We saw a little street theater on some plein in the center. He showed us the world's rarest form of juggling, squeezed his body through a tennis racket and played with fire. The girls gave him a couple Euros. They were highly entertained. Sofie bought herself a tiny tea set for five euros today and Anja got a bowl with some bulbs set up to bloom soon. They told her she couldn't bring it back to the states, but it's OK to go to France so she's glad to be going to France now. Anja is a great traveler. Both of the girls really enjoyed playing on Rembrandtplein with the 3-D sculpture re-creation of Rembrandt's painting, Nightwatch. Rembrandt painted it in a church we saw today. He couldn't do it in his little house that we also saw today, because it was too large an undertaking. We went on a canal ride today which was beautiful despite the rain, and very informative. We looked at the fabulous gables on the very old 17th century architecture of the canal houses. We learned that the little shabby houseboats go for a quarter of a million Euros (one Euro is a dollar forty one today, I think). Then the houseboat people have to pay for their spot on the water as well. And they don't have any sewer so their waste goes through the canal and sent off into the sea near to England. YUK! well, we've heard that story before. There are some grandfathered in non-sewer folks on lakes and rivers in the U.S. too. The people living in houses from the 17th century have to get government assistance to maintain them as it is an expensive undertaking keeping them up like the historical society wants one to. There are many bicycle thieves here and a huge number of bikes end up in the canals and are occasionally dredged up. Bike joy riders will just dump them over the side of a canal to hide evidence after their one ride. I think he said there are sixteen lochs to maintain water levels and 57 percent of the buildings are leaning as because they are sinking a bit. Amsterdam is below sea level like New Orleans so a lot of work goes into keeping the water levels low enough. Amsterdam and New Orleans are not completely different in character either. They are both known for their live and let live, smoke, drink, sex, etc... attitudes. Haven't been to the Red Lights District this trip and have only briefly entered coffee shops to gaze at the menu as children are not allowed. They are however allowed to go to bars / pubs / cafes. We haven't eaten out more than once a day and not at all today, as a few days ago we discovered Albertijne (sp?) the Dutch equivalent of Albertsons supermarket with plenty of Biologisch / organic food.