I'm responding to Bob & Pat's question about Amsterdam.

In Oct 2003 I did a solo trip to Amsterdam. The room I booked at the Hotel De Munck was just too tiny to I dropped in at Lindbergh Hotel Reservations http://www.lindbergh.nl near Central Station and was extremely fortunate to get last minute room rate at hotel NH City Centre http://www.nh-hotels.com for 50 euros/night (single) with breakfast. I'm certainly not suggesting you reserve THAT last minute but I was very pleased with the service & would use them again.

You might check out Lindbergh's website to see if it can be of any help to you. The lady at Lindbergh said to never book ahead when coming to Amsterdam because hotels lower the rates last minute. Even when several events are happening in town she's able to find a 5 star for 100 Euros. Personally, I'm not quite that adventurous to not have a room reserved in advance.

I took a Lindbergh Excursions bus to (26 euros) which included De Zaanse schans, a real working village with windmills. I was told it was about a 1 1/2 hr. bike ride from Central Station in Amsterdam.

Marlene New Westminster BC