Arrival in Amsterdam

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The first leg of our flight landed in Frankfurt and we made our way through the vast terminal to our departure gate for the short hop to Amsterdam. Everything continued to go smoothly, but we were all quite ready to be done travelling when we arrived at our hotel. The “family room” at Hotel Estherea is definitely going to be cozy for the four of us, but comfortable enough. It was getting close to dinner time by the time we checked in and we pushed ourselves to get back out of the hotel without much lounging. The weather report for our stay in Amsterdam calls for a lot of rain, but we arrived to great weather and wanted to enjoy it while we could. We walked around a bit in the area of the hotel, exploring one of the canals and getting a sense of the local atmosphere. During a discussion of the aroma of marijuana smoke, Lauren noted that the smell was familiar to her from the ski resort and trips to Great America. We quickly agreed upon an Italian restaurant, having concluded that the recommended Dutch restaurant might be more of a challenge than we were up for in our weary state. After dinner, moods were improved and we continued to walk for a bit. It was after nine and still quite light outside as we made our way toward the center of town. Andrew posed for a photo at the edge of the red light district (they have actual red LED lights!), and we started to walk back towards the hotel. Although we were nearly home, Andrew was compelled to try out a public urinal he discovered earlier. Basically it is nothing more than a half-spiral of privacy screen and a vertical cement wall above a drain, but clearly a practical solution to limiting public urination in a town of excesses. Sonia and John enjoyed the kids’ independence and had a nightcap in the hotel bar while Lauren and Andrew unwound in the room.

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