I was down at the New Amsterdam...

Today, I'm flying back to the States from Uganda. I left Kampala last night at 10:15 p.m. local time (3:15 p.m. Eastern on Sunday) and get back to Fort Lauderdale at 8:30 p.m. on Monday. In between, I've got a brief 2 hour stop in Washington D.C. (where I'll need to go through customs), and an 8-hour layover in Amsterdam (hence the windmill at right).


So, during my stay in the Netherlands, from 5:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., I decided to take a driving tour of Amsterdam--which was the stereotypical drive-by tour with a few stops all just long enough to snap some pictures (but quite enjoyable non-the-less). Pictures from the tour....

Above left is the Amstel River (the beer is actually named after it), as its flows into the city. One of the several rowers I ended up seeing on the river is in the shot (next to the boats). We even saw a trio being instructed...

After leaving the river--where the windmill above was--we headed into the city, proper, where we drove over several of its canals (not all fed by the Amstel). At left is one of the canals, with houseboats along both sides. Our city tour included stops in the museum district, the red-light district, and several other points of interest.

Along another canal, we stopped to see the Anne Frank house, pictured at left. It's the red building just left of center frame, with the two women standing in front of it. The right-end of the block is the museum associated with the house; with the line to get in out the door and down the side street (this was around 11 in the morning).


Also on the tour, we saw a bike garage--there's a lot of bike riding in the city. Apparently this public garage (on the far side of a canal, in front of the hotel; and running the width of the shot), and man are there a lot of bikes...



And just for fun, and because we saw a few of them while out and about: sheep! [below]


I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play