Amsterdam

Hello Family and Friends!

We're writing this blog post from the lovely small city of Haarlem, a suburb of Amsterdam. Since we live in a suburb, we figured staying in one in Europe would be a good idea :-) It's quiet and peaceful, and only 20 minutes by train from the big city. Well, mostly peaceful...Picture this: dozens of grown men riding teeny-tiny Honda 50 cc motor bikes, with their knees practically up under their chins, meeting in the church square on a Sunday afternoon. This was one of our first sights in Haarlem, passing strange!

We are staying in a cute B&B with our hostess Rhoda. As Rhoda herself noted, she talks a lot. What she doesn't seem to be aware of is the fact that she often clucks like a chicken. I'm serious!

We managed  to conquer jet lag the first day. The trick? Simply stay awake for 36 hours straight. Voila: no more jet lag! The downside was being so punchy on Sunday night that we missed our stop on the train ride back  from the city. Who needs (legal) marijuana to feel stoned?

First, let's get the usual bits out of the way. Amsterdam is full of tall, narrow, drunkenly-tilting buildings; it seems like everyone smokes; there are literally a half-million simple and sturdy single-speed bikes, all in various states of rust and disrepair and most apparently dating from the 1960s . The streets are full of tall, blonde, stylish, good looking men -- I mean people! And hot women on bicycles. (Frank made me add that last bit..)

A little less expected: virtually all the Dutch we have met are brisk, cheerful and speak excellent English. The number of people we have seen begging? Zero. We asked about homelessness: there is some, but the police take people to shelters every night. Another guest at the B&B said there is lots of help -- "perhaps too much" -- for mentally ill people. It's hard to imagine.

On Monday, we visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Both were satisfying, pinch-me-am-I-really-here experiences.  Anne Frank house was simple and straight-forward, allowing visitors to experience their own reactions to the fate of the Frank family and the holocaust in general. On Tuesday, it was more museums and more walking. As my dear friend Michelle pointed out, I am very lucky that Frank likes museums and art galleries as much as I do...or at least pretends to!

The Red Light District was tame in comparison to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver: we saw half a dozen healthy-looking and surprisingly-beautiful prostitutes in their windows, texting and sipping Starbucks coffee . The special cake we bought was,well, underwhelming. (Shoulda eaten the whole thing...) Other local specialties we have sampled so far include pickled herring (disgusting), waffles with syrup (okay), and French fries with mayonnaise, except here they're called Flemish fries (yum).

Today, we will explore Haarlem by bike. Then this evening we fly to Vienna for the next leg of our trip.

To conclude, let me take a page from the Book of Awesome. Losing your brand new wool cardigan in a city of over 800,000 people, retracing your steps 2 hours later, and finding said cardigan helpfully tied to a post: now that is truly awesome, and made me whoop and do a happy dance! Funny how, even when you are traveling in faraway places, it's the small things that can make your day.

That's it for now, or this will never get posted. We wish you all well and hope you enjoy reading our somewhat self-indulgent blog!

Wendy and Frank