The lost post - should be between #4 and #5
Loading Map
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
An early blog session. 5:00am local time. I'll explain why later. I don't really mind except there is no coffee available yet.
Can't get in to Travelpod this morning so using email.
Sunday started off with another delightful breakfast, served by the lovely Franca, at the same spot we went yesterday. Boring, I know, but they were the only place open at 9:30am and I was pretty ravenous. The others know better than to ask me to wait for food. Plus, there really is nothing quite like the comfort of knowing the food that will be delivered is a known entitiy and will prove eminently satsifying. Don has a huge beenham en klaas omelet (ham and cheese) - for those of you non-dutch speakers out there. Heidi gets another croissant and Judy gets this huge bowl of grains and another similar sized of plain yogurt... I have no words for my opinion of this repast.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned how spectatcular the weather has been since we arrived. A little warm perhaps but just amazing blue skys days and mild nights.
Off to see some sights. We decide to tour a local Windmill that is within walking distance. After a brief struggle about who will navigate us there - I apparently was in error thinking that Heidi would just throw rocks at my left or right side to guide me through the entire vacation - we find our destination. The mill wis right on the make river going through Harleem and had burned down in the early 1930. It was rebuilt in the early 2000s as a historic sight. So one of those really cool places where you have a historically accurate setting without having to worry that you'll put your foot throught the ancient floorboards. I enjoyed this emmensely. The post and beam construction was amazing and they really did take some time to explain the various usages for windmills and even some Windmill 101 engineering. The view from the top was very nice. Our tour guuide mentioned several times that the last official purpose of the mill was to turn Corn in to Wheat. A neat trick that I'd like to see. No wonder the Dutch are such a content people - they're magical.
The next stop was a canal cruise. It was described in the tour book as "More relaxing than informative" so I had managed expectations. Our captain came by and handed us a paper with English descriptions of the sights we would see, but said he would also explain them in English over the PA. The craft was largely enclosed with big glass and plastic windows. I also noticed that it wasn't in the best of repair; duct tape and cable ties figuring prominenetly in ther craft's design, but it was seaworthy nontheless. After a few sunny minutes in this glass tube I began to understand how that ant felt after I got my first Christmas magnifying glass. Fortunately I was able to stick my head out of the sunroof for some air. Which worked pretty good until we passed under "Spider Bridge"... ewwwww. It was a nice ride, but when the caption spoke over the PA it was impossible to distinguish his english words from their Dutch counterparts and there was no way I was sticking my head back in the sauna to read the card. Oh well, it was a relaxing ride, the waters were calm and I had a great excuse for needing to resume the European Beer tour.
We went back to the Market square and Heidi and I split a ham and cheese Panini and Don and Judy had a cheese pizza. The food was simple but not bad. I have a Heineken. So far, this one is my favorite. I'm sure one of my beer-snob friends can tell me why, based on their analysis of my beer drinking habits and their esteemed knowledge of the brewing specifics of Heineken. I can hardly wait for the report.
The tour kicked off at 4:45, so we had some time to kill. We went back to the hotel to do - ugh, laundry. Hedid washing in the sink, Steve rinsing in the bathtub. One of the neccessary evils of this trip.
The tour finally started in the hotel restaurant downstairs. 27 travelers and our tour guide Jennifer. We started with the session with the old - tell us your name, where you're from and what you're most exited about. I said something innane about wanting to acquire a taste for European Beers. Heidi said she was excited about something my brain interpreted as 'blah, blah,blah" (sorry dear). Don impressed all with a short diatribe regarding his desire to prove some other blogger wrong who had said "don't go on this trip if you're over 70". ... did Judy speak...??
Our tour guide then began to go over the rules, guidelines, warnings and agenda of the trip. I came fully on board when she talked about [paraphrased] - 'we'll leave your ass if you're not on time' - I got chills. She also went at length to encourage us to wear our nasty, belly sweat inducing money belts with tales of how previous tour members had been pilfered. Thank god for Heidi. She'll endure that suffereing for both of us. After the lecture I did start to get the sense that the vacation\vacation is coming to an end and the work\vacation was about to start. Better strap it up and get serious about this vacation thing.
We walked to dinner for Indonesioan food. I know that those of you who are accustomed to my finicky nature are now snickering as you imagine my reaction. I was surprised to fine the meal quite tasty and easy to enjoy. Heineken rounded out the repast.
After dinner we hooked up with at local tour guide, Franz who led us doen the streets of Haarlem and dispensed the local lore. This is what I cam for. I love this kind of thing. He stopped at various store fronts that had designs patterned in the bricks bu the doors. We all guessed at what sort of shop might have originally been at that spot based on the design. THe first one looked like scissors. I thought - that is a representation of 'cutting someone off' - must have been a pub. The next one was a Pestal i.e. mortar and pestal, but it looked also like a chalice.... pub.
Later, we stopped in front of one of those cannibus/coffee houses and Franz estalled the virtues of Holland's sociliast society - low crime, diminishing drug use, surveyed as 'the happiest country on the planet'. OH! I wanted to ask him about the taxes SO BAD. I held off.
One more gelato and off to bed. Early start tomorrow (thus the super ealy blog session). I hope Don and Judy make it.
Gelato flavors so far:
Chocolate mint (labeled 'after Eight') in the shop
Amaretto
Speculaas (flavored after some Dutch spice cookie) - oh man was that on good
Oh Yeah - it rained last night and the forecast for today is gloomy. I gues only someone from Colorado could envision a three week vacation where the weather is nice every day
