Amsterdam Day 2

We started the day by walking to and visiting the Dam area, and the WWII Memorial. They are both in the same square, and it is a very bustling place. Lots of people, bicycles, and trams. You really have to pay attention where you are walking or you may walk right in front of a bicycle, or worse yet, one of the many trams. There are a few cars, but not many. After we walked around the National Monument area we continued south and picked up a Canal cruise on one of the glass top canal boats at Rokin street. That was a nice ride that gave us a tour of the canal ring area, and we also ventured out into the main harbor. (Took lots of pictures.... people, architecure styles, life ...)










On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a drug store and picked up a few necessities, like sun screen! The weather today was beautiful, hot and sunny! Then just as we were getting back to the hotel the smell of a couple of small food shops caught us. We decided to go with the Amsterdam style hamburger and fries for lunch. We are going to do a nice dinner tonight before we leave tomorrow morning for Munich, Germany via train. We leave at 8:00 AM tomorrow.

After a stop by the hotel to freshen up, we went back out and headed over to the Anne Frank house for a revisit of the area. There was a shop we saw there yesterday that sells original Absenthe, so we went to find the store again. We found it and purchased some and had it mailed home for us. Then we sought out the Anne Frank statue that is outside the Westerkerk church, which is at the end of the block. Somehow we walked right by it yesterday and didn't even notice it. It was easy to find today, as there were tour groups around the area. Also nearby is the homomonument. A nice gesture but a disappointment of a monument. Nothing more than a triagular shape stone area and platform that juts out into a section of the canal. And directly adjacent to the memorial sign, is one of the outdoor public urinals with the semi-transparent screen that you walk behind to relieve yourself. That could have been better placed!

Time for a cold adult beverage.... We relaxed and strolled back to the hotel area and dropped into a bar just a few doors down from the Golden Tulip hotel and had a cold Jenever Gin shooter (Dutch tradition and classic) and a Heineken on tap as a chaser. I tried the older Jenever and Pat had the younger version. After tasting for a while, we both decided we liked the younger version better. Of course they serve it 'to the brim' of the glass, and tradition is you lean over the counter and sip the first sip out of the glass, as to not spill any of it. The youger version was clear, very clean and had a nice finish, with no bite. It would go well shaken with ice and with a lemon twist. The older Jenever was more yellowish, and had a bit if a bite to it. We had a nice conversation with Diane the bar maid, and we were comparing our cultures and current events. She is our age and has lived in Amsterdam her whole life. We had a great time talking with her and her clientel who came in, and the conversations in Dutch that we tried to pick up a few words here and there. Dutch is a strange language, and fun to listen to.

All for now....