Whatever the weather....to Amsterdam

Wednesday 14-10-15  
It finally happened. After all our travelling in what has been beautiful weather, it finally deserted us today but in saying that there was a bonus. We left our Rhine Valley town in Germany early in the morning in light rain. It was also pretty cold but that did not worry us on the coach. After and hour or so the rain had changed to snow and we were driving through beautiful scenery of freshly fallen snow on trees and in nearby paddocks. It was so pretty!
On our journey to Amsterdam we stopped off at a farm and were treated to a great demonstration of clog making. These strange Dutch shoes used to be made by hand but now they are made by machine. The wood used is poplar. It was so entertaining as the farmer demonstrating was such a comedian and he had chosen one of the group to help him. The man chosen from our group was called Krishna and is 69 years old, from India. Think.....Indian Mr. Bean and you have the picture! The farmer's wife then took us into the cheese making room and went througt the processes used to make cheese and also explained what they added to make different varieties. We then could taste some of the cheeses. We really enjoyed both of these demonstrations. We purchased some cheese which was cryo wrapped and certified so it will get though customs. 
On our way to our hotel we visited a 400 year old working windmill for some cheesey pictures. We are staying at a beautiful hotel for the next two nights. It's run by the Hilton group so it's  the best we've been in all trip. Once we'd checked in and had a short break we were taken into the main part of Amsterdam for a canal cruise and dinner on board. This was wonderful and great fun. The cruise and dinner were included in our trip but most of us paid extra for a drinks package too. Everyone was ticking over pretty well and once the cruise was over Ben, our tour leader took most of us on a walking tour of the "red light" district. It was such a  "eye-opener" for us but fun as well. The area is a huge tourist attraction and the streets were crowded with people. Ben was very entertaining and told us much about the history of the red light area. He also said that if we wanted a coffee not to go to a coffee shop as they sold different types of marijuana which is legal here. At a cafe we would get coffee. We could smell the marijuana in the air. After all this fun we took the train back to our hotel.