Amsterdam

 June 6 Monday

Amsterdam today!  What did we do?  Took a train to Amsterdam, then on to the Rijksmuseum, a canal tour, a 1.5 hour walking tour of Amsterdam (in the POURING down rain), and then after 6.87 miles of walking a very sobering trip to the Anne Frank huis.  At the end of the day we headed back to Haarlem by tram then train and headed out to dinner at a great Thai restaurant that Kelly recommended.  

Quintessential Amsterdam 



Amsterdam train station

In a lot of Amsterdam bikes or walking is only allowed. so people come into the city by train and pick up their bikes that they left there sometime before.  This lot had thousands.  

Rijksmuseum - we had a great guide, he explained the art and made it interesting! 



Sightseeing anyone?  (Some of our tour group on a canal ride) 

Walking around Amsterdam! Lots of stores, bars, coffee houses (for the funny kind of smoking), rain, leaning houses, rain, great alleyways and yes - rain! 





Words can’t describe the Anne Frank Huis, so I won’t try. 
Navigating our way out of the city 

Dinner guest 🤷‍♀️
Great day in Amsterdam- Mary 




Comments

  1. Mary McDowellJune 6, 2022 at 3:52 PM

    Awesome pictures and enjoying all the captions. Looks like a wonderful trip! Looking forward to the next post. 😃

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary VaughanJune 7, 2022 at 5:32 AM

      I am so glad that Becky shared the blog with you

      Delete
  2. MeghanJune 6, 2022 at 5:16 PM

    Bet the seawall business there is booming

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 7, 2022 at 6:11 PM

    I loved canal tours in Europe!! Keep on having fun and sharing stories Mary!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baking our way to Erice: the Road to Trapani - PART TWO

Image
Tuesday, March 20, 2025 (continued) As Alessandro expertly maneuvered our bus up the winding mountain road towards Erice, we looked back at an impressive view. But first, a lunch stop. We were going to experience true Sicilian hospitality at Maria's place. A simple country lunch. I tasted the almond (mandorla) wine. Definitely for dessert. After everyone ate their fill, it was time to learn the secrets of Maria's Pasticceria Grammatico. Michael was our British interpreter... ...while Maria showed us how to shape the traditional cookies. Maria's voice was incredibly quiet so we really couldn't understand her, Even if we could understand Italian, but Michael helped us out.  This book is the story of Maria's life and includes recipes. She was a nun who left the convent and started her own business making and selling cookies using the nuns' secret recipes. Sc...
Read more

Official tour time! Let’s jump right in!

Image
  On Sunday May 18, we met our Rick Steves group mid afternoon, along with our guide Andrea (pictured above).  I’m looking forward to having him as our guide because he was born and raised just outside Palermo.  I’m sure he will have a ton of knowledge.   After meeting everyone, we all took a walking tour around the neighborhood to get our bearings, learn the history and see unique things.  You can see Christine and I are fresh and ready to tour!  On the way to our first stop, we saw a fountain nicknamed “the fountain of shame”.  Legends say it got that name because in the  building in the background with the dome lived the monks, and a dome, not pictured, but in direct line of sight of the fountain and the monks dome, was the convent.  Of course, the statues are naked…thus the nickname.     We also saw a peaceful Pro Palestine parade march past us.  Our guide told us Sicily is fearful of war, since they have been occupied and ...
Read more

Taormina: Too Beautiful to Believe

Image
Monday, May 26, 2025 Taormina, Sicily  We entered lovely Taormina last evening. Andrea gave us a quick orientation to the town and then we had a free evening to stroll around or just gawk at the mountain.  The stairways do help make Taormina beautiful, but the real beauty is in the views, like this one from our room's balcony right after we checked in. Mamma Etna in her full glory! Mamma is cooking. See the steam? The town was full of lovely shops offering higher-end clothing, souvenirs, and of course - food! Here's a giant cannolo in a colorful display for us tourists. The Godfather is popular here. A very narrow stretto. Someone had a private little teatro di pupi next to their front door. Monday morning Before breakfast, we all spent some time admiring Mamma Etna from the rooftop. The rooftop views were actually beautiful in all directions. While waiti...
Read more