September 24, 2025–Amsterdam, Netherlands

On Sunday we flew non-stop from Atlanta to Amsterdam to begin our three week “European Extravaganza.”  Yes, I am flat out of inventive names for this trip. My apologies. We spent the first night in a hotel and then yesterday afternoon we boarded the Envision, a river boat that will take us down the Rhine for the next seven days.  As you all probably know by now, I have conflicted feelings about river cruises.  On the plus side they stop right at a city center and you can easily hop off the boat and enjoy walking around and seeing the sights and sounds.  Also, you don’t spend days at sea with nothing to look at but the bounding main.  On the negative side you are up close and personal with the other 148 people on board.  Everyone is always there—breakfast, lunch, dinner, the tours, etc. Some people are very loud. It’s a lot.  So, we will see how it goes.

Amsterdam is a fascinating city.  It’s the capital of the Netherlands and has more than 62 miles of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges.  The three main canals—Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht—were dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age and form concentric belts around the city.  The purpose of the canals is to manage the city’s marshy land, control water levels and provide transportation.  At one time they also served as a defense, acting as a moat around the city.  About 25% of the Netherlands is below sea level and protected by an extensive system of dikes, dams, and windmills.  Below is an aerial view of the city.

We walked around Amsterdam all afternoon after we arrived, and it was amazing. So much great architecture.

Yesterday we took a tour to Zaanse Schans, which is an open air museum that features traditional Dutch buildings, historic windmills, and artisan workshops for cheese, wood clogs and so forth.  It’s sounds a bit kitschy but it was really pretty cool.  For instance, I did not know that windmills in the Netherlands were historically used to pump water for land drainage and reclamation, as well as for a variety of industrial processes like grinding grain, sawing wood, making paint and pigments, and producing paper and oil.  The windmill we visited was De Kat, the world’s last working paint mill, which grinds raw materials like minerals and chalk into pigments for traditional, artisanal paints. Large chisels pound raw materials and then crush them into a fine powder with huge grinding stones, and it’s all done with wind.

I am not easily shocked, but I when we were walking around Amsterdam the first day, the Red Light District, or De Wallen, was truly shocking.  I was aware there was such a thing, but I guess I didn’t know exactly how it worked.  It consists of a network of alleys containing approximately 300 one-room cabins or booths rented by prostitutes who offer their sexual services from behind a window or glass door.  Typically the rooms are illuminated with red lights.  When the booth is closed, there’s a red velvet curtain pulled over the glass.  If it’s open for business, the prostitute poses and cavorts in front of the glass.  I don’t need to go into more detail, but both prostitution and nudity are legal in Netherlands, so it was appalling in that “hard to look away” manner.  As my Dad used to say, “Mercy!” Sorry, no photos.

Today we visited a medieval castle, Muiderslot, which was built in the 13th century. It was the real deal with a moat, murder holes, and turrets. In case you are wondering what a murder hole is, it’s a hole or narrow opening hole in the wall of a gateway or passageway in the castle through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling oil on the dummies who tried to swim the moat and get into the castle. Quite a deterrent, I would say. Also, they threw their sewage and waste in the moat, so you would have to be one desperate marauder to want to take on the siege of a castle.

Quick fact: Holland is not a country, it’s a province in the Netherlands. Actually, two provinces—North Holland and South Holland. Heading to Cologne, Germany this evening.