Hello from Amsterdam!  We arrived yesterday and took the bus from the airport to our hotel.  The hotel is really nice (small, in a brownstone like building) and it's super close to a couple museums and the tram lines.  After settling in we headed to dinner and then a concert at the concert hall- I'm getting very musically cultured this trip!   We heard Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet (LOVED this one especially the harp and when the strings plucked) .  Also heard Strauss' First Horn Concerto (never heard a french horn played like that before) and it ended with Dvorak's Eights Symphony.  With all this exposure I may become a convert to a classical music.  I was so caught up I didn't once look at my watch to see what time it was!  :  )

Where the concert was played.

Today my friend Linda and I spent the day exploring.  We began early at the Rijksmuseum (art museum) so that we could be in line when it opened at 9 (it's practically in our backyard so we didn't have to leave tooo early).  The museum is housed in a building that is a masterpiece in and of it self. In side we followed the "90 minute highlights tour" with our audio guide.  We couldn't help but stop to see some of the other pieces not in the highlights but we still only scratched the surface.  We spent 2 hours and could have spent 2 days and barely seen/reflected on the pieces.  A couple of the more noteworthy pieces were a Van Gogh self portrait (we go to his museum tomorrow) Rembrandt's night watch and Milkmaid.

After the museum we headed to the flower market.  Tulips (and other flowers) galore.  I don't know if they would make it home and thrive so I resisted temptation.  I did enjoy seeing all the beautiful flowers.  We wandered for a bit taking in all the buildings/canals/people/etc.  Best way to spend the day!  We did go to the Anne Frank house but seeing the line curve around and down the whole block (as expected) we knew that it wasn't in the cards for that day (Linda asked someone towards the front of the line and they had been in line 2 hours).  It will be a reason to come back to Amsterdam.

 Traffic jam!  Watch out they will run you over!!

Church we found in the middle of a pedestrian walkway.

 church with an actual revolving door,not theoretical one  : )

 Bucket for kids to sit in.

 Parking is at a premium-even for  bikes

Since we'd been on our feet most of the day, we decided to get a snack and sit in the huge park not too far from the hotel and people watch- so great to sit, relax, reflect on the day and just chat.

When most of you read that I was in Amsterdam you probably thought of one thing...right?    The red light district?  Well, we went tonight. I had NO idea what to expect (a little but not really).  It's really a small area. A lot of the lights were on but curtains closed.  I was worried that I'd be walking around with my face redder then the light above the door but I have to tell you that with all the music videos/movies/tv/ people in magazines it really isn't all that shocking or sensational.  I think what is more sensational is that once again Chicago had a record number of killings over the 4th of July weekend- last reported 11 people killed. Here they are so appalled at our crime while many in the US would be appalled at the red light district.  Really, which should we be more concerned about?