We are leaving tomorrow for Bruges, Belgium. We checked on line and found train tickets for about 130 euros each. Pretty pricy. Since it is Sunday there are no buses going from Amsterdam to Bruges. After our breakfast we walk down to Amsterdam Centraal to see what our options are. We talk to a couple of tourist info center guys and feel that the whole bus option is either really complicated or non existant for Sunday. We decide to go into the train station to see what we can see. We chat with a woman at the international desk who tells us that trains run every hour to Antwerp requiring a train change and then on to Bruges for about 50 euro each! Bonus. We go ahead and purchase the tickets that are good for any time on Sunday.

We start walking back along the Damrak. It s crazy busy. It is Saturday morning and feels like Disneyland on Christmas Day!! Lots and lots of people walking very slowly. We are ready to leave the big city 🙂

We veer off the main streets to avoid the crowds. We heard about a photography show called the “Swinging Sixties London” at the FOAM which is not far from our hotel. We wander the back streets making our way there. The entrance fee is 10 Euros each. The show features fashion photographers from the 60’s in London. Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy, John French, Norman Parkinson, James Barnor, John Hopkins, John Cowan, Eric Swayne and Philip Townsend.  Not necessarily household names in North America, but big in the UK. Photos of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and other models along with young rock stars the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.  Very interesting!

We have seen these segue wagon things.  I think this is a preschool.

After we finish we find a great little spot for a beer and a sandwich and read our guide book that says Volden Park is a nice place to escape the crowds of Amsterdam. Yeah right!!

The canals are filled with party boats cruising along them. Most quite crowded with people enjoying a bevy or two, maybe a smoke of something. We discuss how the “Authorities” at home would freak out with this behaviour. Boats over capacity, no life jackets being worn and god forbid drinking! I am sure that there are some issues, but from what we saw most were well behaved.

For dinner we make a right turn when we exit the hotel. We haven’t walked this way yet. It is very resdential, many large aparments. As we make the 2nd right turn, it suddenly gets really busy. It is the Zoo! We knew it was close but hadn’t gone this way before. Very busy place. Check out the bike racks!!

Saw this crooked corner on our way back to our hotel

Found a nice little chicken restaurant with great music. They have wifi. the deal is you need to “Like” them on Facebook to connect. Brilliant 🙂 This may be common here as we did come across it once before. It might even be lke that at home, not sure. While there we received a confirmaton email from our Bed & Breakfast in Bruges. We’re booked! 3 nights @ 80 Euros. Quite a bit cheaper than Amsterdam.

Our hotel includes breakfast.  Yeah!!  We are paying 130 euros per night.  That translates to about $195 CAD.  We must remember that we are in Amsterdam in August.  We are passing many small hotels with “All full” signs (or some other words that essentially mean the same thing).  It is clean, but TINY.  You will see when I sort out the photo issue.

Definitely NOT a room with a view!!  I could touch the building next door!

After breakfast this morning we walked to where we had seen a crooked little house that is now a pub.  The light wasn’t right for photos last night so we wanted to see it in the morning light.  The area was much better lit in the morning.

After a bit of aimless wandering we bought tickets for the Hop on Hop Off canal boat and the Van Gogh museum.  We put on about 16K using 24,350 steps according to my fitbit.  I know that some of my friends have done that before lunch, but we’ll do better without all of those slow people in front of us, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to read their cell phones.  🙂  Those guys don’t do the Camino!!

Took a tour of a diamond factory and saw an emerald cut diamond worth a million Euros!

We ended up at the little spot just a few steps from our hotel for dinner.  After walking all day I needed a rest before tackling the stairs in the hotel.  We are on the 3 rd floor (they tell us) of our hotel.  They don’t count the flight of steps up to their door or the 21 steep steps up to what they are calling  the 1st floor.  These steps are steep and narrow, from what I have heard not unlike a lot of hotels in the city.

This is the second flight with “Gollum” scurrying up! 🙂

It is Friday night and the town is hopping!  We are glad our hotel, while within comfortable walking distance for us, it is much quieter than it is down near the Central Station and the Red Light District.  Sleep again soon.