Bicycles, Barges and Bulbs

Our last full day on board our cruise ship.  We arrived in Amsterdam early this morning.  It was fun to wake up and see trees and cars going past our window as we sailed through a lock into the Amstel River here in the city.

We set off on a canal boat tour, followed by a three-mile walk through the city (in the 86F heat!).  Such a beautiful place, and we loved all the old buildings, barges, and houseboats -- many with veritable forests of flowers and greenery in planters on  their decks.  I don't think I have ever seen so many bicycles in one place either!  I have absolutely no idea how anyone can find their bike in the gigantic piles of parked machines outside so many buildings!  Another place we walked through was the Flower Market, which our guide said she had to show us because it was on the itinerary, although it is a rip-off with plastic tulips (!!!) and bulbs which will not grow if you buy them to take home to plant in your garden.  It was a colourful sight nonetheless!  That picture of the rusty, muddy old bicycles is what they look like after they've been fished out of the canal -- something that apparently happens with alarming frequency!  (Our canal boat guide told us that the canals are formed of three layers:  the bottom layer is silt, the middle layer is bicycles, and the top layer is water!)

I tried (and tried and tried again) to upload all this yesterday (the 11th) from the ship, but the internet connection was so appallingly bad that after over an hour of waiting for my image to upload I finally cried "Uncle!" and went off in search of a stiff drink.  We are now officially disembarked from the ship, and are spending one more day on our own in Amsterdam (at a hotel with head-spinningly fast internet!) before flying home to Boston tomorrow.