More Amsterdam

A bakery window. The stuff inside looked awesome. And yes, the guy with the orange hat was celebrating Queens Day as was the bakery clerk.. Holy Smokes the stuff inside looked so good! We had already eaten or I would have collapsed face first into the window display (from the inside, mind you, since glass with my pastry didn't seem as appealing.)

I loved the canals! The homes along the canals were so pretty. I would love to have a home like this. However, I'm told real estate in city central is pretty pricey. Look at all the tiny cars. They are all over Holland, but I did see some Ford vans and a couple American style (large) cars while there. However, they are not common. With gas prices at almost $3 a LITER (WOW!!), driving a gas guzzler is really not practical. On the first day we were there, my friend had a business meeting so the company sent a driver to pick us up at the airport and to drive us home after the meeting and lunch. The driver on the way back to the hotel was very friendly and we talked quite a bit about the differences in America and Amsterdam. At lunch I got quite a bit more insight into life in Amsterdam. Everyone pays a large percentage of taxes, but most don't complain since these taxes go into services like medical and housing. I ask one of the men how they felt about such high taxes and he said in Amsterdam, people look out for the common good , which is different than America where we tend to be more independent and think everyone needs to attend to themselves.

More of the intersecting canals. This is during Queens Day, which explains the packed boat. This canal was less crowded than the most of the other canals, which were packed with boats of celebrants. See all the boats tied up along the canal? I could soooo get used to living here! I loved being on the boats that we took around the city.

Did I mention that I really loved visiting there and can't wait to get back?

The only thing I didn't find in Amsterdam was a yarn shop. However, next time I will be more determined to find a shop and knit in public.I was unsure of how hard it would be to bring my knitting on the plane, so I left all my knitting at home. I regretted that. It would have been good to be able to knit both on the plane and while we were at the hotel. Being without something to knit was an odd feeling.