Our first steps in Europe

The morning started early as planned, we were on the bus at 5:00 am local time. We drove to Dover where I saw the white cliffs for the first time in my life,  Barb has been here before traveling to Paris but it is all new to me from this point.  The trip across the English Channel was good, the weather was good, not much wind so the seas were pretty calm, which we appreciated.

We landed in Calais France. You may have heard recently of the problem with the immigrants fleeing to get away from the fighting going on over there with ISIS and they have found their way to France and are trying to sneak in through the Euro Tunnel to get to Britain.  It is a pretty serious problem right now and we saw an area of where they have created their own little camp. It is really sad to see.

We drove through France, then through Belgium to the Netherlands.  Our guide on our tour is from New Brunswick and Barb and I are the only other Canadians on this tour.  We have a young lady from Shanghai, and the rest are from Australia except for three couples from New Zealand.  They are all very nice people and already we are having a great time.

We arrived in Amsterdam around 4:00 pm, we are now on European Time, 6 hours ahead of Ontario. Tonight we had a dinner cruise through the canals of Amsterdam and what a site. Apparently I have broken the ice, inadvertently, I told Sofia, our Tour Director and guide that I had an allergy to nuts as most of you reading this know. I'm okay around any form but cannot ingest them, so as the cruise started she came down the middle of the boat pointing out the special requirements of this group to the waiter,  This lady likes gluten free, the Sikh couple do not eat pork and we have someone who is vegetarian, Then Sofia asks where is Dave with no nuts!!!  I believe that I may get a new name tag tomorrow,

The buildings seen from the many canals here in Amsterdam are wonderful to see, the two above are significant. The bottom picture is the home where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazi's and the church above she wrote about in her diaries saying that the church bells were her only link to the outside world. They are very close to one another.

Along the canals are house boats that are now permanent, some are really incredible and are permanent residences that can sell for the same amounts and a condo in Downtown Toronto if not more.

It is gay pride week here this week and Saturday is the big floating parade through the canals of Amsterdam. It would be great to see but unfortunately we will not be here on Saturday.

Tomorrow we travel to a diamond factory and a place where they make the wooden clogs here in the Netherlands, then off to a local home / restaurant for a traditional Dutch dinner.  We have a couple of hours of free time in the late afternoon where we might look around the main city core before dinner then we are going to the Red Light District after dinner with another couple from down under to explore. If you are in Amsterdam, we think that we just have to see this famous area.

It is  9:45 pm, Barb is already asleep and I'm going to bed as well. It was a very long day, but we enjoyed every minute. I think we have chosen the right tour for what we wanted, at least based on day 1.  28 more to go!!!