17-AUG - Best 'Dam Town

Typical Amsterdam...bicycles, canals, boats and buildings.

Amsterdam was our first stop of the cruise.  We had to go through Customs getting off the ship, so got an early start to be sure we made it.  We chose to walk (about 1.5 miles) from the cruise terminal to the Anne Frank House, where we had tickets for 10:00.  What a mess!  There were hordes lined up, but by the time our slot came around, the line was much better.  We thought the museum was very well laid out.  It was small and crowded (and pictures were not allowed), but they had a decent traffic flow.  It struck us how this one young girl avoided obscurity only for a few small things, and while her story is important, it calls to mind the millions of other people who suffered in WWII and so many wars before and after, but are nameless in history.
Something that struck me (Theresa) was that, at the end of the exhibit, they had a book of the 103,000 Netherland Jews who were killed during WWII. There were actually 4 Anne Frank's listed in that book.

Somehow the buildings are not all plumb!

McShrimp and McCrocet?

After the museum, we headed over to the Heineken Experience (another 1.5 mile walk).  We interrupted the long walk with a short stop and a curious bite to eat.  Of course, we had to try something new and different.

During our walk, we came across a store window with a phrase we might need to adopt!

I think we have our "Family Slogan"!

There is beer here!!

On to Heineken!  This was the place where Heineken brewed and bottled from 1867 to about 1988 or so.  We have been to a variety of breweries, so we had sort of mundane expectations.  As a “brewery” tour, it wasn’t very impressive.  But they added a lot of glitz and flair, so it was a good “show”.  Partway through the tour, they gave us each a half glass of beer.  There were numerous interactive displays, so we could take silly pictures and have them emailed to ourselves, etc.  At the end, we had two tokens for a full beer each.  What better way to enjoy a vacation than with free beer before one’s coworkers even get into work for the day?  When I went up for my second beer, for some reason she filled two glasses and said, “Here are your two beers!”  Well, ok!

Fries, anyone??

 We finally headed to our next stop…a place lauded as “the best French fries in the world!”  Eh (Sorry ATM).  3 beers notwithstanding, the fries were good, but not great!

We wandered the area and headed back to the ship in time for our 5PM Trivia Contest (and the 5PM all aboard deadline!).  We won the trivia contest but equally importantly, our new friends from Scotland brought me a proper Scotch (McCallen) to assure I would not show up with another Irish Whisky.

I think he could look at himself forever!!

We ate in the Italian restaurant (in lieu of the main dining room).  So many courses!!  In between, we hopped up to check the progress of the locks (since Amsterdam is below sea level, they have locks to block the ocean from the city).  And then capped off the night with a show with 6 singers and dancers.  Oh joy.  Singing.  Dancing.  But we capped off the night with nearly 17,000 steps (7 miles) so we think that burned off some of the excess beer and such!

Leaving Amsterdam to return (up) to "sea level".

All "locked" up!