Day one of my trip to Amsterdam with my wife…

(Pics left to Right:  View of a canal from near hotel, cool random building with architect that’s a lot different than what you will find in the states, street art mosaic pillar, cool green room in hotel)

Spent the first day in Amsterdam: caught up on sleep from the drastic time zone difference and a very restless red eye flight. Walked a total of around 6 miles around the area where we were staying, and tried out a couple random local eateries for food and drink, without over doing it on day one.

My day one impressions:  I love the sleek sense of style with everything from the architecter to the cars and clothes, and the hotel we are staying in.  This place has a serious sense of environmental awareness and sustainability from the foot and bike traffic outnumbering the car traffic to the cars themselves with most of them being of the electric and deseil variety.  Friendly, safe, and casual feel to the city, at least in the area we are staying in.  Everything seems smaller and more compact than in the states, from the apartment buildings to the cars they drive.  This place has an obvious love for the arts.  Finally, it’s a beautiful city with beautiful people but gloomy, cloudy and rainy weather which I find ironic since there is a lot of water and boat travel and the trademark is flowers. Maybe it’s just me but I associate those things with sunny weather.