Amsterdam

I'm learning a lot more about the Netherlands, and went to the capital (and largest city) -Amsterdam. It reminds me so much of New York City, although it's much much older. There are so many people there of different nationalities, speaking different languages, I felt quite comfortable. Lots of Americans there too. I didn't really care too much about visiting the red light district or marajuana shops, but may go back to do that in the future. The architecture and the way people live is much more interesting to me. They put a cap on the number of houseboats that are allowed to 'dock' in the city - since the 1980's only 2500 houseboats are allowed. Everything is expensive - food, clothing, housing, cars, etc. Actually, to compare it to New York, it is more expensive in many ways than my hometown. For some reason, I assumed Europe would be less expensive than the US, but I have found the opposite to be true.

The fashions, particularly women's fashion is also very different than Los Angeles and what I'm used to. I'm planning on going soon over to Germany, and I'll see if that's different still than the Netherlands.
Lots of warehouses with their distinctive large many-storied doors have now been converted into living spaces. I can imagine this would make for a fabulous apartment...

A replica of a old sailing ship - just looks cool.
Just a small part of a huge garage for bicycles. How they ever find their bike again is a Dutch mystery to me.

Both their house and their porch floats on the water. How cool is that? I'm told that the water does not freeze in the winter. From what I've seen, the climate is quite mild. There are locks, and even their harbor is fresh water - and they aren't affected by tides, which makes for smooth sailing and easy living (provided you can afford it.)