Sightseeing in Amsterdam

This has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I love walking around and discovering areas where a road has intersected a canal and there are cafe's with people sitting in the sun enjoying the beauty and watching the world go by. American cities just aren't set up for that.

Zach, as usual, hit the ground running when he got here. After he took a long nap (we had to be up at 4:45AM to catch the flight here), he evidently went downstairs to the little pub in the hostel and met a TON of people and chatted until early this morning. I say "evidently" because I fell asleep early myself and slept 11 hours.

This hostel is VERY VERY full, and nearly everyone is college-age. There are a few families, and some older adults like me, but largely, it's college kids. Yes, this place makes me feel old :)

Zach is taken for a college kid by everyone, and just fits right in. I chatted with a few of these kids yesterday, and it seems most are on a European tour, and Amsterdam is one of their stops. The hostel here is very large, and has it's own small pub so it's easy for them to meet each other. Interestingly enough, I heard from more than one that they have to go home early because their money ran out sooner than they planned. The exchange rate to the Euro is completely terrible ($1.50 to the Euro) so money doesn't go far at all. The dollar is definitely having a hard time. It wasn't any better in the UK against the Pound. When I did my college tour 25 years ago I was working with a bazillion different currencies, and although the exchange rates weren't fantastic, it wasn't nearly that bad.

As in Dublin, the hostel organizes a pub tour for their residents, and Zach met up with some of his new friends from last night and is off for another night of socializing. I LOVE that he's meeting so many people from all over the world on this trip. He will come home with lots of stories and TONS of memories. Again, I can't tell you how happy I am at how this is going.

We spent the day walking around Amsterdam - mostly a meander around to get the flavor of the place. Like I said, this is one beautiful place. Of course, no walking tour of Amsterdam would be complete without a walk through the red light district. It's unique in the world. As I mentioned before, the new mayor is working to shut down this part of the city, so this might be one of the last opportunities to see it. As I expected, it gave Zach and I more opportunities for good conversations. I am continually amazed at the sophistication of his thinking.

Zach is out on the organized pub tour this evening, so I get some time to read, relax, and plan out the last bit of our itinerary - oh, and do laundry. It wouldn't do to stink out Harald and Stefi :)

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