Tim complained loudly that I was walking his legs off and why didn't we use the many electric trains or canal boats that run so frequently everywhere in the city -- but Amsterdan is conducive to walking -- every inch a new and exciting discovery to me. Amsterdam is built like a giant wagon wheel with all the canals, streets. and trolley lines converging at Central Station where you can transfer from boat to train or to trolley -- and go anywhere, even to the outlying villages. Magnificent transportation! And bicycles everywhere! I told Tim I thought there were more bicycles than cars on the wonderfully wide, clean avenues. He agreed, saying, "No wonder there are no traffic jams. The few cars we see are all tiny ones too -- had you noticed? Don't they have regular-sized cars over here?"

One of the outer villages I mentioned above is Volendam, an old picturesque fishing community on the banks of the Zuider Zee, where Tim laughed at my shuddery reaction to the huge containers of slithery black eels on the dock. (I never realized they were so huge and long!) Most of the residents still dress in the old-fashioned Dutch clothing (pantaloons on the men, long full skirts and winged caps on the women, and wooden shoes on everyone) that we used to see in books when we were children. I felt like an alien from outer space! The wooden shoes are really very practical because the ground is quite marshy and when they come home, they slip out of them at the door, entering in stocking feet. (Very like the Japanese custom I got used to in Hawaii.) Heaven forbid any mud should come in on those immaculate floors!