Volume 17 - Day 174/191, 2025 - Monday

Amstel. Amstel River. Amstel River Dam. Amstel Dam. Amsterdam. So, now you know how the name came about. Mike and I started the day with breakfast in the hotel, and we met up with Paulina and Oliover about 10 o'clock. We did some walking around the city, and then headed back to the hotel, and Paulina and Oliver took off again and did some shopping. We met up again at 2:30 and did a cruise on the Amstel. I did not know that houses in Amsterdam, many of them anyway, lean to the side and can also lean to the front. They lean to the side because they are built on wood pilings, and the pilings rot over time and cause the houses to lean. They lean forward, because the houses are very narrow and they hoist furniture and other items into the homes because the stairs are very steep and narrow because the houses themselves are so narrow. The homes were (not sure if they still are) taxed bsed on how wide the homes were, not necessarily how large they were. There you have your new information for the day. We went to dinner, then walked around the red light district, then had some ice cream. It is 8:45 now in Amsterdam, and our transportation to the airport tomorrow will pick us up at 5:15AM. Off to Geneva. More later.