We were on our way from Brussels by 8:15 am and heading into the Netherlands. The scenery in this part of the world is just flat, flat and flat! There are bicycles everywhere and later in the day we even saw a bicycle carpark in Amsterdam. Our tour director filled us in on all the constant battle people here have with the sea and water levels and then in due course we arrived for a clog making demonstration. As you can see from the second photo below they do come in all sorts of colors.
Our next stop was a village called Volendam. This used to be a fishing village but with the construction of numerous dykes, this town no longer has any access to the open sea. This has destroyed the local fishing industry. It has now turned its hand to tourism and is now 110% focussed on tourism. This is not the sort of place we really wanted to see! We then had a mandatory look at a a windmill and were surprised to see this housing estate below. It is exactly as you would have expected a Dutch housing estate to look!
We arrived in Amsterdam and our new hotel for the night. Again our accommodation was very comfortable. We had a busy night in front of us. Firstly we had a look at the red light district where you see the ladies of the night (or late afternoon in our case) in their small shop windows. From there it was on a pre dinner canal cruise around Amsterdam. We passed these homes and when you look closely you see how 'crooked' they are with their foundations sinking in the formerly swampy ground. The photo below gives another view of bridges which cross the canals.
After the Canal Cruise we experienced a 'typical' Dutch evening meal. The meal was excellent and there was enough beer for yours truly! I enjoyed some raw fish for my meal, it was wonderful. The next day we were having a huge travel day heading from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Warzburg in Germany, a distance close to 600kms!
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