The sad part about this post is that I am writing it from home.
Unfortunately, the problem with my back has returned and I cannot walk well enough to make the rest of the planned trip in Europe feasible. So we flew home yesterday, Wednesday from Amsterdam instead of making the scheduled flight to London Stansted airport. We were to visit for 3 days in London and then leave (again from Stansted) to fly to Majorcca for a week.
The funny thing is that overnight Stansted airport was one that has been indefinitely shut down because of the volcano in Iceland! The ash cloud is heading for the coast of Spain.
I have thought this morning how we could have been involved in some of these delays. Hmmmmm
Regardless of these events, we did have a wonderful time for our week in Amsterdam. We were able to get a wheelchair at the Van Gogh museum and Ed wheeled me around. We saw the Rijks museum the same way. We were not able to get back to Den Haag to see "The Girl with the Pearl Earring". There was too much walking involved.
We did experience wonderful Dutch pannekeuken, pancakes that are more like crepes and taste wonderful. They are full plate sized and thin. We asked the waitress what kind she like most and she said "apple and bacon", so that is what we had. It was yummy. Thanks to my sister Lois for this "must try" tip.
The Rijks Museum was a real eye treat for me. Ed was very patient. He wheeled me into a room and then let me maneuver myself around the many people to see the things I wanted to see while he saw what he wanted and then would find a place to sit until I was done. The museum was under a major reconstruction so only a small part of the museum was opened.
Seeing the very large and famous "Night Watch" was rewarding to say the least, but I found that there were many of the old less famous dutch masters who I also admired.
All in all I feel that the more places I visit, the more I realize that it is the people that I admire and love. Every country has it's natural beauty, but I become attached to a place because of the people I meet as much as anything else. In fact, the countryside or the cities or the history or the architecture or the food or the art all are made richer because of the people I meet who tell me about their country, the places they love to visit, the food they like to eat, etc. I believe that is why I fall in love with each place I visit and feel sad when I leave because I know that the joy of those moments in my life will never be repeated.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
More from Amsterdam....
Sitting here in Amsterdam using the MacDonald's free internet and eating dinner while I post my blog I will have to pause every few minutes to make sure the pigeons do not swoop down and steal my fries...and we are inside!!!
We have had a wonderful time here in Amsterdam except that Saturday Ed's cold from last week hit me with a vengance and spent the day in bed several boxes of Kleenex, orange juice and some powdered decongestant that Ed bought at the local pharmacy. I slept and he ventured out to get food for himself and get more familiar with the tram and bus routes so we could find out way to church today. It was not a fun day for me more because I was losing a day of exploring and seeing the sites, but I couldn't do much about that. Today I am well enough to go out.
We went to church this morning and found to our delight that there was a Sunday school class in English and that they have wireless translators for Sacrament meeting. They were having trestimony meeting this week and it was very special to listen to the testimonies of these gtood saints. It was a small group, but many bore their testimonies and we learned that many of them had not been members of the church for very long. What I loved was when one woman stood up and then the Bishop stood up with her and she started and she was speaking spanish and he was translating to the congregation in Dutch while our translator (a sister missionary from the US) translated to us in English from his Dutch!!! hahaha I just love this world!
On Friday we decided to go to Kuekenhof and see the flowers. We loved walking around this very famous and very beautiful botanical garden. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of the season so most of the tulip beds were just green plants, but there were enough that I am satisfied and very happy to have been there. I asked Ed what we should say about Kuekenhof and his response was, "We saw lots of tulips. Im doing well, I'm going, I'm smiling, don't ask me to blog!" :) Yes, ED is being a great sport. Nothing has wowed him yet so we will see. He is enjoying figuring out the trams, the money and figuring out where we are going. He thinks the transportation system here is amazing. He thinks this is better than anywhere else in the world.
We have both loved seeing the bikes....the bike parking lots and free bike racks have been very interesting. We had to stop and examine one in Leiden to see how it works. It was ingenious.
After going to Kuekenhof we went further on to The Hague (De Haag). I forgot to bring the information and couldn't remember the museum where "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" is located but I thought that most everyone would know where she was. Well.......wewere sent on a wild goose chase just to end up 2 blocks from the central station where we began and we missed the museum by 15 minutes. We had a fun adventure but I hope we will have the time to go back and see the painting. Having lost a day to illness I am not sure we will have enough time.
We have seen much of the city just by staying on the trams and riding around. It is a wonderful city. I love seeing the families all riding their bikes along the special lanes for bikers. Little children in carts that are mounted on the bike frames....it is amazing.
I have many pictures but will have to be better organized to download them onto the blog.
I will try and do that another day.
Until then, we will continue to enjoy our adventure here!
We have had a wonderful time here in Amsterdam except that Saturday Ed's cold from last week hit me with a vengance and spent the day in bed several boxes of Kleenex, orange juice and some powdered decongestant that Ed bought at the local pharmacy. I slept and he ventured out to get food for himself and get more familiar with the tram and bus routes so we could find out way to church today. It was not a fun day for me more because I was losing a day of exploring and seeing the sites, but I couldn't do much about that. Today I am well enough to go out.
We went to church this morning and found to our delight that there was a Sunday school class in English and that they have wireless translators for Sacrament meeting. They were having trestimony meeting this week and it was very special to listen to the testimonies of these gtood saints. It was a small group, but many bore their testimonies and we learned that many of them had not been members of the church for very long. What I loved was when one woman stood up and then the Bishop stood up with her and she started and she was speaking spanish and he was translating to the congregation in Dutch while our translator (a sister missionary from the US) translated to us in English from his Dutch!!! hahaha I just love this world!
On Friday we decided to go to Kuekenhof and see the flowers. We loved walking around this very famous and very beautiful botanical garden. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of the season so most of the tulip beds were just green plants, but there were enough that I am satisfied and very happy to have been there. I asked Ed what we should say about Kuekenhof and his response was, "We saw lots of tulips. Im doing well, I'm going, I'm smiling, don't ask me to blog!" :) Yes, ED is being a great sport. Nothing has wowed him yet so we will see. He is enjoying figuring out the trams, the money and figuring out where we are going. He thinks the transportation system here is amazing. He thinks this is better than anywhere else in the world.
We have both loved seeing the bikes....the bike parking lots and free bike racks have been very interesting. We had to stop and examine one in Leiden to see how it works. It was ingenious.
After going to Kuekenhof we went further on to The Hague (De Haag). I forgot to bring the information and couldn't remember the museum where "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" is located but I thought that most everyone would know where she was. Well.......wewere sent on a wild goose chase just to end up 2 blocks from the central station where we began and we missed the museum by 15 minutes. We had a fun adventure but I hope we will have the time to go back and see the painting. Having lost a day to illness I am not sure we will have enough time.
We have seen much of the city just by staying on the trams and riding around. It is a wonderful city. I love seeing the families all riding their bikes along the special lanes for bikers. Little children in carts that are mounted on the bike frames....it is amazing.
I have many pictures but will have to be better organized to download them onto the blog.
I will try and do that another day.
Until then, we will continue to enjoy our adventure here!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
First Day in Amsterdam
It is 10pm on our first full day in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and there is still a slight sunset.
We made the flight from Houston leaving there at 3:40pm and arriving a little early at 8:00AM this morning in Amsterdam. It was so foggy when we landed that I could not see the ground until just before the plane touched the ground but the fog burned off and the day was beautiful, sunny, blue sky, slight breezy (in fact it was chilly enough for our jackets).
We had decided that since we did not really have a schedule we would use the train and tram to find our hotel and we did fine, even with a few steps, hauling our luggage around. We were determined to follow the Rick Steves (and many others) advice to only have one bag each (which we decided to check) for our six weeks here. That means lots of laundry for me, but it has been worth it so far. We did pack rather heavy carry-on bags which did prove to be a bit daunting for me while trying to load into the very fast tram. I fell over a little bit and actually had a dutch woman with a baby in a stroller get up and offer me her seat. I think she was afraid I might fal on her baby. It wasn't quite that bad, but I told Ed that he would have to handle the two heavy bags next time. I also think he should be behind me or at least helping me up the stairs....don't you? He was so worried about paying for our tickets that he had no idea I wasn't behind him anymore and was struggling with the bigger of the two bags (which held his clothes!!) and my carry on. But once I was upright and firmly holding the rail I was fine and we arrived at our stop and got off and walked the few blocks to our hotel. The doorman greeted us warmly coming directly to me and taking my bags. What a guy!!
Once situated in our room we spoke with our concierge and had some of our questions answered. He directed us to a grocer store a brief walk away, a pharmacy and a phone store.
We took some time checking these places our and then took the tram to the city center. On the tram I showed Ed how to put in the strip of tickets to pay for our trip and without luggage it was a very pleasant ride to Central Station.
We walked around Central Station for a while and then decided to take a canal tour. The tour takes 1 1/2 hours. I had not slept on the plane coming over. Ed had slept a bit, but on and off so for us to sit in a boat on the water and listen to a narration of the architecture and history of the city was asking a lot of our bodies. It was very fun to see this city from the canals.
After the canal boat tour we decided to walk back to our hotel. We thought we were about half way there from the canal tour place by the Rijksmuseum but I think we decided we had miscalculated a bit. Even so, meandering through streets with beautiful homes, dodging bicyclists everywhere, seeing little families playing together, young women helping older grandmas.....it was very nice. The bicycle parking lot at Central Station tells a wonderful story.
We have been struck by how healthy everyone here looks. Business people in suits whiz by on their bikes talking on cell phones. The lane in the street dedicated to them is very serious. Everyone obeys the rules. There were more bikes than cars on the streets. We have also been struck by how tall everyone is, men and women. There are also very cute children.
On our way back to the hotel we decided to stop at the grocer and buy something for dinner and breakfast and lunch in the morning. Shopping was very fun. Lots of different looking foods. We haven't been too brave yet although we did stop and have lunch at a little place that had deli type sandwiches. We found the place by walking along the street and noticing a line of young people at this one door. We decided to check it out and it looked good. We were not disappointed. I also noticed at the store many men with lots of little children shopping for food. It was very cute although the dad and daughter behind us at the checkout was not so enthralled with us when we took a little more time after realizing that there are no free bags at checkout and since we didn't bring our own like everyone else we had to ask someone behind us in line to grab one for us which we had to pay for before we could finish and get out of their way! Oh these tourists!!!!
The people here have been very nice to us generally. Most of them speak such great English. It is embarrassing that we do not speak another language but one man said to us, "you don't need to. You country is so big why would you need to, except for maybe Spanish?" He was very gracious.
We came back to the hotel and both fell asleep for a couple of hours and now we will be up late again. Oh well, we will sleep until we like in the morning and have another wonderful day exploring this wonderful, exciting place.
We made the flight from Houston leaving there at 3:40pm and arriving a little early at 8:00AM this morning in Amsterdam. It was so foggy when we landed that I could not see the ground until just before the plane touched the ground but the fog burned off and the day was beautiful, sunny, blue sky, slight breezy (in fact it was chilly enough for our jackets).
We had decided that since we did not really have a schedule we would use the train and tram to find our hotel and we did fine, even with a few steps, hauling our luggage around. We were determined to follow the Rick Steves (and many others) advice to only have one bag each (which we decided to check) for our six weeks here. That means lots of laundry for me, but it has been worth it so far. We did pack rather heavy carry-on bags which did prove to be a bit daunting for me while trying to load into the very fast tram. I fell over a little bit and actually had a dutch woman with a baby in a stroller get up and offer me her seat. I think she was afraid I might fal on her baby. It wasn't quite that bad, but I told Ed that he would have to handle the two heavy bags next time. I also think he should be behind me or at least helping me up the stairs....don't you? He was so worried about paying for our tickets that he had no idea I wasn't behind him anymore and was struggling with the bigger of the two bags (which held his clothes!!) and my carry on. But once I was upright and firmly holding the rail I was fine and we arrived at our stop and got off and walked the few blocks to our hotel. The doorman greeted us warmly coming directly to me and taking my bags. What a guy!!
Once situated in our room we spoke with our concierge and had some of our questions answered. He directed us to a grocer store a brief walk away, a pharmacy and a phone store.
We took some time checking these places our and then took the tram to the city center. On the tram I showed Ed how to put in the strip of tickets to pay for our trip and without luggage it was a very pleasant ride to Central Station.
We walked around Central Station for a while and then decided to take a canal tour. The tour takes 1 1/2 hours. I had not slept on the plane coming over. Ed had slept a bit, but on and off so for us to sit in a boat on the water and listen to a narration of the architecture and history of the city was asking a lot of our bodies. It was very fun to see this city from the canals.
After the canal boat tour we decided to walk back to our hotel. We thought we were about half way there from the canal tour place by the Rijksmuseum but I think we decided we had miscalculated a bit. Even so, meandering through streets with beautiful homes, dodging bicyclists everywhere, seeing little families playing together, young women helping older grandmas.....it was very nice. The bicycle parking lot at Central Station tells a wonderful story.
We have been struck by how healthy everyone here looks. Business people in suits whiz by on their bikes talking on cell phones. The lane in the street dedicated to them is very serious. Everyone obeys the rules. There were more bikes than cars on the streets. We have also been struck by how tall everyone is, men and women. There are also very cute children.
On our way back to the hotel we decided to stop at the grocer and buy something for dinner and breakfast and lunch in the morning. Shopping was very fun. Lots of different looking foods. We haven't been too brave yet although we did stop and have lunch at a little place that had deli type sandwiches. We found the place by walking along the street and noticing a line of young people at this one door. We decided to check it out and it looked good. We were not disappointed. I also noticed at the store many men with lots of little children shopping for food. It was very cute although the dad and daughter behind us at the checkout was not so enthralled with us when we took a little more time after realizing that there are no free bags at checkout and since we didn't bring our own like everyone else we had to ask someone behind us in line to grab one for us which we had to pay for before we could finish and get out of their way! Oh these tourists!!!!
The people here have been very nice to us generally. Most of them speak such great English. It is embarrassing that we do not speak another language but one man said to us, "you don't need to. You country is so big why would you need to, except for maybe Spanish?" He was very gracious.
We came back to the hotel and both fell asleep for a couple of hours and now we will be up late again. Oh well, we will sleep until we like in the morning and have another wonderful day exploring this wonderful, exciting place.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
New Adventure: Getting Ready
Well, another trip on the horizon and I am looking forward to this new adventure. This trip is different because Ed is now fully retired so this doesn't have any work constraints (or help with the cost). This is the postponed 25th anniversary trip we have always talked about and I will get to see at least one of the places on the "must see" list I gave Ed before we got married....the Chartres Cathedral in France. Of course we will see so many other things that we are excited about, not the least of which is the tulips in Holland, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Tomorrow we plan on packing our bags so we are sure we have everything and going to the bank to get some pounds and euros. We have loaded our Kindle's with plenty of books; loaded the ipod with lots of music and books; loaded the programs we need on Ed's little notebook and made sure I have all the data/photos on my external hard drive backed up. I think we are ready to go!
First stop, The Netherlands!
Tomorrow we plan on packing our bags so we are sure we have everything and going to the bank to get some pounds and euros. We have loaded our Kindle's with plenty of books; loaded the ipod with lots of music and books; loaded the programs we need on Ed's little notebook and made sure I have all the data/photos on my external hard drive backed up. I think we are ready to go!
First stop, The Netherlands!
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