Starting the winter travel season in Northern Europe ..

in the company of CAMarchand.

First stop: Amsterdam.

Probably the most wealthy city in the world during the Golden age of the Dutch, in the 1600’s.  Capitalism was rooted here with the invention of joint shares and the world’s first stock exchange.

Today the old city center with its canals is a World Heritage site, more or less still as the city was in the mid 1800’s.  And it is visited by millions of tourists each year. 

Mainly the canals are lined with thousands of old trading houses since the Amsterdam Dutch traded in almost any commodity saleable, from the new world to Japan.

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Tulips, forever popular and once a mania are still for sale.

There are still some older buildings but mainly churches and the remnants of fortifications. There are no palaces or royal buildings since the Netherlands has been a republic since the end of the Orange wars.

Today commerce in the city seems to be dominated by steak houses, cheese shops, and pastry shops.

And Cannabis. The coffee shops and head shops cater to the users who puff away everywhere.

In the morning the city smells like sugar and cannabis. In the afternoon like grilling hamburgers and cannabis.

The museums are not up to London standards, but excellent.  The renovation of the old Rijks Museum is complete and it has reopened and is gorgeous.  We were lucky to be here for a special exhibition contrasting Spanish and Dutch artists of the Rembrandt era.

We are off to London next week and will keep in touch. Thanks for coming along.