Amster, dam look out!

After a record heat spell in Northern Europe, the weather finally started to change with the beginning of October, leaves were turning colors, sweaters were pulled out of our backpacks, and for a few days raincoats too.  So, naturally, after Belgium we decided it was a perfect time for a beach holiday on the North Sea.
For long distance travel we utilize the trains or buses, mainly Flixbus, which if booked in advance can be as low 5 euro.  It had worked well, until we tried to leave on a Flixbus on an early near freezing, very windy Friday morning out of Antwerp to The Hague, Netherlands.  Standing out on the street with loud construction nearby (actually, all of Belgium seemed to be under construction while we were there-it takes a lot of work to keep everything looking old and functioning), we waited and bonded with our group of fellow travelers heading north.  Soon, we all started getting texts indicating the bus would be an hour late, then two hours late, then 5 hours late, then a text do you want a refund-(yes, but we still haven't gotten it.) So, we rushed over to the train station to catch a much more expensive train, saying goodbye to the hardy few still deciding whether to wait it out.
Upon arriving in The Hague, which looked slightly more modern, but otherwise similarly clean and beautiful as everywhere we've visited. We walked 6 miles from the downtown through pristine neighborhoods,

wooded trails to the beach in Scheveningen.  We stayed at a Skotel, which was a hotel run by eager students from a nearby Hospitality School.

Each room was decorated with donated furniture from hotel chains. We got Euro-Disney Newport Harbor!

Still windy and cold, we headed for the beach.  It was just like Santa Monica (minus 40 degrees) a long strand of sandy beach with a pier, ferris wheel, shops, restaurants plus viewing an endless stream of freights and oil tankers crossing the North Sea.  It was great!

Amsterdam

We haven't looked up the statistics but thousands of tourists must be hit by bicycles in Amsterdam every year.  Everywhere, everyone is riding at top speeds on the streets.  Bike lanes adjacent to sidewalks filled with bikes and motorcycles buzzing past. Each step requires a full 360 degree look before proceeding.  Between the bikes, the crowds, trams, cars and the canals splitting every other street,  it is a horrible place to jaywalk ( a favorite hobby for which Nick has  been ticketed in LA).  The canals created originally for flood control, are equally crowded with both local small boats and tourist cruises.  Holland is obsessed with the fear of flooding and water control, rightly so, since the great storm flood of 1953 which killed a couple thousand people. We watched an incredible movie at the Rijksmuseum about the building of the dykes in Zeeland the lower portion Netherlands which suffered the big flood.

Amsterdam was the first place we had reservations about, but it eventually grew on us, somewhat.  Tourists (including us) everywhere, and because of the canals and bicycles we were all cordoned/herded into narrow sidewalks.  We didn't think it was a place we would want to live, because although very exciting and lively with pretty areas, and non stop fun; it felt like if you lived in Disneyland (Main Street adjacent, because that would be more affordable). The hordes of people were exhausting.

Of all the different areas of Amsterdam-Canal-land, Pot-land, Museum-land, Red district land, bicycle repair-land, and ER land, we mainly visited Museum-land, although Pot-land like "It's a small world" is hard to avoid. The smell of pot is ubiquitous, there was even pot smoking canal cruises (may be Amsterdam is the happiest place on earth).  Museum-land was special, but again crowded, not only tourists but students, which was great, because most were little kids (in museum issued lab coats) that were granted special access to pictures, necessary since  often hard to negotiate seeing pictures due to the crowds.
We visited the RijksMuseum, The Van Gogh Museum, and the Microbe Museum which showed how bacteria and fungus are everywhere, kind of like the tourists and makes you never want to touch or eat anything ever, again.

Housing was a challenge due to our spontaneous travel and the popularity of Amsterdam. With limited lodging choices,  we ended up at a B and B canal houseboat.  It was a different experience then what we have been doing so far, definitely enjoyed the ducks and swans swimming up to the windows.    The longer we were here, the more we ventured outside the central tourist core, the more we enjoyed Amsterdam.  However, we again suffered bad Mexican food, fooled by the name- the California Burrito Company.