Amsterdam and Volendam

After a nice breakfast we all got on the bus and we went to the Diamond Factory. We decided not to do the little tour and went for a walk and took some photos of Amsterdam life...

 Its all about bikes and crooked buildings! You certainly have to make sure you are not walking on the cycle paths as they are very busy and they don't like to stop for you. We watched this bridge open and close with "bike" traffic lights...

 Love these buildings...

 So many bikes everywhere...

We made our way to the markets and had fun buying a few bits and pieces but didn't get anything from this stall...

 Back onto the bus and we headed out of Amsterdam for a nice drive to visit Rolland. He was going to show us how his windmill works.

 I asked him if his cloggs were comfortable - silly question to a Dutch person who has worn them all his life! He responded by asking if my shoes were comfortable and wanted to compare them. Apparently the soft wood the cloggs are made from moulds to your foot shape as you wear them thats why they become very comfortable...

Rolland in the background - me with his clog

The inside of the windmill was an amazing setup as were the stories he told of the history and how they work...

We got to climb to the top inside...

 They look very picturesque in the pretty countryside...

We then travelled to the coastal town of Volendam. I loved all the little cottage houses. Bob told us that we should notice all the very very clean front windows on the houses. They are like that to encourage people to look into their homes as their furniture is their status symbol... 

 We had some free time to wander around and have some lunch and enjoy the lovely atmosphere. I also managed to find a little fabric shop and bought myself some dutch fabric...

 We then moved onto a cheese making demonstration and had a taste test...

And then a clog  making demonstration

 Back into Amsterdam

Looked out my window and saw the "Seed" shop was open...

 We had a bit of free time so we went for a walk to get some photos of these buildings along the canals...

 This looks like a car for Janelle...

Multi-story bike racks... 

 We then went on a boat ride along the canals before stopping for a lovely meal at a restaurant...

My entree - Goats cheese salad

Bob then took us for a stroll down the well known "Red Light District". It was very interesting with many unusual shops and it did feel a bit strange looking at the "girls" behind the glass windows waiting for their clientele...

 One last thing to do for the day was go and have some photos in this clog and look through the window of the fabric shop Aunty Carol had told me to visit  which happened to be closed the day we were there...

A fun and busy day.