Pedaling Through Petals

Several months have passed since my last international trip...so many in fact that the Department of Homeland Security was concerned that something had happened to me as I'd not popped on on their list of entries in the past few months. Not wanting to worry the Gov't I jumped over to Amsterdam for the weekend on Northwest's only direct long-haul international flight out of Memphis. Biz class both ways, super cush.

Jetted off with Tim, who works in accounting and allowed me to indoctrinate him into the world of weekend trips to the other side of the planet. Buses leave directly from the Amsterdam airport to the 'tulip country' about 30 mins away where the bulbous plans take advantage of the sandy soil common in this part of Holldand (note that much of the land in the Netherlands is reclaimed from the sea, hence the ubiquitous canals). Instead of touring Keukenhof (aka 'Tulip Land') we rented bikes just outside and set off through the blooming tulip fields all the way out to the coast. It was a beautiful day at only 65 degrees and the flat landscape makes for an easy ride. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (though I'll be throwing in a few captions as always) but it really was a fantastic trip.

Departed Memphis Friday at 7:40pm, arrived Amsterdam Saturday at 12:15pm, departed Amsterdam 2pm Sunday arrived back in Memphis at 5:15 and back at my house at 5:50 (it pays to be up front and be the first to the passport control line!)

The city had some appeal but from what I encountered it was all about sex and drugs (prostitution is legal and soft-drug use is 'tolerated'). I'm sure there is much more happening there (like cheese and clog production) and perhaps I'll see more on a future visit. We only arrived in the city (because we were out biking) at 7pm which didn't allow much time to appreciate the canal crossed city's charms.

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