Amsterdam The Vasilik family visit Amsterdam!
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The first thing you notice in Amterdam is there are bicycles everywhere! | | There are parking structures dedicated to bicycles. |
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We frequently saw a mom or dad with two kids on their bike, with a setup like this: | | A whole family can ride this one! |
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Bikes tended to be very "old school". No gears (the terrain is flat). Usually no hand brakes. And, we were told that "nice" bikes stood out and would be a target of theft. | | The building with the awnings was our hotel: Hotel de Munck. Expensive, old, primitive. Very nice receptionist. He even lent us his personal power adaptor the first night after we discovered none of ours would work. |
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Everywhere there are special bike lanes. You have to be careful not to wander into them. | | In the nearby park, we found what looked like an old felled tree, but it really was made out of metal! |
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A special track for walking your bike up the steps. | | A "coffeeshop". We never actually went in one but they were everywhere. |
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Plus lots of places selling paraphernalia. | | Healthy snacks. |
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Dam Square. | | There were a lot of "performers" in the square. These weren't the standard "living statues", they were very low rent and low skill. |
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Later there was a protest against China concerning an "East Turkistan". | | Here, the cops seem to be checking their credentials. |
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We took a the standard canal tour. Nice to sit for a while. | | A canal boat turning around. |
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We saw Booking.com alongside one of the canals. They're a big competitor of Expedia. | | The old locks to the inner city. Now obsolete because of another set of locks covering a wider area. |
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There were ships like these which are floating hotels. | | New construction. The one second from the right is the new library. Very nice. |
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When we visited the library, we saw this Mouse Mansion | | From the top floor of the library |
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Floating Chinese restaurant. | | Houseboats everywhere. |
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| | Evidently, the city limits the number of houseboats to about 2,500. |
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On the Amstel river | | Famous view where up to as many as 7 bridges can be seen at once. |
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Distinctive architecture. | | Many buildings have a hoist to bring goods up and down ... |
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| | ... because the stairs in these buildings are not great for hauling things up and down. |
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We went to a park where we saw a number of groups working out. | | A cool swing desinged for as many as three swingers. |
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The kids liked getting pushed in this as well. | | There must have been a super heros convention in town. |
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We visited NEMO, a childrens science museum. | | One of the demostrations was a giant Rube Goldberg setup. |
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What is a science museum without bubbles? | | The Easter Bunny also visited! |
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The kids had fun searching for their Easter treasures around the hotel room. Kenny wasn't buying that the Easter Bunny actually brought the presents, until I told him he had to at least pretend to believe, in order to get some loot. | | On Easter Sunday, we went to the Zoo. The line was huge. While waiting on line we saw this unusal urinal. |
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| | Fun playgrounds at the zoo. |
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The elusive Patagonian Cavy. | | A news crew filming zoo stuff. |
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In this case, kids were invited to turn over eggs with their noses, simulating what birds need to do. | | Prairie dogs. |
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Good climbing on this! | |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2623.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2694.jpg) | | | Peter discovered how to make wings out of his jacket |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2629.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2635.jpg) | There was an aquarium at the zoo as well. Here they have a simulation of an Amsterdam canal and the things and fish you might find there. | |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2636.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2643.jpg) | The piranas were a big hit. | | Lion Fish. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_mvi_2663.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2666.jpg) | Creepy fish things. | | Nemo! |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2680.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2686.jpg) | Kenny and Peter try to tempt butterflys onto their hands. In the background, this poor three year old fell into a pond. | | I'm sure glad cows don't fly! A bird dropped a present on me. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2696.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2700.jpg) | Eric spins Kenny and another child at the playground. | | A walkway for chimps to go from their exibit to their sleeping quarters. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2701.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2704.jpg) | It turns out that a newborn chimp died very recently. | | It took several days for the mother to mourn the loss of the baby, here on the floor of the enclosure. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2712.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2719.jpg) | I thought there were really small cars in Geneva. They get even smaller in Amsterdam! | | The weather wasn't that great, so on Saturday we went to TunFun, a play space which was built underneath an overpass. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_mvi_2716.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2729.jpg) | There was a slide with about a 5 foot free fall at the beginning | | Looks like there is some cleanup needing to be done. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2732.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2735.jpg) | Trams pass right over the playspace. | | A bowling alley. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2739.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2743.jpg) | Bouncy house. | | Indoor soccer court |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2733.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2751.jpg) | The before picture. | | We went on a pancake cruise around the harbor. This is a 50's soviet submarine. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2769.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2773.jpg) | Windmills all over the place. | | We met Nora and her two children on the Cruise. Very friendly. She answered a lot of our questions about Holland. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_0247.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2774.jpg) | Peter and mom on the pancake cruise | | Family portrait a la mirror. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2779.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2782.jpg) | This is how recycling is picked up. | | Kenny and Peter "reading" comics while we are at a coffee shop (not that kind of coffee shop!). |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2785.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2792.jpg) | Pretty picture. | | There was a long line for the Anne Frank House - too long for us. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2787.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2794.jpg) | | | This is the actual house. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_2803.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_0251.jpg) | Herring is popular. | | We visited the "Cat Boat" where there are some permanent residents, and others who are up for adoption. |
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| ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_0252.jpg) | | ![](/Pictures/2012/04-05-2012-amsterdam/gallery_img_0264.jpg) | | | On the flight back, we met a father and his four children (!) traveling back to Switzerland. We let the kids sit together. | | |