The 2003 EuroTour "On The Road" Journal

Amsterdam

Wednesday, May 29 - We brought the beautiful weather to Holland from Florida, which had been until now rainy and cold. Checking in to the Park Hotel near the Rijyks and Van Gough Museums, we asked for rooms in the back, off the street so we could sleep awhile. Comfortable, yet a bit threadbare and cramped, the Park Hotel offers the most affordable accommodations close to the center of activities in Amsterdam, with parking. Our car, which JJ arranged as a lease from Auto Europe is a Peugeot Expert, a six passenger mini van. Our only concern was that we had French license plates, and hoped the Dutch and Germans would not be too prejudiced against us for that!

After a refreshing nap, we headed into the sparkling sunlight of this friendly fun city, for a dinner at our favorite little spot, The Dutch Pantry, where JJ had an Ostrich steak, and Renie and I dined on Prawns in Garlic sauce. I checked e-mail at The Bulldog, a well known coffee shop with and Internet Café. The computers are set up with a coin slot, to buy so many minutes. I keep an aol account, and Tracey forwards necessary messages for me to deal with. Fortunately, there are just a few message to answer, including an e-mail from George Williams, who we will catch up to later at Wiesbaden.

We took an evening boat cruise through the canals. The tour guide was also the waitress serving us beer and wine. We toured a few of the 200 canals, which has over 1200 bridges, reflecting their lights in the waterway, as dusk finally began around 10 pm.