The transportation system in Holland is all linked, the trains, trams and buses all use the same swipe card. You just get on any of them and swipe your card getting on as well as off and you can go anywhere with the same card.

Planning to get up at the crack of dawn for my solo exploring gig, imagine my surprise when I woke up at 10:45! Who does that when the world awaits?

Managed to find the tram to the city centre and began my day at the Mauritshuis Gallery featuring Dutch masters of the 15-17 centuries and a special exhibit featuring Nicholaes Maes, a student of Rembrandt whose works are also featured. The gallery jewel is the famous Johannesburg Vermeer painting- “Girl with the earring”. I found it almost overwhelming, being witness to some of the finest artists and their paintings in the world. Cost of admission-€13. One of the most unique paintings, I felt, was Paulus Potters – The Bull. The painting is massive and takes up most of one wall and it is a portrait of a cow and a bull.

After the gallery, I worked my way through the elaborate maze of streets and shops to find a place to eat. The selection was boggling but I had a vegetable ramen that was delicious for €6

You see bikes literally everywhere. Most of the sidewalk is a bike path and pedestrians walk on a tiny strip of pavement or cobblestones. Even motorbikes ride on this path so there is no wandering off the pedestrian path for fear of getting knocked flat.

Pedestrians beside the fence.

Next stop, the North Sea, a destination for vacationers and tourists. I Remembered to take bus 23 and arrived at a scene so out of character from what I had seen so far.

At the end of what seemed like a long and amazing day, I managed to find the bus 23 stop and get off at the right stop, oh actually, I forgot to push the next stop ringer and missed it so I had to walk back a few blocks to stuyvesantstraat. The streets and intersections were all familiar but not in a sequential way. I finally asked a young woman with a small child if she could tell me where the street I wanted was and she found it for me on Google maps. Moments later I was again struggling with the very secure Dutch lock and then voila, it opened and I was back in the flat.

A great day deserves a great reward:

Finds from last nights dinner- yes I brought the left over wine home- through the streets in the pocket of my Arctic Parka. The bread and cheese were finds from the open market in the town square.

And I just had to add this picture of a family bike

One thing I really miss is my cell phone data. I usually get a European SIM card but you pay for a month and it is hardly worth it for 6 days. Good thing is that you can access internet everywhere accept for the trams and busses. The plane over and the trains all have free wifi but another good thing of having no data is that you have to interact with people here who, by the way, are very polite and obliging.