Scandinavia - Thursday, September 10, 2015.

Up at 6:00 for our last full day in Amsterdam, and in Europe.  Down to breakfast at 8:30; however no full serve breakfast, but a buffet instead.  Evidently the hotel has a big conference that started yesterday, and I don't think they have the staff to handle a large group of sit down diners all at once.

We order a cab for the ride to the Van Gogh museum this morning.  We arrive shortly after opening and there are no lines.  We spend two and one-half hours in this thoroughly modern facility.  The information is vast, and the art work is obviously stunning.  My own feeling is that the process and the listening aids are not as smoothly laid out as they could be.  That said, it was still a wonderful experience and I will bring home a much greater depth of understanding of his work.

We then traveled next door to the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art.  We only looked at the gift shop and then stopped in their cafe for a quick split sandwich.

We then moved on to the Rijksmuseum, the National museum of Amsterdam, housing Rembrandt and Vermeer paintings among many other artifacts.  In this one, we could only rush from room to room, catching just the highlights.  Too much info and not nearly enough days to do this justice.  Thereafter we stopped for some snacks of Danish bites, and a glass before beginning the long march back to the hotel, looking for a restaurant along the way.

We came to Moeder's (Mother's) a restaurant recommended to us yesterday by our guide/driver Jan.  We tried it and it was truly local Dutch food; braised beef and cabbage over boiled potatoes, Hotch-Potch, which turned out to be mashed potatoes and cabbage, accompanied by sausage and a meatball, and spareribs with french fries.  Excellent ending of our feasting our way through Scandinavia.

Home to our hotel after quite a hike by 10:00.  Time to re-pack and prepare for our flight home tomorrow.

Scandinavia - Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Up at 6:00 this morning.  Down to the lounge area of this barge/hotel for our choice of Good Breakfast, Continental Breakfast, or English Breakfast.  We picked one English, one Continental and two Good.  The food was excellent and well presented.  This place never ceases to amaze.

Our car and driver, Mercedes and Jan respectively arrived just before nine, and we set off on a 5 hour tour of Amsterdam and surrounds.  According to Jan, there are 800,000 residents in central Amsterdam, 800,000 bicycles, and what seems like an equal number of vehicles and motor scooters.  Copenhagen's bicycle traffic was enormous, but compered to this, much more orderly and civilized.  Walking in central Amsterdam is hazardous.  I thought the bicycle storage in Copenhagen's streets was vast, but Amsterdam's is mind bending.

According to Jan, the rule in Amsterdam is that a collision between an auto/truck and a bicycle is always the auto's fault.  Although the bicycle always suffers the most, the auto pays.

I am sure glad that Jan was driving, as the narrow, crowded streets were harrowing just as a passenger.  We eventually toured outside the city, into the suburbs by about 15 kilometers, and the scenery, greenery and water were amazing.  All of Amsterdam is approximately 4 feet below sea level, so there is constant pumping of ground water into the lakes and drying of the land for farming. 

We went to a small cheese making operation and learned how the cheese was produced, sampled a number of varieties, and then made some purchases.  We will see if we can get it home to the U.S. for sampling.

We ended our motor tour around 1:30 and were dropped near the Ann Frank House to stand in line for the tour of the house and museum.  Tickets were not available in advance, although Deb had been trying for months.  The ticket line was anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours.  Our wait was approximately 45 minutes. 

The Ann Frank story, though familiar is a truly inspiring one. To see the size of the rooms and hear her words  from the diary, and to understand her father's perseverance in getting the diary published and the museum established was well worth the wait.  We spent approximately 2 and one-half hours doing this tour and shop. We ended with a glass of wine and a shared sandwich in the museum cafe before ambling back via the winding streets along the canals to our hotel about 6:15.

We ended the evening with a 2 hour dinner cruise along the canals.  The food was very good, the wine copious, but the tour portion lacked much depth.  Although we had earlier faulted Jan, our driver, for not imparting much knowledge, the dinner cruise proved that we had learned much more than we thought. Home to hotel and bed by 10:15.  A good long day.

Scandinavia - Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Our penultimate travel day.  Although our first impression of Copenhagen was that of a drab and dirty megapolis, we have found it an enjoyable place. I for one, would like to return to explore in more depth.  Awake and facing the world by 6:00.  Repacked and prepared the luggage for the trip.  The amount of belongings has increased - what a surprise.

We met in the lobby and walked around the corner to the coffee shop/patisserie for a cup and some pastry.  Then back to the lobby to haul luggage down and order up the taxi to the airport.

Again, we found ourselves assigned to "1st Class" seats (what a travel agent we have!) and therefore were eligible for access to the SAS lounge where free food and drink were available.  As we had 90 minutes before flight; we were obliged to partake of their largesse.

The flight left early (!!) and we arrived in Amsterdam at noon.  Our car and driver were a little late, but after we were on the road, we could see why - the traffic was extremely heavy, and the drive in was 30-40 minutes.

We arrived at our last hotel, The Good Hotel.  This is quite the establishment.  It is a temporary hotel that has been open only 3 months.  It is constructed on a barge in the river, and will be shipped in mass to Rio de Janeiro for re-erection at the 2016 Olympic games.  All the employees are disadvantaged people who are being trained for the hospitality industry.  The entire operation is eco-friendly and this is a not for profit endeavor.  The rooms are small but unique.  I urge all to visit their website, www.goodhospitality.org to learn more.

We struck out on a walkabout, navigating the rush at the Central train station and into the Old Town.  We stopped at the Tourist information center for some directions, and as we were leaving, Deb missed a step and took a tumble.  The result was a broken pair of eyeglasses, a gash near her eye and what eventually will be a nice shiner.  No broken bones or damaged knees, but soreness will be on the agenda tomorrow.  (Note to those who might like to see, Deb will show you the scar, and I will show the photo for payment of a fee.)

Deb insisted we continue the walk, and Dr. Howie, after a quick examination to determine her life wasn't in danger, agreed that it was OK to continue.  We made the short hike to the "red light district" but found no women in the windows.  We did see an array of sex toys such as I have never seen nor imagined. We backtracked to a recommended restaurant, The Grasshopper for wine and burgers.

A walk back to the hotel by 9:00 and into bed for reading and rest.  An eventful first day in Amsterdam.