September 23, 2007 | Amsterdam, Europe, Netherlands

We had breakfast at the hotel (that plain tart European yogurt mixed with strawberry jam to sweeten it for me) before taking off on a 3-1/2 hour privately guided bike tour through Amsterdam, courtesy of Yellow Bike. Along the way we passed gorgeous canal houses, the original jail under the bridge in Amsterdam, and Anne Frank’s house before stopping on the widest canal bridge for lunch.

The weather was turning cloudy and cool and everyone was tired, so we quickly ate our lunch (my husband and I shared tomato soup and a club sandwich) and retired to a corner bar near our hotel to wait out the rain. We laughed and shared stories before heading back to get ready for dinner.

We dined at a new Bistro run by what seemed like a single mom, Bistro Bi Jou, because they advertised traditional Dutch food on the menu. Everything was served a bit family style – beef stew, steak, potatoes, fries, salad, pickled red cabbage – and we enjoyed the owner’s 15-year-old daughter as our waitress on her very first day on the job.

After dinner we hung out at a night club called Werke and we were the oldest people there by 15 or more years!