A Lovely Day in Amsterdam... Sunday, February 7

No luggage was lost - the hotel shuttle was on time - the rooms were ready - Bill was waiting - so off we went to explore Amsterdam. It was a cold and dreary day but even the grey weather could not prevent this city from showing off its charm and beauty! What a lovely city - beautiful old apartment buildings and small shops and cafés set on narrow streets that line the many canals. With a population of 700,000 people (LA is 9.8 million) Amsterdam is the most bike friendly city in the world. Bikes are everywhere. Car traffic is minimal - first of all there is no where to park even if you had a car, and why bother since there exists a very reliable and efficient public transportation system with busses, street trams, and a huge train station.

Our first stop (by tram) was the RijksMuseum - a huge art museum with the largest collection of classic Dutch art, showcasing many well known Rembrandts including "Nightwatch". Since the museum is under a huge renovation (only a small part was open), the featured collection was paintings by Hendrick Avercamp, a 16th century Dutch painter who was mute and deaf. He painted the most beautiful very tiny and detailed winter scenes full of people ice skating and gathering on the frozen rivers.

Next we jumped into a tram and headed over for a tour of Anne Frank's home. The Secret Annexe is now a "living museum". It was very moving to walk through the rooms as passages from Anne Frank's diary lined the walls, and TV screens showed her father Otto Frank (the only survivor) sharing his memories. The Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May of 1940 and over 100,000 Dutch Jews were sent to concentration camps - only 5,000 survived. Tragically, Anne died only 2 weeks before the war was over and she would have been released from Bergen-Belsen.

After a dinner of tomato soup and spinach quiche at a corner pub, we decided to call it a day. I was starting to get zzzzz.... We hopped in a taxi and Bill told the driver "On the way back to the hotel, if there's anything we missed, drive by and show us". So he first drove us through the famous Red Light District, called De Wallen, where prostitution is legal. If you see a window displaying a red shining light, that means it is open for business! Some of these windows had the scantily dressed ladies standing in front "encouraging" you to pay a visit. Apparently the Chamber of Commerce is worried as the number of brothels for various reasons are on the decline, and they are a huge source of tax income for the city.

The taxi driver also drove us by a few of the over 300 coffee shops where you can buy marijuana legally (up to 5 grams per person). Due to this law, he told us, drugs, gangs, and the violence that come with them are very low (although I saw a LOT of very colorful graffiti everywhere).

Tomorrow we meet up at the airport with fellow climbers Frank Baxter and his brother in law Reid, Jim Marver, and our 2 guides Kurt Wedburg and Sara, and together we all board a 10 hour flight south to Kilimanjaro! Finally!!!

Did you know: * Dutch people are the tallest people in the world with an average height of 6'1" (the average American is 5'10"). * The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in the world. * There are over 1,000 working windmills in Holland (I hope we see one tomorrow!)