
As per my usual practice, I was up at dawn to wander the streets to see what I could see.


Angie and I tried to repeat our York trip with a trip to Rotterdam, however the late nights and miserable weather conspired against us and we didn’t get to see much other than the inside of the train. Since Angie’s birthday is coming up on July 4th, we were joking about her age and I kept singing the commercial jingle “I’m a big girl now” over and over. I guess this sensitized me to little girls walking with their parents and I caught these two at obviously different life stages (and different dependencies on their parent).




A few streets away from the flower market, near one of the museums, I took in this display about the different kinds of trees in Amsterdam. Local school kids had completed small exhibits to go with the facts about the trees, which made it quite interesting.

Angie had met up with Karen and Ollie for a beer (or two) in De Wallen (the red light district). I'm guessing everyone knows why it is called the 'red light district'? Of course it is because the 'working ladies' have red lights outside their windows to indicate their profession, but I have no idea why the colour used is red, but Wiki has some background here.

Anyway, I tracked Ollie, Angie, and Karen down and we headed out for a bite to eat back near the hotel. Karen borrowed my camera and took a few shots of the scenery. Here is a great shot she took of the crowded alleyway near where we were eating.

Seeing a sunset in A’dam was new to us (it has always rained before) and it was interesting to see how everything looked so different. The contrast in light lent itself to the more modern buildings of Amsterdam. I found this one a bit odd, though, with the way every floor was a walking way or gantry leading to an external fire escape.

There are more photos from this trip and you can see a slide show of them HERE, although they are buried in with my other shots of Amsterdam and you won't get to the new ones until the end. (Hint, try using the file locater at the bottom of the show to advance to the shots you want to see)
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