We had a great start for the day. We ate adobo and garlic fried rice for breakfast and again courtesy of our kababayan cook and servers. The ship docked at about 10:30 am and off immediately to our excursion exploring the windmills and canals of Amsterdam. The city is flat and has no hills and mountains. It is about 12 feet below sea level, hence the dikes and dams around it. In fact, its name originated from the dams around the Amstel river. It has a population of 840,000 but with a higher number of bicycles at 890,000. This indicates that it is car unfriendly and means that it is very expensive to own a car in Amsterdam. A huge part - a third of the country is reclaimed land and this reclamation began mostly during the glory days of Dutch history in the 17th century. We proceeded to a windmill village where we saw how the windmill works and how the Dutch clogs are manufactured. And again, we had a taste of Dutch hot chocolate with light and crispy pancakes. The highlight of the day was the canal cruise around Amsterdam. We saw along the route the museum of bags and purses, St. Nicholas Church, flee market, Anne Frank's house and many more. We came back to the ship late in the afternoon. After resting a bit, we watched a show on Rock Stars while the rest of the group decided to walk to the city center. The red light district was also nearby where you could see ladies of the night in aquarium like compartments. Some are very young and it is difficult not to feel for them. We had late dinner and listening to good music capped the day for everyone
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