Canals, diamonds and red lights an Amsterdam getaway COMPLETED - Page 10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Thursday 9 February part five: Im not sure Id like to live here...
When we came out, we wandered through whats called their street section, which is essentially their teaser for the general public. It shows you a few items in the hope of encouraging people to actually pay to go into the museum, which I think is a wonderful idea.
We came out and almost immediately found the Bejinhof, which was built in 1346 as a sanctuary for the Begijnites, a Catholic sisterhood who lived like nuns. There are a couple of similar places in Belgium, so this is obviously the area for them. Unfortunately, there were signs saying no photos, as these are peoples homes, which I thought was a shame. I did manage to shoot a couple of photos without looking through the view finder....
... then I decided to take a couple focusing properly, as Im sorry, but I wasnt using flash, I wasnt focusing on anyones homes, so I couldnt see the problem with it.
However, as we walked around, I could see into the ground floor of peoples homes. Why they didnt have curtains drawn I dont know? I wouldve felt really uncomfortable with people walking right past and being able to look in, but having said that, you knew that when you purchased this property, right?
We headed out and it was bizarre, as the door we took opened up on to a really busy street! It was like stepping from one world into another...
Our next stop was the American Book Center, almost next door, as it looked like a really cool place and had some (ahem) interesting titles in the window. Lets just say that they related to the trade youd find in the Red Light District...
Inside, it was a veritable feast of literally thousands of books, although how you got to some of them was beyond me...
We came out and headed down towards some more canals in the hopes of seeing the skaters again, as theyd been in this area earlier on today. We got a few more photos on the way....
As we were in the vicinity of the flower market, we walked that way for a little while:
Just over the road, Mark noticed a patisserie, so we headed in there to get some treats. We both got a muffin each for breakfast tomorrow morning and got a dessert each with the intention of eating it a little later, but we never got round to it. And we also got some hot chocolate mine was with whipped cream!
This place was a real treasure with hundreds of amazing things on offer, as you can see:
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What an amazing area to take photos of! I can relate to the people living on the ground floor of those buildings. I used to live in the French Quarter and had French doors that opened out onto the sidewalk. I would open them to let in the light and get fresh air into my apartment, which didn't have any windows. I was amazed at how often people who were curious would just walk into my apartment! They would ask me questions about living in New Orleans or ask for a tour of my house!
What an amazing area to take photos of! I can relate to the people living on the ground floor of those buildings. I used to live in the French Quarter and had French doors that opened out onto the sidewalk. I would open them to let in the light and get fresh air into my apartment, which didn't have any windows. I was amazed at how often people who were curious would just walk into my apartment! They would ask me questions about living in New Orleans or ask for a tour of my house!
You sneaky photographer you! Cute little area though. Seeing all those bikes makes me wonder how many bike accidents there are! Especially on the slippery roads. I've never ridden a bike on a snowy road, I imagine it's hard to stop, kind of like a car? That patisserie looked soooo good!!
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Holy bicycles, Batman! I knew that Amsterdam was a bicycle-friendly town, but that is just an amazing amount! It must beat having to pay for a parking garage.
You sneaky photographer you! Cute little area though. Seeing all those bikes makes me wonder how many bike accidents there are! Especially on the slippery roads. I've never ridden a bike on a snowy road, I imagine it's hard to stop, kind of like a car? That patisserie looked soooo good!!
We wondered that too about the bikes, especially as we had some near misses with cyclists on pavements.
A friend of mine lived in Amsterdam for a while and she says that bike vs pedestrian collisions were quite common! The museum looks like fun, and the pastries YUM!
Yeah....don't think I would like to be on the receiving end of a bike collison.....major ouchies. Around here we don't have to worry about bikes so much as the Amish horse and buggies.....now those are some nasty accidents.
The colors of those tulips...simply divine!!! I loved the chicks in the chocolate and I couldn't decide which pastry I wanted...they all looked good!!!
A friend of mine lived in Amsterdam for a while and she says that bike vs pedestrian collisions were quite common! The museum looks like fun, and the pastries YUM!
From what we experienced, I would imagine collisions are quite the norm.
Yeah....don't think I would like to be on the receiving end of a bike collison.....major ouchies. Around here we don't have to worry about bikes so much as the Amish horse and buggies.....now those are some nasty accidents.
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I knew that Amsterdam was a bicycle-friendly town, but that is just an amazing amount! It must beat having to pay for a parking garage. 
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