Finished the trip with a flourish

Had a great last day and an excellent time for my last night in Amsterdam- got to bed at 4:00am and then up at 6am for the ride to the airport. Sitting in the KLM lounge and hoping I do not fall asleep and miss my flight this morning. There is a small pub across the dock from our boat and we spent the last three nights visiting there with last night being the best and closing it out this morning. This sounds like a setup to a joke but there were 3 Irishmen on holiday, a local Dutchman, a transplanted Scotsman, an ex-pat American who has spent the last 12 years in Russia and then South Korea, and myself. The Irishman were having a grand time of it- problem is you could not understand half of the stuff they were saying, but they were laughing and kept themselves in stitches.

Had great evenings here drinking fresh Heineken on tap and making new friends.

(check back this evening for more pictures- slow connection here in the KLM lounge)


Started the day with an omelete and a  pancake a the "Pancake Corner"- only it was not so much a pancake as it was a crepe but it was still good.  Also on the menu were Brussel waffles vs what in the states think of as Belgian waffles.

Spent the day walking the city again with a couple of trolley rides thrown in as needed.

Toured the Van Gogh Art museum which was incredible for both the history and the art work on display.

Had lunch at Beems Brasserie with an excellent Kobe beef burger and a Warsteiner bier.

After lunch visited the "House of Hagenius"- a 180 year old purveyor of fine cigars and pipe tobacco.  Of course it is also a museum, it really seems that everything here is a museum of one sort or another. Must get a tax break if they call themselves a museum.

Walked the red light district (during the day) which was hysterical when you realize that in the midst of it is a large catholic church. The shops stores and of course "window" fronts were quite amusing, definitely glad visited this area during the day as I can only imagine what it is like at night.

Finished the official touring part of the day with a boat ride on the canals and went under bridges where the boat cleared by inches- both at the roof level and on the sides- very impressive handling of the boat by the captain.

We had a very eclectic dinner on the boat of shimp, salmon, cheeses, crackers, and olives.  I needed to finish up a couple of Heineken's while Julie had work to do on a bottle of red wine.

Incredible trip.  Will begin working on slide shows for posting on the way home- maybe- after I get some sleep.  Who knows, I may finally get some sleep on a flight.