After leaving Kilimanjaro, we fly first to Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, and then on to Amsterdam. Since we have to pass through Amsterdam on the way back, we decide to stay a few days to see Amsterdam. We arrive around 9:00 a.m. and catch the tram to our hotel east of downtown. Amsterdam has a great mass transportation system that is easy to use. As we approach the city, the first thing we notice (besides the windmills) is that everyone is riding a bike, even though it is cool, cloudy, and raining lightly. They have built bike paths through the entire city next to all the major roads. We are told that Amsterdam has more bikes than people. After we check into the hotel, we take off on foot to see the van Gogh museum. Van Gogh only painted for a short period in his life. He started out as an art dealer and then spent some time in a missionary school in England before dropping out. He came back to Brussels and decided he could be a painter at age 30. He took painting lessons from his cousin. He then painted for about 8 years, including some time spent in Paris studying and hanging out with some of the great French impressionist painters. It all ended though when he shot in himself in southern France at age 37. After the van Gogh museum, we walk to the Heineken museum where we get to see how good beer is made. The next day, we walk first to the Anne Frank house, which is interesting for the kids because they have all just finished reading the book "The Diary of Anne Frank" as a home schooling assignment. They enjoy relating the book to her life in the house. Next we walk over to the Rijksmuseum, which contains many paintings, sculptures, pottery, guns, and other items from the Dutch Golden Age, including masterpieces by Rembrandt. We also get to see Madam Tussaud's wax museum, which Cameron, Travis, and Haley really enjoy. After a few days in Amsterdam, we catch a French high speed train from Amsterdam to Gare du Nord (train station) in Paris.