Amsterdam

Amsterdam:
Our hotel had three cot sized beds and two towels.
Our hotel - floor to ceiling bathroom window - had lace pasted on it and the toilet placed immediately in front of the window.
The bedroom curtains would not stretch from one side of the window to the other.
There were cockroaches in the bed.
And, this was a hotel recommended by the government tourist agency.

I asked a policeman where I could park - anyplace where you see the "P" for Parking.
I parked the car in a designated Parking zone and they "booted" the wheel of the car and charged me $70 to get the car back.
This is the kind of experience you would expect in a third world Banana Republic!

Good-bye Amsterdam & The Netherlands - never to return again!
Amsterdam Red Light District

Hello Paris - but first we had to get there.

It was about 1 hour back to the Belgium border, another two hours through Antwerp and Brussels to the border of France. Three customs officials waved us by - again no passport stamp - and we continued along a well maintained expressway. Typical speeds on French super highways go from 80 - 110 MPH. The "B'mers" & "Benz's" had a responsibility to pass everyone. Slower drivers stay right, fast drivers take the left lanes (Hello Florida - are you listening?). Our diesel powered 5 speed Mondeo kept up at 130 - 150 kilometers per hour or about 80 - 93 MPH.

We stopped to eat dinner and had some difficulty with the route signs but we did well otherwise. We were unable to find vacancy in a hotel on the east side of Paris so we decided to drive through Paris at night and get a room near Versailles, southwest of Paris.