Amsterdam - Haarlem - Arnhem
As a youngster I remember Amsterdam being the "Mecca" for weed lovers because it was legal and sold in "Coffee Shops" (not to mention their infamous "Red Light District"). As decimalization and legalization became prevalent in some of the American states, and cannabis stores became common (at least in the Seattle area), the thrill factor of a visit to Amsterdam lessened. In fact many of the locations on this tour were sites that I never even thought of visiting if they hadn’t been handed to us in this “best of Europe” package. Of course we did have to visit a Coffee Shop in Haarlem to see what all the fuss was about. We found it interesting that they offered cannabis mixed with tobacco as this seems to be a popular combination in the Netherlands.
To begin our trip we stayed one night in a nearby bed and breakfast prior to starting our tour and meeting the crew in the Hotel Lion d'Or. We enjoyed a local guide’s tour of Haarlem the day before we rode the train into Amsterdam.
To begin our trip we stayed one night in a nearby bed and breakfast prior to starting our tour and meeting the crew in the Hotel Lion d'Or. We enjoyed a local guide’s tour of Haarlem the day before we rode the train into Amsterdam.
Haarlem Photos & Slideshow
We were constantly amazed at the amount and variety of bicycles in both of these cities (they call them “Fiets”). Every time we crossed roads we’d yell out “Fiets!” if bikes were coming near us. Amsterdam was fun to explore and my pedometer said we walked around 17 miles that day! We had another local guide give us a tour of the city, and we got to take a boat cruise through some of the many canals, and visited the Rijksmuseum featuring Rembrandt paintings.
Amsterdam Photos & Slideshow
Leaving Haarlem we finally boarded our bus and met our illustrious driver Richard and his amazing collection of nice shoes. We were introduced to the buddy system, and were each assigned a “buddy” to locate whenever we got off and on the bus (to ensure that nobody got left behind). When we stopped at the Arnhem Open Air Museum we all gathered in a circle, and played the “name game” to help us memorize everyone’s name within our group.