After a very tiring over-night flight we arrived early in Amsterdam.
We found a place to sit and a bar that was to open at 5:45am where we bought outrageously expensive coffee and juice.
We said goodbye to the half of us that was going to Toronto today and they went off to a more comfortable lounge to spend the morning until the flight.
Our guide, Ben, arrived around 6:30 as promised and herded the straggly bunch of us to a lovely big bus - pure luxury after the safari vehecles of Kenya, Tanzania, etc.
Sadly for Ben we were a rather inattentive bunch - read: we kept falling asleep as he guided us through the countryside around Amsterdam to the island town of Marken.
Very interesting place - old fishing village in the Zuider Zee which seems to have gone somewhat yuppie after being the poorest town in the country some years ago.
We walked though it to the harbour in a chilly drizzle, and were back to the bus in record time. It did wake us up a bit.
Ben kept up a very interesting stream of history, culture, geography, etc. We all wished for more capacity to absorb it, but what we heard certainly improved our understanding of the Netherlands.
By 9am we were at the windmill village, where we really enjoyed hot chocolate and delicious pastries, and a walk by the canal and views of the windmills. The sun even shone a little bit.
We toured one working windmill that is used to produce oils from peanuts, grape seeds etc. We sampled and bought some cheeses, then carried on back to the city for a short bus tour.
That was followed by a canal boat tour - reminiscent of the ones in Suzhou and St. Petersburg.
Amsterdam is a pretty canal city, just showing the first signs of autumn.
Lunch followed at a terrific restaurant whose name entirely escapes me, but was recommended by our agent and friend Marijke( thank you! ).
After lunch we were bussed to our quaint hotel where most of us chose to nap.
Some hardy souls visited the Anne Frank house and the Rijksmuseum. They said both were wonderful. I would have loved to go to both, but completely lacked the stamina.
In the evening Brock and Elsie got a recommendation for a good pub-style restaurant and 8 of us enjoyed a delicious Dutch meal ( & quite a bit of beer ) there.
Then we walked through the thronging streets back to the hotel and our welcoming beds.
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