Day 2 - Tour

This morning the coach took us to Amsterdam city for a great morning of activities. We started off with a cruise through the canals that weave through the city- it was amazing to see the classic buildings and house boats on the canals. The main means of transport is bicycle and there are literally thousands of them! They are mainly old bikes as they are regularly stolen and therefore of little value. If your bike is stolen it is normal to steal another to replace yours. As a pedestrian you have to be careful as they do not slow down or deviate- bicycles have priority!

There is a huge festival of sail on in Amsterdam and we cruised around all of these different crafts- all shapes and sizes- only held every five years so we were very lucky- it was spectacular!

After the cruise we went to a diamond factory and learnt how to discern a diamond for weight, clarity, purity and color- very handy if you wanted to buy a diamond- which was what they wanted you to do. I was able to get out of there without spending any money- it was serious money.

Then free time to walk around- sampled some of the Dutch cuisine- beef croquettes, frekendahls (or close), pancakes and washed down with a local brew. Then we had a little walk in the red light district- no photos allowed!!

After lunch it was back on the bus and heading for Germany. The country side is very flat but very green and lush. The autobahn was interesting to be on even though the coach could only do 100 km hr, the cars have unlimited speed unless otherwise signed. There are many stages where the odd Porsche or Mercedes would fly past- very fast indeed.

We are in an amazing little German village hotel tonight on the river Rhine- the history and fortress and quaint shops- so picture postcard around here- could go crazy with the photos!! A couple of samples only attached.

All going well as we settle into the routine on the tour!!

The weather has been overcast ranging between 20-25 c and Europe is on it's last week of summer school holidays, so tourist activity should be less chaotic next week.








Greg & Leanne

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Amsterdam and Germany