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Monday December 11th The weather looked like it would hold up for a while, so John and I started the morning with a canal boat tour through Amsterdam. There is a contrast between Amsterdam and Venice, in that the Amsterdam canals have almost no traffic. I got the impression that they were essentially useless to the city. For tourists, however, they make a good vantage point to see the architecture and parts of the city that can't be seen from land.
After the canal boat, we headed for the train station and a trip south of Amsterdam to Leiden and Rotterdam. Despite the cold, wet climate, bicycles are a primary means of transportation throughout the Netherlands. I took a picture outside of Leiden's train station of the bicycle parking racks. This was in a small town where the weather was a rainy 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Leiden is a picturesque college town with a character and architecture that was unique. It also had the first windmill I saw since arriving. We walked around the confusing circular streets admiring the canal scenery.
After lunch at an Indian restaurant, we headed back for the train to Rotterdam. Rotterdam is a modern city reminiscent of western cities in the US. We saw a huge outdoor interactive art park (we could move the crane-like lights) and then walked toward the museum area. Most museums were closed on Monday, so we took in the grounds and then found a pub and some strong Belgian beer before heading back to Amsterdam on the train. At the train station I picked up some "Fritties", which is a disgusting concoction of French fries with sweet mayonnaise or barbeque sauce on top. Rotterdam After a stop at the hotel in Amsterdam, we headed out for a gourmet 5 course dinner at the Restaurant d'Vijff Vlieghen (the five flies).
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