Sunday-Jan 18th - Amsterdam

Journaled by KD:

William and David are such gracious hosts and a LOT of fun to hang out with. First off, they insisted that Karen and I take BOTH of their beds. No matter how we protested, they would have none of it. William took the couch and David made a pallet on the floor.

We woke up this morning to a grey, misty, blustery day, but we were prepared with rain coats and scarves. William had loaned me a wool sweater and David had given Karen and I t shirts and boxer shorts to wear to bed. David made another call to the airport and discovered that our bags FINALLY showed up. Karen, who had been highly distressed at the loss of her clothes and especially her shoes, did a little happy dance. YAY, we won't have to wash out undies tonight. We headed out to Amsterdam with a stop along the way at the airport.
Amsterdam is lovely. Apartments line almost every street - 3 & 4 story brownstone type buildings with small cars and bicycles parked along the narrow streets. We discovered quickly to watch out for bicycles. LOTS and LOTS of people ride bikes at breakneck speeds with just a little ding ding of their bell to warn you out of their way. We had several near misses!

We started off at the Van Gogh museum. I was amazed how close we were allowed to get to these wonderful original paintings. They checked our coats and belongings for free and then we had to pass through a metal detector. We saw paintings from all stages of his short career. I was not fond of his darker early work.

Next, we continued to walk through downtown, admiring the scenery, shops, people and canals. We stopped at the world famous Bulldog where they sell weed legally. Patrons can buy and smoke it in the cafe. Karen made a few purchases for for the men in her life. (not the herb) :)We were quite hungry by then and walked down several colorful streets and alleys to David's favorite little burger spot called the Burger Barn. Fries and mayo are a big favorite here. I had a 120 kg burger with fries and a hot mayo sauce. It was a narrow store with just a few seats and it was well worth the walk.

Our next stop was the Anne Frank house/museum and on our way the rain came down in earnest with strong, icy cold winds. David kept saying that this was typical weather for Holland. It sure didn't stop anyone from going about their business. Mom's were riding bikes with infants strapped to their chest or in seat attached. A lot of people carry passengers sitting sidesaddle on the back of the bike. Children are wrapped up, zipped up and scarfed. Everyone wears scarves around here! Anyway, along the way to Anne Frank, we walked down one red light district street. David said we can't photograph the girls, so I got one quick shot of the street. Girls sood or lounged in picture windows. It was kinda weird and creepy. The Anne Frank house was VERY MOVING. We walked though the actual building and rooms that the 8 people lived in hiding. Ican't believe that I've never read Anne Frank's Diary. I'll get a copy when I get home. It was a very sobering journey through that house. The scary part is it all happened not so long ago.

Now we've headed home to get comfortable and watch football on David's computer live from the Us via Sling Box. We're going to use some of David and Williams's photos because David is a fabulous photographer with an awesome camera. The weather is so grey that my camera isn't capturing exactly what I want.