Meanwhile in California...

Ashlynn arrived a few days before Veronica in the hopes of spending some alone time with Grandma. 

I was thrilled that it worked out for Veronica and Brett to make a quick stop in Martinez to say hi to Darlene and Mike on their way to Atherton.

The girls were thrilled to get to finally meet their cousin Nick, my stepsister Robin’s son who lives in Virginia. Ashlynn hopes that he’ll visit her in Glasgow.

Ashlynn was also excited that Brett gave her some driving lessons...

…and Veronica was excited to spend time with Brett in a place where she holds such fond memories.

 

Bikes in Amsterdam...

Apparently the Flower Bike Man was very busy during the pandemic designing many new bikes that he has planted around the city. We managed to see quite a few of his colorful bikes that day.

We also spotted a young girl standing on the back of her mother’s bike...

…and a bike perched rather precariously on the edge of the big bike parking garage. 
 

Spotted While Walking...

We also saw several interesting things in our walk to and from the boat. This sign shows that there are fines for being noisy on the canals.

Many of the canals in the historic center are suffering due to rotting wooden pylons, so steel beams are being inserted to reinforce the sides. This huge project will cost billions and take many years.

Although we were far from the Red Light District, we saw several unusual sexual displays. 

Jimmy asked me to get this shot as he thought it was cool. 

Despite not being particularly into angels, I grabbed this shot because I thought it was cool.
 

Spotted While Fishing...

Along our boat ride we spotted many interesting things, including flowers growing on a decrepit barge...

…a renovated barge...

…and along a bridge.

We saw gay pride flags near the Westerkerk...

…and on a barge.

We also saw a dolphin-shaped pedal boat...

…plants growing up a building...

…and an enormous dragonfly.

 

Plastic Fishing with Plastic Whale...

The following day we headed up to Amsterdam to go plastic fishing with Plastic Whale, a social enterprise trying to rid the land and sea of plastic. I just happen to follow them on Instagram and they offered a free trip out on one of their boats to help cleam up the canals, so I jumped at the opportunity. Jimmy was by far the best fisherman on our boat, catching a lightbulb that still worked...

…and one like-new Dr. Martens boot. 

There were separate containers in the center of the boat to separate recyclables from trash. 

Jimmy didn’t hesitate to crawl onto other boats to get hard to reach trash...

…or to climb onto barriers along the canal...

...where he found a large bag of bottles from a party. 

He also found this lovely umbrella in Dutch colors, which this Dutch woman was happy to take home. 

In addition to fishing out trash, I took a lot of photos including this shot of our group reflected on the back of this ship. 

Our captain kindly offered to take our photo at the end of our journey on our boat, which was made out of recycled plastic from the canals. 

Here's what our group managed to collect, which was a good haul but not the largest gathered that day. We had a lot of fun despite being reminded regularly that people are pigs.
 

More Rotterdam...

Of course, another trip to Rotterdam meant another excuse to photograph the Art Depot.

This time we wandered through the nearby park, which revealed an entirely new angle to capture the building. I hope to visit again when there’s no wind as this spot would be an excellent opportunity for a reflection shot of the Art Depot itself.

Just around the corner from the Art Depot, we came across this touching memorial for a local 27-year-old man who had been stabbed.

The sky had definitely cleared up as we walked back towards the center of the city and past this building full of circles and squares. 

We wandered down the Witte de Withstraat, full of restaurants and bars, in search of ice cream. On our way back to the station, we came across this stag party, complete with groom with inflatable bride...

…and this unusual canal art: Fail Better...

…Fail Again.