Amsterdam, part IV

There are certainly lots of sights to see in Amsterdam. We enjoyed shopping near the Dam, the main square in the downtown area. TONS of people out; and a major Dutch dept store was having their once a year sale - we went in there and it was a madhouse. ha ha. There was a beautiful floral display on the Dam itself. The picture with all the pigeons in it is of the Royal Palace, which is right on Dam Square. We also visited a flea market, and attempted to see the Red Light district and coffee house district. We did see the coffee houses, where they have a cannabis menu along with the food menu! It is very much in the open but the drug scene isn't what you expect - it is there if you want it but you have to be looking for that specifically. It isn't in your face. We had walked almost to the red light district when Michael had to go to the bathroom. So, there ya go - foiled by a 3 yr old. ha ha. We did manage to make it to the flower market though! We also saw lots of houseboats - that is a way to afford living here, as apts and houses are so expensive, especially the canal houses. There are so many houseboats, the city has suspended issuing any more permits. Check out this parking garage near the train station - it's for BIKES. Yep, there are that many bicycles - you can see them in every picture nearly! And that doesn't even show how many we were nearly run down by........The large red building used to be a church. At one time, the Dutch were changing their thoughts on religion but instead of tearing down the beautiful churches, they kept them and turned them into office buildings, or other things. Interesting.