there was one other stop I wanted to see before closing which was back near our hotel. We would have to haul bootyt. I walked quickly and tried to encourage a very tired Mike to do the same. It wasn't looking good....we weren't going to make it! Ducking into a small side street to get away from the crowded streets and try and make good time, we were approached by a bike taxi. We thought, "What the heck? Let's do it!" So, we were swiftly taken to our last tourist stop of the day.

Our View From the Bike Taxi

Self Portrait in the Bike Taxi

The last stop was the Museum Van Loon, which is a mansion on the canals. At only 30 minutes to closing, the friendly guide welcomed us in and told us to look around. It was a self guided tour.

Grand Staircase

Kitchen

Gardens

View of Back of House

Carriage House
The small top windows are faux windows with the glass painted to look like curtains.
Apparently the residents didn't want their servants over looking any not so stellar
activities that might be going on in the back gardens.

Front the Van Loon Mansion

After a VERY long day of sights, we went back to the hotel, checked in on our babysitters and refreshed for dinner. We strolled around for something delicious to eat and saw more cool stuff.

Abandoned or under construction?

Gorgeous Sunset Over the Canal

An ATV. Weird

Firemen and Fire Engine

We decided upon a very small Italian restaurant. And I mean small. We're at the very back of the restaurant in this photo:

We were not disappointed. Holland being much closer to Italy than Boston, it was some delicious Italian fare.....even better than some of the meals I've had in Boston's North End. So yum! And, we had a nice conversation with the Welsh couple at the table 6 inches away from us (kind of hard to have a private dinner in close quarters like that).

And at that, we called it a night. The next morning, we packed and headed straight to the airport. We didn't know exactly how long it would take (couldn't remember from our jet lag haze on the way in) and wanted to err on the side of too much time. Even though we hadn't used in public transportation since our way in, it seemed less daunting and we made the trip to the airport with ease. I couldn't believe how smooth the trains were. Being used to the jostling Boston system, it was amazing to watch a woman easily apply mascara on the train car....it was that smooth!

We made it to the airport with time to spare. That meant time to grab some last minute souvenirs (as if we hadn't gotten enough already) and some grub. The flight home was a lot more relaxing the the one in. With our personal tv's, Mike and I (separately) watched a few movies, read and just enjoying the journey. We had a spectacular trip but were ready to get home to our little guy. I'll have to put up another post on his adventures with Mimaw and Pipaw while we were gone.