Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a gorgeous city - far better than I expected it to be. The public transportation was excellent, but it was not used by many locals. This is because the city's infrastructure was created for bicyclists. The bicycle to car ratio is easily 100:1, probably much higher. In fact, many locals have four or five bikes, and leave them all over the city to be safe. 

Our pet ducks at the hostel: Franklin and Francine.

Our hostel was fantastic! It is located just a few minutes from a beautiful lake, and is just outside of Amsterdam. If you've ever been to Amsterdam and peered into a hostel, you would appreciate the difference. The ones located in the city are dark and dingy, and it appeared that people slept in the basement?

Tulips everywhere!

Only in Amsterdam would a bacon and apple pancake be considered delicious. By the way, anything referred to as "bacon" here is actually Canadian bacon.

I would argue that the canals of Amsterdam are prettier than those of Venice... They contain lots of plant life.

We spent well over three hours in the Van Gogh Museum. Unfortunately, they are strict about their "no camera" policy. The museum itself is the best I have ever been to.

Everything was so GREEN.

It was pure happenstance that we were finally able to get a picture without dozens of people surrounding/climbing this landmark.

They had parking lots and garages just for bikes.

I would choose to live in one of these.

NEMO - It was quite an amazing science museum, especially for kids.

Classic...