Amsterdam is a beautiful and vibrant European city.

Amsterdam is the Venice of northern Europe. With a dense network of canals weaving through old-world neighborhoods, water taxis are a great form of transport. Although Amsterdam has awesome world-class museums, the whole city (actually all of Europe) is one giant delightful museum. Linguistically, Holland is a great country for Americans to visit as everyone speaks good-old midwestern American English. We did not encounter one person in all of Holland that wasn't a talented multi-linguist.

We had schizophrenic weather today. Our blue skies were interrupted by intermittent drab cloud cover and rain showers. It didn't matter. Amsterdam is magical in any weather 

The RV park where we were staying at was across this waterway from Amsterdam. We had to ride a ferry to the city. This lower-than-sea-level scene was our first glimpse of Amsterdam.

This is the massive downtown square. Amsterdam has almost no car traffic. Between the trollies, bikes, scooters, and water taxis almost no one drives a car.

Marijuana and prostitution are legal in Amsterdam. Residents can purchase pot at local head-shops.

There are even marijuana cafes (coffeehouses) where you can partake openly - like drinking a beer at a tavern.

Even the graffiti is artistic.

Towers from the 1600s are commonplace.

A European tuk-tuk.

Big delivery trucks don't come near Amsterdam.

It's not unusual to see crooked buildings. Many European countries have strict laws about tearing down old buildings - basically, you can't. Buildings can be gutted on the inside, shored up, and rebuilt. The exterior, however, must stay original, even if leaning.

Water taxis are a great form of transportation. They lay low in the water to make it under all the low bridges.

Many houseboats line the canals. Families live in them.

This is the red light district. It doesn't look seedy at all. Prostitutes are protected from violence.

The 16th century Montelbaanstornen Tower that was part of Amsterdam's defensive wall. The clock and bells were added in 1603.

This gorgeously ornate building is the Amsterdam train station.

Wood-fired pizza!

Holland is famous for its cheese made from grass fed cow milk.

Our RV park is across the waterway from Amsterdam. European RV parks are often just gravel parking lots. Many cities have their own municipal RV parks. They may not be pretty, but they are often free or very cheap. REMEMBER: RVing in Europe isn't a wilderness experience like in America. In Europe, you RV to explore 2000-year-old historic cities. Try doing that in America.

VINTAGE VENTURES: The reason I write my travel journals is to be able to look back and remember our ventures. A secondary reason was to allow me to organize all my trip photos. I have thousands of photos. Organizing them into a travelogue made sense. The trick was to figure out how to organize all these photos and journals into a cohesive story. My early attempts failed miserably because I couldn't figure out how to meld photos and text into a structure that worked. It was when Wanda came across the Constant Contact format that allowed me to, not only develop a coherent story of our trips, but to be able to send them to friends, family, and anybody else that is interested.

It is my plan to take each of these early trips, which I call, Vintage Ventures, and collate them into Constant Contact. I hope you find some value in them, even though they are, well, vintage.

Dave and Wanda

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