Amsterdam
31 May - 5 June 2003
  
The Canals of Amsterdam 

   

Early morning on the canals. 

  

  

  
I ended up taking a Canal Boat Tour.  Someone said "This way for the Canal Bus!" and I thought they said "Cannabis."  The next thing I knew I was in a big boat with three dozen other tourists. 
   

More boats docked along the canal.
People actually live in them.

  

  

  
Not hard to imagine living here, is it?
   

People even get their mail delivered to the boats.  They are regarded as real houses, except that they can sink, whereas your average bungalow rarely does.. 

  

  

  
Note the cars parked inches away from the edge.  Imagine doing a parallel park for your driving exam here!.


Monday, 2 June
     9 AM and I'm hot already--maybe I'll get lucky and it will rain.
     Amsterdam is a city of bicycles--thousands of them flock through the street at rush hour, but they aren't they stylish racing bikes you see in American suburbs, they are rickety things, not something you would bother locking up in most mid-sized cities. The bikes are swift and silent, and apparently obeying traffic laws is optional. They talk on their mobiles as they ride, they hold umbrellas, bags of shopping, brief cases, cellos and as many as three small children; in the absence of cars, they have to content themselves with being aggressive and reckless bike riders.
     The number of cellos here is amazing.  Every other person, it seems, is carrying a cello.  They must have a very boring orchestra.  Or is it some form of the Dutch Mafia who carry their machine guns in cello cases instead of violin cases.  If that's so, I don't want to piss any of them off.

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