Live from a houseboat in Oud Zuid

Okay, well despite my anxiety about flying in a plane for 9 1/2 hours, we made it here alive!
Euros are much more colorful than dollars. Right now a dollar is worth 78 cents. Our houseboat rental is the bottom floor and middle floor living room of a much bigger home. It is lovely and the doors from the living room are loovered ( sp??) so that you turn a handle and the top of the door swings out like the long narrow window on Seattle's public buses. Then you turn the handle again and it opens up on all 4 sides but is in a track and slides to the left. Very ingenious and very smooth. I love it. There are odd little greebs ( like ducks) or some similar water birds who are all black except for a beak with a shock of white on a startling red flat bill. Quite odd looking like a little cartoon. They are noisy and a bit demanding. seems they are used to being fed. It is very flat here and none of the buildings (so far) are taller than 10 stories. I like this horizontal leveling. We are in the Oud Zuid, or OLD South section of town to the lower left ( South West) of the center of the city. Jimbo and I are both a bit cranky from lack of sleep and close quarters on the plane. We have taken showers and have decided that rather than sleep, we will go out on the town. We will go to Central Station on a tram and then to the Joordan to visit the Pink Zone and the Homomonument. Yippee! They are right next to the Anne Frank house. I do not know if I can handle that emotionally today but we will see. Well. I will write more later tonight.
Love, Teri