European Escapade Page 4 of 12

	Unfortunately, it was overcast and RAINY the entire time we were in Holland. Our visit to this WINDMILL was no exception. Never having seen a windmill, we were quite surprised to discover that this one was...		...more than 160 years old. However, as pointed out in this photo by the owner/operator (note his wooden shoes!), the interior ORIGINAL wood appeared almost NEW. The exterior thatch covering, however, had been replaced a number of times over the years.
	Lena climbed to the top of the windmill and took this photo of the surrounding dikes and ditches. Steve was quite impressed to learn that this ancient windmill was capable of pumping more than 28,000 GALLONS/MINUTE of water using ONLY the force...		...of the wind on the wooden blades of the windmill. This style of manually-operated windmill, however, has declined from several thousand to less than 200 in Holland as electric, metal-bladed models have come into vogue. Steve took this photo under overcast skies...
	...while this commercial photo depicts the same windmill's appearance under sunny skies during the spring time.		Our cruise around the canals of Amsterdam would have been great IF it had not been raining. It would be well worthwhile to revisit Amsterdam just to be able to see this beautiful city in decent weather.
	With different weather, these gabled houses along the streets overlooking the canals as well as the thousands of boats and houseboats tied up along the sides of the canals would be a photographer's paradise.We were told that thousands of people live permanently...		...in houseboats because they cannot afford to rent an apartment. This is an interesting old draw-bridge that is still in use.
	A quiet, serene view of a canal (after the rains temporarily stopped) just before sunset.		For dinner, we visited a famous floating Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam where we enjoyed an extensive multi-course meal.
	This was that floating restaurant as seen from the water as our cruise boat approached the dock.		After Chinese food, what more PERFECT thing to do than visit the 'RED LIGHT' district for which Amsterdam is so infamous? This poster on a building was a great introduction to our walking tour past countless drug shops, live sex shows, and prostitutes posing in windows.
	Amsterdam has a very liberal attitude towards drugs and they are readily available in many of the 'coffee houses' in this area. Also, prostitution and live sex on stage is obviously legal as can been seen in these advertisements outside...		...the establishments in this area. No matter what your particular taste (peep shows, live sex, animal sex, bondage, teenage sex, lesbian sex, homosexual sex, etc.), the odds are that you WILL find whatever turns you on in this incredibly wide-open city!
	And, of course, the selection of SEX TOYS far surpassed the imagination of even Steve (who only thought he had seen everything in the Far East in his earlier years).		We will always remember our Amsterdam hotel with this attached croissant shop and a room which overlooked a canal. It was SO SMALL that once we got our luggage into the room, we had to open the room door and climb on the bed to get around the room!
	From Amsterdam [SEE MAP], our tour went past Arnhem into Germany and stopped in Cologne where we saw this famous Gothic Cathedral. This is how the Cathedral appears in tourist photos...		...and this is how it appeared under the continuing rainy shies which followed us into Germany. Also, it was at this point that Steve came down with a severe case of the flu brought on by being wet and being in the direct flow of the bus's air conditioning. (Steve suffered a high fever and chills for more...
	...than 3 days before he got better. As such, he really 'enjoyed' very little of the Rhineland or Switzerland!) From Cologne, we drove through Rhineland (Germany) to Boppard where we boarded this boat for a cruise along the Rhine.		The 2-hour cruise along the Rhine river took us past many, many medieval castles and ancient vineyards on the steep slopes of the rugged hills alongside the Rhine.
	Some of these castles (like this one) displayed partial ruins...		...while others had been repaired and appeared as they might have looked hundreds of years ago when they were built. The towns along the river bank also complimented the overall scenic view.
	This is a shot of one castle showing the river-side homes/town below along the water.		And this is a telephoto shot of the same castle showing tourists visiting the facility.
	It seemed as if each new castle around the next bend in the river appeared to be more impressive than the previous ones.		When viewed up close, one can only wonder how many rooms/how much square footage these castles represented. And, one would not even want to ask HOW MUCH they are worth in today's dollars...or what it costs to heat and maintain them!
	Just when you think you had 'seen them all,' this MONSTER appeared which covered the entire hillside. (At this point, we were about 'castled-out' for the day.)		While Steve was running a fever and not feeling at all brilliant, he did enjoy the Rhine cruise and the opportunity to see this incredibly beautiful area. We disembarked the cruise boat at St. Goar.
	We visited a hotel and souvenir shop in the Black Forest at Breitnau, Germany, which has the world's LARGEST CUCKOO CLOCK. On the hour, 'life-size' figurines come through the doors and waltz to music as they cross the balcony and enter the other side.		This is the same souvenir shop/cuckoo clock as seen in a commercial photo taken during nice weather when it was not raining. (Yes, the rains CONTINUED to follow us on our Trafalgar tour through Germany and Switzerland!)