Day 10 - Out of Amsterdam Sightseeing

Monday 5th September 2016
Sunrise 6:59am – Sunset 8:18pm

Weather Forecast:               22 & AM showers

Steps:                        13,423           9.26 km

I went to bed at 9:15 last night, after having a soak in the hot bath. Woke at 3:30am, rolled over and then woke again just before 5:30.  As we had to leave at 6:30 for the optional to the Aalsmeer Flower Auctions, I just got up then.

There were 10 of us doing the optional and we departed around 6:25am. Arrived out at Aalsmeer at 6:57, so only had to wait a very short time before they opened the doors.

Watching the flowers being zoomed around the floor was fascinating. 

There are some really beautiful flowers around.  

We could see some of the buyers in the auction room. 

Now days, a lot of the buying is also done on line and Sharon thinks that eventually, they might not hold the live auctions.  The pace of the buying was fast.

We departed there around 8:05 and didn’t get back to the hotel until just before 9am. Monday morning work traffic.

We headed out again at 9:45am. First up was our group photo and then a visit to the Rijks Museum. It’s had a major makeover since I visited back in 2002. It’s now so light and airy.  

I didn’t stay with the local guide and wandered by myself, although I could here what he was saying via the vox radios.

We departed there at 11:30 for our visit to Volendam.  
I didn’t do too much exploring there, as the local people were on the last day of a 4 day festival to celebrate the end of summer and the place was packed with bands playing and a lot of inerbriated people.

Had some delicious fish & chips for lunch though. After lunch we visited the Cheese & Clog place, for a demo of how they make clogs and a cheese tasting.

After that, we then came back to Amsterdam.  We headed out again at 5pm to take a cruise along the canals and we went along a few canals that I hadn’t done a cruise of before.  Lots of house boats along the canals.

After the cruise we then walked to a restaurant for our Farewell Dinner.  Delicious food.  We were back at the hotel just after 9pm.

While repacking the suitcase and getting things ready for my flight to Budapest tomorrow, I discovered that I appear to have lost my little change purse that had some Hungarian  & Croatian coins in it.  About $5.00 worth all up of foreign money BUT I also has about $60.00 Australian in there as well.  I can’t remember the last time I saw it.  I think it might have been back in Brussels.  Once I get to the hotel in Budapest, I’ll pull everything apart, to see if I can find it.  As I’m leaving the hotel tomorrow morning at 7:30 and it’s just after 11pm now, I need to go to bed.  I’ll edit this post tomorrow night and add some photo’s.

Oh, the weather was lovely today. No rain and very sunny.