AMSTERDAM

This was our first foray into the streets of Amsterdam, and as you might expect, the Dutch ingenuity is evident in the layout of this city below sea level.  The airport is attached to the train station, so once we collected our luggage from the flight, we walked to the train that would take us to our hotel in the center of the city.  We exited our train and basically walked across the bustling avenue to the Arts Hotel, an avantgarde establishment festooned with local art and boasting a fabulous location.  Amsterdam is a very youthful city and most get around on bicycles or by walking.  Following are some photos of Amsterdam with brief descriptions.

Beautiful architecture

one of many canals in the city

Amsterdam was the perfect stepping stone back to the good ole USA.  Our hotel was surrounded by a plethora of cozy restaurants of all types of cuisine.  We had lovely meals wherever we went. I believe my favorite meal was a very delicious Hungarian stew we had the first night.

On our walks, we did pass the brothels with the prostitutes displayed in the picture windows.  They looked like very obese and badly made up drag queens to me.  

The second day we walked to the Van Gogh, Rijksmuse, Stedelijk Museum, and Rembrandt House.  What a perfect city for walking to some of the most famous paintings in the world!  I would love to go back to Amsterdam when the tulips are in bloom and we can get inside the Anne Frank house!  Ironically, the World Health Organization would soon declare a global pandemic just a few days after our return to the USA.  We often thought of Anne Frank and her family living in a glorified closet on the top floor of a home by the canal for two years!  Our pandemic sequestration didn't seem so bad in that context.