Amsterdam seems like a relaxed place.

It’s not so much all the coffee shops selling pot (though that probably helps) but the fact that so many people bicycle everywhere.

There seem to be lots of bikes for every car, which means less noise, no traffic jams, and less frustration for everyone.

The buildings pay very little regard to verticality. They lean out over the street to grab a little extra floorspace, or snuggle up to their neighbors as if they have had a drop too much Heineken. There are canals everywhere, but they do not seem to be as much a part of everyday life as they are in Venice. Though there are some houseboats and a few boat tours there seems to be very little commercial or recreational traffic. They do make for some nice views, though.

We’ve seen a few ducks and one lonely coot, but no geese, and not a single battle swan. Perhaps that is why the people of Amsterdam romanticize waterfowl enough to have an entire shop devoted to rubber duckies.

After the redeye flight from the US we were not feeling very energetic today, so we limited our tourist activities to the botanic garden, Hortus Botanicus. It has greenhouses…

… a carnivorous plant collection…

… a butterfly house…

… (while I was trying to photograph the butterflies one perched on my camera lens)…

… and lot of outdoor plants, too.

Pride of place in the collection goes the Wollemi, or Australian Fighting Pine, a plant so dangerous it has to be kept in a cage.

You can just imagine it in the Australian Outback, clubbing kangaroos insensible with its branches and using its roots to strangle wallabies. It’s only a matter of time till one of them escapes captivity and cross pollinates with a triffid.