Arrived Amsterdam at 7:45 a.m. Luggage seemed to be taking a long time, and for good reason. Our bags were still vacationing in Toronto. KLM representatives were quite helpful and assured us they would forward to Lisboa tomorrow. Oh well!

Boarded a train to Centraal Station in the heart of downtown Amsterdam. Nice day; sunny but cool. First order of business was a one and a half hour canal tour to see the highlights. Well run and narrative excellent.

      
        
      
      
      
  
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Back on land, took a walk through the downtown streets; ate at MacDonalds (8 bucks for a big Mac). Clean city but every imaginable type of character was out. Be interesting to take the same walk after midnight. Carole was suitably disgusted by a little porn shop we found ourselves in and she promptly walked out, a half hour later.

      
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Split from the Maxwells, who went down to a flower market. Lee and I stayed downtown and walked.

    
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Finally caught the train back to the airport at 3 p.m. Lee and I got a talking to from the conductor because we sat in first class and only had 2nd class tickets. At least we had tickets; right Carole! Met the Maxwell's at 3:30 back at the airport and caught the flight on TAP (Air Portugal) to Lisboa at 5:45. Three hours later, with our knees at our chins (we discovered early on that Portuguese people are only 5' tall; the airline seats reflected that fact) we arrived in Lisboa.

Still no luggage, and now the good news; no car! Seems our reservations never arrived and Budget was overbooked. Reserved a station wagon wagon with Viata for Monday; will keep our fingers crossed. Taxi ride to the Miraparque Hotel was exhilarating to say the least. Everything okay there, with clean and comfortable rooms. Down to the bar for a beer (40 cents Cdn), then off to bed at 11 p.m.