Amsterdam
Amsterdam was the final stop on our Rhine River cruise, and for those who have never been there, I highly recommend you start with a canal tour on one of the many boats that meander through the canals. We were told that most of the live-aboard houseboats are connected to the main city sewer service, but in any case, the canals are flushed several times a week so what used to be a problem with litter, sewage, and other debris is no longer. For those who added several days via Viking, the hotel was about half an hour or more from central Amsterdam, in the town of Haarlem, the center of the Dutch flower-growing district. My friends who stayed in Haalem said they actually enjoyed the smaller scale of the town, which you can learn more about by going to Haarlem, The Netherlands

As I walked along the canal, I came across what I believe was an arts school, where this clip was playing on the windows: Video in the Window. Along some of the canals, particularly on the outer edge of the city and on the river in the more industrial areas, a new style of architecture has emerged, as shown by these examples.