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Hello friends from Wijttenbachstraat 30-2. We just wrapped up our last meal - home cooked in our treehouse - in Amsterdam. I've really enjoyed this city quite a bit. Or, as the locals refer to it, village. As it really is easily accessible from one end to the other.
An obvious observation to make is how many bikes you see here. Well, it's far greater from how many you can conceive. In fact, they tow bikes away here in mass as we witnessed. I've never felt so alert crossing the street as you go across bike lane, car lane, tram lane, another car lane and another bike lane to get to the other side. Incredibly we did not see multiple crashes as the locals powered on while carrying an umbrella, toting their kids, and or texting. Or all three at once.
After our bike tour Celeste and I had the good fortune of meeting up with a history professor from the University of Amsterdam for a WWII tour of the city. We were the only two on the tour which was an added bonus. Ben was just great as we toured the city for about three hours viewing and discussing the many events which occured in the city. Crazily H&M and the Apple store were formerly some of the most notorious Nazi offices in the city. Ben was kind enough after the tour to send me follow-up info I had asked for on Berlin and several books I was reading. He had a nice sense of humor as we went through the topics as many of them were not too rosy.
After our private tour we met Amy and Nina for a tour of the Anne Frank house. We were even more overwhelmed going through her house and hearing the story of the Frank family and their friends. As if Anne's words are not moving enough, her dad Otto was inspiring along with the people who put them up. Just mind boggling when you think of the pressure surrounding all the people involved. Interestingly, Ben our tour guide in the morning, had sent us info on who might have turned in the Frank family. So the days events tied together quite nicely.
After leaving the museum we got caught in a nice Amsterdam rain storm and ducked into a Italian restaurant for dinner. Nina is turning into a lasagna connisseur. Sure we've probably missed out on some local cuisine during our stops, but our decison has been food is not something we want to push on the girls. It's just not worth it at each meal. Amy and I have noted at least a dozen nice places that in another life time we could have went to, but so far this trip we've played it close to the vest with less adventurous meals. That being said the girls have tried eight new foods on their challenge to hit one-hundred.
Yesterday we swapped partners and Nina and I went out exploring the city while Amy and Celeste hung around the apartment doing school work. After a pancake breakfast Nina and I went to Vondel Park which is right in the center of the city. It's a gorgeous park with many great nooks and crannies. A nice one we found was the huge treehouse that Nina played in for awhile. Sadly all the rest of the kids in Amsterdam are in school so she had the whole place to herself.
After going to the park we took a boat tour of the city. We kicked back and enjoyed our Heineken and Sprite respectively as we sat out back. During the circuit we met a lovely woman from, of all places, Levittown, NY, who was traveling on her own. She was 75. Yes 75 and she takes trips like the one she was on for one month at a time. Her travel resume was quite impressive including a stop in Peru and part of the Incan trail. She showed me her notes for Amsterdam and her writing looked a lot like my mother's. No computer print out. We had a nice time chatting with her and thinking back it would have been nice to invite her to dinner.
When we got back I took the opportunity to go for a run in the park, Westepark, across the street from us. That Amsterdam rain started and I was treated to a glorious rainbow the entire time I was running. A great mix of people filled the park - locals running, herbsman, and chess players.
Because our departure plans got somewhat stymied we stayed another night in Amsterdam, which was fine with us all given how much we've enjoyed it here. Amy found that the main concert hall in Amsterdam, the Concertgebuow, has free lunchtime concerts each Wednesday. We went to the performance which included quite the odd arrangement - a piano, violin, stand-up bass, electric guitar, and wait for it...an accordion. We enjoyed the performance along with the other 1000 or so attendees in the gorgeous hall which has hosted many philarmonics along with Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughn and Sonny Rollins.
After lunch we made one more stop at the Flowermarkt which is a floating nursery. Plenty of beautiful flowers to imagine planting. Oh, and how can I forget perhaps the grandest event of the week. After much pleading and begging Amy and I decided to let the kids have a Rolo McFlurry at McDonalds (yes, that dreaded place again, but it just keeps rearing it's head at the most opportune times). I don't think I've ever seen my kids hug and kiss each other with so much enthusiasm.
We had a great dinner tonight at our treehouse apartment and we're packing up for our next destination tomorrow - Berlin.
I'm ready for the gridlock
I'm ready... to take it to the street
I'm ready for the shuffle
Ready for the deal
Ready to let go of the steering wheel
I'm ready
Ready for the crush
AG
- comments
Ted Barklage Don't know where you guys are headed in Germany, but I had a friend that went there a few years ago and raved about this historic site: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/tribune/berchtesgaden.htm
Kathy Essma My 30 yr.old chiropractor (resident) at Logan College just got back from Amsterdam. He, of course, mentioned all of the bikes, how quiet it is in the daytime,, and the partying among the young crowd at night --of course, also the Anne Frank museum. You are certainly living a dream. Love, Aunt Kathy