ST. TRAVELS

Our adventures in Amsterdam have been all that we had hoped for and so much more!   With 65 miles of canals, history galore, and seemingly thousands and thousands of bicycles, Amsterdam is an enchanting city.  It is named for the dam built on the River Amstel around 1275 AD.  We loved our days here and enjoyed these activities: 

Thursday: During a Food and Canals Tour we walked two miles during a four hour walk with five stops at different restaurant/shops and we enjoyed tastings of:

– Dutch mini-pancakes called poffertjes; 

– Herring, oysters, and fried cod in a seafood shop; 
– Cookies from a Dutch pastry shop; 
– Bitterballen fried meatballs and gravy balls; 
– Local wine tastings similar to a pinot blanc and a pinot noir;
– Sausages from a 128 year old butchery shop; 

The tour ended with a one-hour boat ride through a dozen canals and we enjoyed the ride while sipping a glass of wine.

That same evening, we were escorted through the red-light district of Amsterdam by a local guide with two other Americans.  The prostitution alleys were made famous during the years of the Dutch East India Company (equivalent in size to today’s Apple, Google and Yahoo, combined).  We learned more history of the city and took in the scene as we walked down a dozen alleys with over 300 ‘windows’ – small rooms rented by women themselves (no pimps involved), union organized, with a required license, and all heavily protected by police.  By 6 pm when we toured maybe 20% of the tiny rooms had women already working. 

Friday:  We toured the Anne Frank House Museum.  It was an extraordinary experience to walk through the actual office building that hid Otto Frank’s family, and four other Jews, for two years before they were discovered by the Nazis and shipped off to concentration camps.  Only Otto survived, and while all the furniture had been removed from the house, Anne’s diary and pictures remained and were given to Otto after he returned to his office.  Doing this tour on Good Friday gave new meaning to the evil in the world that can nail Jesus to a cross or exterminate thousands of Jews.  You can learn more about this historical monument at:  https://www.annefrank.org/en/ 

We ended our time in Amsterdam with a two-hour Segway Tour that took us to the oldest section of town, including a stop at the canal made famous by Rembrant’s painting.  

Our stay at the Renaissance Hotel of Amsterdam was perfect.  We had access to the Envoy Elite lounge due to our status with Westin/Marriot, and this provided us with a good rest in preparation for our eight day bike and boat tour that we will begin tomorrow.