This is a statute of Hans Brinker saving his town by putting his finger in the dike.
Another building from Madurodam.
We went to Amsterdam on Saturday and took several canal taxi rides.
These are some of the typical canal houses. Since they were charged taxes on the width, they were narrow, tall and long. The typical house was 18' wide and around 125' long. They would usually have decorative roof lines with a hoist coming out so could move furniture in and ot of the house.
A drawbridge in Amsterdam. The city is located on the River IJ. It is an unusual river....the top 6 meters are freshwater and the bottom 6 meters are saltwater. Depending on how deep you drop your fishing line, you can catch either fresh or saltwater fish.
We saw this "traffic jam" on the canal. There were about 4 other boats in this "canal intersection".
People live on these houseboats but the city is not allowing any more permits. 
More flower fields on our way to Alkmaar!
The cheese market at Alkmaar, a traditional way of selling cheese since the 17th century.
The cheese porters belong to ancient guilds. They carry the cheese on these traditonal litters to the weighhouse (Waag). They have a peculiar way they walk to keep the cheese from falling off. There are 4 guilds, wach wearing a different color hat and using a different color litter (red, yellow, green and blue). 
The cheese wheels weigh about 40 pounds and are about 16" across.
The "tester" in the white jacket let us sample some of the cheese.
The boys wanted to take a ride in this Rolls Royce...and we did too!
More flower fields...taken as were driving on the Autobahn.
This is the old fishing village of Volemdam.
We also went to Zaanse Schans, a recreated Dutch village. 
The boys trying out another shoe for size. This one is close.
They did find another friend, a little Dutch girl.
The boys are standing in front of the Brabo Fountain where the hero Silvius Brabo saves the town from the evil giant's tyranny.
This is the Grote Markt which is from the 16th century.
This is the Stadhuis or Town Hall built in the 16th century.
This is a statute showing artisans building The Cahedral of Our Lady. It was begun in 1352 and finished in the 15th century. Its tower is 404 feet tall.
This statute was top one of guild houses in the Grote Markt. All the guild houses have a gold statute on top of them!
The boys went to see the Reubens House, home of a famous painter, PeterPaul Reubens. We got to see some of his paintings.
This is the entrance to The Cathedral of Our Lady.
These bicycles were parked at the train station in Breda. There were thousands there. Everywhereyou go, you see cyclists. You can see when when buying gas....it costs about $12.00 a gallon (so I guess we shouldn't complain!)
Scary character we saw on a building near the train station in Breda.
Sunset on a canal in Breda. Beautiful
While Gouda is known for its cheese, the name is usually mispronounced. It is "How-dah". Its marketplace is the largest in the world. They were getting ready for a major Passion concert for Easter and see can see the stage in the background. This building is the Stadhuis or Town Hall. The Gothic structure was built around 1450 and was originially surrounded by a moat. The statuates are counts and countesses of Burgundy.
This carillon on the side of the Town Hall plays music every half hour. The figures come out from behind the door and show figures acting out the granting of the town's charter in 1272.
Flat Stanleys in front of the entrance to the Stedelijk Museum. The building use to be a hospice or hospital.
This is the St. Janskerk, the longest church in Holland. While started in the 13th century, it was destroyed by fire in 1551.
Organ in St. Janskerk. We got to hear the organist play this magnificent organ.
All but 3 of the 70 stain glass windows are from 1555 - 1603. The other 3 windows are called the Liberation Window which describe the horrors of World War II and the Netherland's liberation from the Nazis.
Flat Stanleys at Kinderdijk. These windmills were built in the 1700's to keep the land from flooding. People use to live in these windmills. Another use was for grinding flour and the miller lived in them. There are 19 windmills at Kinderdijk and is a World Heritge List of UNESCO.
We stayed ina traditional Dutch bedroom in Breda. The bed is in a large "closet"
This is the Spanjaardsgat.This is where the Dutch king signed documents selling New Amsterdam (New York) to the English were signed.
The boys couldn't figure out this phone in our room. The were no button or dial and you had to crank it.
