Canals, diamonds and red lights – an Amsterdam getaway COMPLETED - Page 21 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
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.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
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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There is always room for limoncello, right
The canals at night with the skaters are so pretty and I have to say, that was a vrey cool kinfe rack
Going back to get caught up again!!
Amazing Diamond museum!! WOW! This is what gets me, if we all can have a cup of diamonds, why are they so darn expensive?? ALso, where do I get in line for my cup??
The settings for the rings is amazing to me, so many choices for a girl to choose from........hmm, what to do??
That's one interesting museum! I love all the beautiful pieces! I was kind of expecting you to mention at the end that Mark purchased a lovely little souvenir for you!
Well he did say words to that effect when we entered... However, as I have my lovely engagement ring and eternity ring, plus another ring with his birthstone in (if you've seen December's birthstone, you'll know why I went with his! ) I was happy with all of that. Besides, he did spend a fortune on my 40th birthday present - our Olympics tickets!
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Saturday 11 February – part three: what do you mean it’s closed?
We headed back out into the cold and caught a tram back up to the centre of the city.
The plan was to get off and walk over to the Museum Willet-Holthuysen, which shows how a canal house was in the 19th century. First, we walked through the flower market, seeing a few more flowers than we had a couple of days earlier.
Then we saw the Munttoren, which formed part of Amsterdam’s city wall.
We saw this fascinating cinema building. We did think that they were setting up for some form of premiere for tonight, but when we came back this same way later on the tram, everything had gone, so we concluded the premiere must’ve been the night before.
Our walk then next took us down to Rembrandtplein, complete with a statue of him at the centre. This is where the butter market used to be held in the 19th century and today I felt like I was walking on butter through here! It’s mainly slate and this was slippery beyond belief. I skidded a couple of times and was lucky not to fall over. No fun!
We carried on walking and found the museum. By now, it was just after 11:00 am, when it was due to open, and I cannot begin to tell you how much we were both looking forward to getting inside. We were literally frozen completely to the bone and I was starting to lose feeling in three of my fingers, which is never a good sign. However, we tried the door and it didn’t shift. I couldn’t believe our luck. Mark looked inside and said there seemed to be a sign about renovation. Not again!
We gave up and headed down to the canal instead to get some photos of that, the beautiful ornate Blauwburg and the Magere Brug (or Skinny Bridge to the non-Dutch ) in the distance. It was lovely, but so, so cold.
It seems every museum in the city is under renovation! Wonderful flowers... and very odd birdbaths. I wonder how the birds like bathing with Hippos and crocs!
It seems every museum in the city is under renovation! Wonderful flowers... and very odd birdbaths. I wonder how the birds like bathing with Hippos and crocs!
It's as if the whole city is under renovation! Do they not expect tourists this time of the year?!
The sunny sky is deceiving - makes it look warmer than it was.
I can't believe it was closed! Bummer. That clear blue sky is so decieving when it's cold. It's perfectly sunny, so it must be warm... wrong!
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It's as if the whole city is under renovation! Do they not expect tourists this time of the year?!
The sunny sky is deceiving - makes it look warmer than it was.
Probably not - and especially not with the weather they had. In fairness, when I booked it, it was very cheap, so I suspect we were well and truly off season.
I can't believe it was closed! Bummer. That clear blue sky is so decieving when it's cold. It's perfectly sunny, so it must be warm... wrong!
Sometimes I find that you get the best blue skies on the coldest skies. The amount of times I've looked back at my photos and they've come up perfectly in the beautiful sunshine and I can't believe, until I see what we were wearing, how cold it actually was!
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However, as I have my lovely engagement ring and eternity ring, plus another ring with his birthstone in (if you've seen December's birthstone, you'll know why I went with his! 
) I was happy with all of that. Besides, he did spend a fortune on my 40th birthday present - our Olympics tickets! 
It’s mainly slate and this was slippery beyond belief. I skidded a couple of times and was lucky not to fall over. No fun! 
Diamonds!! 
I also loved the Starry Night. Wow, gorgeous!
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