Day Two - Amsterdam

So, day one was a write off - with the time change and long flight, we had just enough energy for a walk to the amazing library, had lunch on the 7th floor over looking the port and came back to our hotel, checked in and crashed.  We are at the Movenpick Hotel - just amazing.  They have an energy saving concept I have never heard of before - when swipe into your room, you insert your card in the electricity panel and that is how your lights turn on.  When you take your card out to leave, all electricity is cut off. Unique!

Anyway, today we took a walking tour of the city centre.  We saw some incredible architecture and learned a lot about Amsterdam.  There are many leaning buildings here - they are slowly sinking and shifting because they are built on sand.  I didn't realize how many canals there are here - I thought Venice was the canal capital but Amsterdam has over 100kms of canals.  We took a canal cruise this afternoon where was saw the city from another angle.  Lined up many of the canals are houseboats that are year-long homes to many residents.  After the cruise, we navigated the tram system and went to the Van Gogh museum where we saw the famous originals of Vincent, Edvard Munch and Paul Gaugin - fascinating.

Finished the day off with a nice steak dinner and a pitcher of Heineken - cheaper than coffee! :)  Back at our hotel, munching Tylenol and resting to start over again tomorrow.