What a couple of weeks! It's good to sit still in one place now.
Amsterdam. It's beautiful, serene yet it's like no place I've been. The people actually speak and smile on the street and most we came in contact with spoke really excellent English ("you guys", etc) Beautiful blondes with flawless peachy complexions. Just a sense of well-being everywhere. Easy to get around in town on public transit. Great Van Gogh museum. Canals everywhere. I had no idea how many canals And pretty architecture. And, needless to say, very accommodating "coffee" houses. Really wild to be out in the open about it. Bicycles are ubiquitous and the riders are fierce and fast. Have to be vigilant as they don't slow down. All ages. And there are trams with tracks in the street and it's easy to forget in squares and nearly get run over as they are quiet.
We met Walt at the airport. Poor thing. He must be just exhausted. Hasn't had a moment to breathe. We came here from the airport via tube. Then after a couple of hours we went by tube to our departure station. Had a good lunch there. Took the train to Harwich on the coast and arrived at night right at the departure point for the ferry. All was well. We had to walk quite a distance on a gangplank to get to the ferry, go through passport check and customs. Huge ferry. We had outside cabins with windows. Had already booked a three course meal so went on in for that. Very relaxing. Off to bed. Up at 7:30. Breakfast already booked. Good buffet breakfast. Hard not to stuff. Pan au chocolat, macchiato, eggs, yum. Caught the train for Amsterdam. Had to make one train change in Rotterdam. Pretty long walk to the hotel (poor Walt but he was a trooper).
Arrived at the hotel and it turned out I had booked the wrong dates. Instead of the 16th thru the 19th, I booked the 15th through the 18th. The hotel was full up for the 18th evening. God, was I humiliated and horrified. The hotel was able to accommodate us on Sat. night as they'd had two cancellations. But we had to eat the cost of the extra night. Expensive. I was so upset and disappointed in myself. Walt and Ralph were great about it.
Luckily the hotel rooms were great. Spacious as hotel rooms go and very new and clean. And our room looked out over the river and faced east so we saw the sunrise every day. I guess all around we were lucky. I had gone through hell trying to find a hotel and guess I just confused the dates. Turns out there was this big many day celebration going on in Amsterdam. It's many days of parties and dancing. We didn't see it but that and then a major marathon on Sunday.
We had a great time especially since Ralph did the navigating. We took a canal cruise first thing. Alberto, the Dutch are so interesting in that they diverted rivers and made land masses out of marshes. All of the buildings are on deep pilings they drove into the ground. How did they drive them into the ground hundreds of years ago? And they dug the canals with shovels! How is that possible that ever attempted such a thing? What a legacy. And then to imagine the place being over run by Nazis. How could such a lovely place be infected with such vermin? We saw Anne Frank's house but the line was too long to go in. It's on a canal. That struck me as so odd. Here she was hiding up in an attic with her family while life in this beautiful city was just outside the door! I thought a lot about Dirk. What a weird language. Lots of guttural sound.
This was definitely the best place I've been. Of course we saw the red light district. I was disappointed in this. The women were in narrow rooms with glass doors below street level. They were young for the most part and damn. Ralph and Walt claim they didn't find it inviting. We were told the name red light came from the prostitutes meeting sailors at the harbor while carrying red lanterns.
We went to their national museum and to the Van Gogh museum, the botanical garden, and to the gallery district as well as the Jordaan which is a colorful arty part of town. Better food than London's.
We took the morning train back to the ferry and took the ferry back to Harwich during the day. Fun being out on the ocean. The North Sea. We got seats by the big windows and Ralph read for class while Walt and I periodically got up and wandered around or read. Walt slept some. Nice dinner and lunch on board. Got the train at Harwich and arrived in London about 9? 10? Drug ourselves back to the flat from the tube station. Man.
So Walt spent the night that night and last night and was off to Paris today. He and I worked on his train reservations yesterday and then rode the bus into central London and went to the British Museum. We saw Etruscan and Egyptian statues and wall etchings. Very large statues of pharaoh heads and protective spirits---
Walt hoped to get a connecting train from Paris to Dijon in Burgundy, wine country. Will be back Friday and has a hotel booked. He wants to see Abbey Road and to go back to the British Museum.
Meanwhile, I have been catching up on things. Washed clothes, paid bills, unpacked. And we went grocery shopping today. It took two trips. Good to be back home. One of the cats stayed most of the day and then met us at the door as we came in from shopping while the other cat slipped in the door and is here sleeping curled up by the door. It's cool, very windy, and intermittently rainy. I am sitting here manipulating my mouth to extract liquid.
