Dave and Vera's Blog: Europe Day 2: Amsterdam (Monday July 7)

Never have a hotel room right above a coffee shop and tattoo parlor in Amsterdam. First of all, coffee shops in Amsterdam sell marijuana rather than coffee. The clientele are rather noisy, especially late at night. Vera slept through it all, but not me.

It was a 30 minute walk to the Rijksmuseum, and only because we took our time enjoying the sights. We got there shortly after it opened, and beat the crowds. Incredible paintings, with Rembrandt as the main attraction. Some of these paintings were like photographs in terms of the detail. Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" is rather large, and we saw it at the end. By then the crowds had caught up with us. A wonderful museum, and I'm not much of a museum person. Unfortunately, there was a huge line in front of the Van Gogh Museum, so we'll see it early tomorrow.

Walking back was quite different from our walk this morning. Amsterdam was in full stride. Pedestrians need to watch from every angle for bicycles, trolleys, cars, and trucks. You can't hear the bicycles, cars and trucks seem to block the sidewalks, and the trolleys are very fast. It was hard to tell what was a side walk or a bike lane, or what direction the traffic was coming from. We took a different route back and tried to stay on the side streets to catch more sights.

We checked the "Red Light District", but most of the window displays were empty. Guess you have to go in the evening. Lots of interesting toys for sale.

Coffee doesn't necessarily mean coffee in Amsterdam.