The Griswolds Do Amsterdam

We got up early on our last full day in the Netherlands to spend the day in Amsterdam. Though it was raining, our spirits were not dampened. Did you ever wonder how many Americans it takes to buy a Dutch train ticket?


Well, the 7 of us finally figured it out, so we were soon on our way to the big city.



Since it was raining, we decided to see the city first of all by a canal boat. You can take a canal cruise right from a place near Central Station.



You can see below, we got all gezelligheid aboard the 1-1/2 hour cruise - settling in with the waters they gave us. Our Captain & Tour Guide were both real characters.


This turned out to be a great way to see the city on a rainy day. Whenever I opened the window to take pictures though, the lady behind me reached behind her to shut my window. Oy. I didn't take as many as I wanted to, but below are a few. We saw many house boats along the canal.



And this is the part of the cruise where you supposedly can see 7 bridges - maybe on a clear day.


I didn't get many chances thus far in the week to take pictures of windmills - can you believe it? In desparation, I took this one of the biggest, and I think oldest, windmill in Amsterdam from behind the rain drop-smeared window.


The canal houses are such an interesting part of the architecture in Amsterdam. When they were built, they had to pay taxes based on how wide their houses were, so they learned to build up. To get their furniture in the house, most of the houses protrude out with a pulley at the top to pull their furniture in on a rope.


When our tour was over, we began walking the streets and Paula & Mar posed in their Bedum Boots. The picture below came out a bit blurry in the low light so I used a filter and entitled it Amsterdam on a Rainy Day.

Amsterdam on a Rainy Day, 2007