Guest Column: When we arrived in Amsterdam, our must-see sites included a boat ride through the canals and enjoying local food and beers. Also Reichmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank house and the Red Light District.

In De Wallen neighborhood, at the end of a long row of indoor-outdoor restaurants, the Red Light District is a very popular tourist destination. As you walk along the street, you see that the centuries-old buildings have large first-floor windows that are set out several feet, with glass on three sides. They are well lighted, and on busy evenings, ladies sit, stand individually and in groups, gesturing and gyrating to passersby.

Guest writer: Within a week of my retirement ceremony, my spouse and I were on our way, each with just one carry-on bag and backpack. I had experienced all the Pacific nations I cared to see during Navy tours of duty in World War II and Korea.

As a new retiree, I wanted to roam Europe when, where and linger as long as we chose. No schedules, no tourist traps, no pressures, no job that required hurrying back. We did it, and in our happy memories, these are the top ten cities we enjoyed most in Europe.

London: There are so many historic sites and sights. We especially liked the Covent Garden area of shops, cafés and street performers. London theater is the best in the world, especially if you can be at the two-fer booth in the morning and get two tickets for the price of one for that evening's performance.

St. Petersburg: The people are friendly, especially to senior American wanderers. The Hermitage is one of the most fantastic museums in the world, and we could have spent a week there and never get through the entire Katharine the Great collections.

Reno  calls itself The Biggest Little City in the World. But sometimes the reality is that its casinos, shops, restaurants and nightlife often play second fiddle to the main attraction surrounding the city: the great outdoors.

Reno has a Class III whitewater park on the Truckee River that runs through the heart of downtown. Outside Magazine named it the nation's best town for whitewater paddling.

Cable cars have been a part of the city’s scene for nearly a century and a half. The Tony Bennett song portrays every visitor’s image of the beloved form of transportation:

“I left my heart in San Francisco;
High on a hill, it calls to me.
To be where little cable cars
Climb halfway to the stars...”