City Hotel Utrechtsestraat Amsterdam

... will do the rest...<br><br>These days I don`t cycle anymore, easy living during months wintering in far-away Thailand with weeks lond excursions to neighboring places like Cambodya and Laos, maybe Vietnam and five days of gambling in Macau...well, let me not try to get you jealous....instead thanks for reading these stories with whatever Higher Entity might be out there hopefully positively inclined towards you!!!

Our first stop was in Amsterdam. What a crazy city... I don't know why we have so many rules in Canada, because these guys seem to be as civilized as we are, yet they can drink on the street, buy weed in the coffee shops and smoke anywhere they wish. The red light district is pretty insane. Its pretty much tons of narrow ...

... block from the&#12288;Red Light District and could see the red lights&#12288;in the rooms down the alley from our room window.&#12288; A small store was blocks away for in-room items like water.&#12288; We were&#12288;30 yards from one of the canals and we were surrounded with "coffee shops".&#12288;Surprisingly, the hotel was really quiet (at one point we wondered if maybe we were the loud ones.)&#12288;I'd highly suggest it for anyone in the future.]<br><br>By the time we got done ...

July 6, Monday<br><br>I stop to talk to Colin of Contiki Tours. He is cleaning up the breakfast and all the campers have left on the bus to tour Amsterdam. Colin tells us about his job, their tours, where he has traveled on his own and about the groups he has for the rest of the summer. He is from Toronto and has been cooking for the tours for the past 5 or 6 years. Sounds like a fun job, some of the time. He says he has a helping crew to set up and ...

... to make a pair of clogs. (There are clogs everywhere too!) Apparently people still where the clogs when they're working in the field or their gardens. This has yet to be seen, So I'm not sure if I believe it. We also road all over the city. We saw some nice parks ... one of which people can now legally have sex in ... if it's after dark ... and no one is "watching ...

... bit of cool and spitting rain- 16 deg. We found our hotel Multatuli directly across from the Amsterdam Central train station after taking a 20 minute/8Euro ride from the airport ...

... they'll 'ding' you. (Ding = ring their bike-bell at you) And the Red Light District is like no other. Its a must-see of Amsterdam, especially at night when the streets are glowing with red lights (coincidence?). And all the prosititutes dance ...

... soon found ourselves in the "right" place, very touristy and safe feeling. Saw the famous red light windows, the coffee shops, sex stores/museums, etc. Did a little shopping, then Jeff and I and Bruce &amp; Suzanne headed back to hotel, leaving Bryan &amp; Amanda shopping. Used PC in hotel lobby to send first email of the trip. Met up with Nora and then Amanda and Bryan - all returned safely.

... at Baba one of the "coffee" houses. I had 3 bites of the cake - too scared to eat too much as I've never tried anything like it before. But it didn't have an effect on me at all. Although Sheretha got a serious case of the giggles. <br>Sheretha and Fiona dancing up a storm in the pub <br>Karaoke bar We went to karaoke and spent the ...