Amsterdam

Emily made it in at 2pm Netherlands time and we went right to work being tourists. She was a trooper, as I was half expecting her to need a nap. We hopped a train to central Amsterdam and took a 30 minute walk to our hotel through the tourist area. It was rather interesting with lots of stag parties and characters running around. Below are some pictures of around the town.

A barge converted into a house boat with a cool urban garden on top.

Busy canal.

The Pedal Saloon. I've seen these before and they look pretty awesome. One guy up front drives, the other dozen guys sit at a bar and provide pedal power. There's a keg in the middle. Great way to see Amsterdam. Bathroom breaks might prove a problem though.

Our hotel is off on the right, the big brick near the back. The tower to the left is the Munt Tower.

Here is the Rijksmusem, which we visited. It's closed for renovation but they put all of the most famous pieces into 15 rooms, so we got the annotated version, which was great. Rembrandt and a few other famous artists are supposedly the highlights, but I couldn't have picked anything out. It was a good place to visit overall though, with lots of 17th century artifacts.

We had to go to the Heineken Experience which is the original Heineken factory that they've turned into a a tourist trap. I've never paid so much for beer and advertisements, but it was a pretty good experience. Especially since I got to drink Emily's samples! Here she is at one of the many stops. Where we learned to "appreciate" a beer properly.

Here is where I learned to make the perfect pour.

And here we are back in Utrecht. We had dinner on one of the canals and it was packed out.

Here's the canal right before we left. That's all for now. Spending the week in Utrecht and then off to Prague for the weekend.