Ambling Around Amsterdam

The people at the hotel are very helpful. We got a wake-up call at 7 and got dressed to go down to breakfast. The scooter charger was green before we unplugged it. But we could NOT get it out of the room. So I called reception and asked for help. Two bellmen came up and one of them said his wife had a scooter like it. Between them they managed to get it out of the room. One of them also looked at the phone's blinking light (which indicated that we had a message even when we did not) and tried to get it to turn off. But at the end he couldn't fix it so he said - that's the way that phone is.

So we went down to breakfast. It was a buffet and my granddaughter got me two rolls with chocolate inside, scrambled eggs, and sausage links (more links than I needed but she didn't hear me say that was enough) I got water. Then she got herself more or less the same except she got juice. She didn't like the links - she said they weren't cooked enough. I wore my hat and had the plastic rain poncho in the scooter basket as it said it was going to rain And we went to meet the guide for the walking tour - this was only a couple blocks away. We were a little early.

Granddaughter waiting for tour guide

Market Wizards B.V. where we were to meet the guide

Beursplain construction

Beurs van Berlage clock tower

The first place we went was Beurspassage. The mosaic art adorning the barrel-vaulted ceiling, the chandeliers, the mirrored walls and the granite floor tell a visual story about Amsterdam and its canals, and about the relationship between humans and water.

Ceiling Beurspassage

Trilobite on floor of Beurspassage

Beurspassage fish fountain

Wall of Beurspassage

Amsterdam symbol

The guide was an American with a visa to work in the Netherlands because he had a Dutch girl friend who was an anesthesiologist. He said my granddaughter looked like his girlfriend when she was little. He gave us a nice 3 hour walking tour -

Statues on Town Hall

Neptune Frieze Royal Palace Town Hall Amsterdam with gold unicorn horns

Town Hall

De Nieuwe Kerk

Corner of the New Church

Cookie bar- free standing-not part of the church

The National Monument on Dam Square (Dutch: Nationaal Monument or Nationaal Monument op de Dam), Amsterdam, is a 1956 World War II monument in the Netherlands

Madame Tussaud

Munt Tower

orphans depicted in a fake window on the wall

Former orphanage door

Nun statue

Bust of Kardinaal van Rossun

Begijnhof (courtyard in nun's community)

English Reformed Church

Rembrandt Square

Rembrandt statue

Night Watch statues

Granddaughter with the Night Watch statue

it did rain some but we went into a covered area in a mall for the 15 minutes that took.

VW sculpture in the mall

Leaning buildings

a 15th-century building on Nieuwmarkt square in Amsterdam. It was originally a city gate and part of the walls of Amsterdam. The building has also served as a guildhall, museum, fire station and anatomical theatre, among other things

'In de Ionghe Hoede Kramer' (Young Hat Seller) Old shop with 17th century gablestone

Red light district down that alley

Jug in the window of the Monkey Bar

Older buildings have smaller bricks

Delft store

Logo on the Blue Delft store

Doelen Hotel-the oldest hotel in Amsterdam. Rembrandt lived here for a period of time and painted the Nightwatch in a room on the third floor.

Swan in a canal

He asked my granddaughter what was her favorite subject in school and she said "Art". If I had known that I would have gone to one of the museums. The scooter quickly went from all charged down to two bars and I was worried about it so he ended the tour at our hotel. I did not know whether to tip him as most people I've tried to tip have said no. So in the end, I didn't. But I think now I should have done.

We went back to the room but could not get the scooter into the room. A lady who was in the hall with a clipboard helped us- she actually lifted the back end of the scooter to get it straight at the door and we put it to charge again. We tried to get lunch at the hotel restaurant but it was closed. I forgot that there were sandwiches down in the lobby, but we ate my leftover pizza from last night's dinner.