Our first question, why isn’t this place called Holland, you know with the wooden shoes, wind mills and land of tulips? The short story, there was a number of Dutch provinces with Holland the largest one and the smaller provinces collectively referred to as the Netherlands. At some point in time the Dutch people choose their country’s name to be the Netherlands. Now that I’ve been there, I think the bike should be added to the Icon list. 
A short flight, train and taxi to the Hotel Prinsenhof in Amsterdam and we were in the heart of the city shortly after work on a Friday at the end of September. At the hotel a note is tacked on the front door to pickup our keys at the corner bar. It was 10:30 pm, cold outside and inside the bar it was warm. We retrieved our keys and lingered with the locals which were friendly and enjoyable. Great first impression of the city, our room a little different story but had the all important ensuite bath. Amsterdam which was created in a man made fashion is pretty much laid in identical small rectangular plots of land. The buildings are pretty much the same internal like design which is 4-6 stories and straight up. Ours was about 14 foot flights (5 of ‘em) of 6-7” deep steps to the top floor. We even had a ladder to our big window to the outside world. We loved it except maybe the bath which was circa another time. 
The first morning we eased around the canals and streets till we encountered a pancake house in one of the numerous parks. The city was filled with people, bikes, boats, trams and some cars. Mostly bikes of every imagination. We visited all the museums, art shops that we came across. In between those we ate and drank at all the local places that took our fancy. We sought out and found the Mexican food a very rare occurrence in York. Guacamole and tequila all around that was our ticket. The locals with whom we mixed were very nice. Most all the natives had the ability to speak and communicate effectively in English. 
We were real comfortable in Amsterdam and enjoyed our view of life there. The many differences to our York home became apparent at the Sunday market we stumbled across as we walked about the city. One street extending a half dozen blocks filled with a significant variety of vendors featuring meats, vegetables, flowers, clothes, appliances, crafts, art and techie stuff. You really don’t get that kind of market here. It was quite enjoyable and memorable.
… see ya,
