We plan and God laughs or It was a dark and stormy night

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We had the perfect plan for our last day in London (this is the part where God laughs) and we were really excited to be able to check off all the items on our bucket list for this trip. Until I went to the fitness center and while riding a bike, tuned into BBC morning news and caught coverage of the impending storm of the century (this is where Hal would chide me and remind me that no good ever comes from exercise because if I hadn't gone down to ride the bike, we would have gone off on our adventures in gleeful ignorance and our day would have been saved). At any rate, I did see the coverage but couldn't determine if this was an actual event or more like the killer snowflake coverage in Cincinnati.

We decided to be prudent and go to the Charles Dickens house and see what happened over the course of an hour--if all was still good, we would continue, if not we would reassess and formulate a new plan and course of action. Alas, we came out of the Dickens' house and the wind had picked up and the rain had begun.....darn......this wasn't good. On top of that, there was now talk of flights being cancelled, trains being slowed down, 60 mm of rain and 70 mph winds. Hmmm, definitely not the killer snowflake of Cincinnati. So, we made the gut wrenching decision that it would be in our best interest to leave London early so we didn't miss the ferry. Besides, we really didn't want to walk around seeing the sights with the wind and rain in our faces. So we packed up, walked in the rain to the bus stop to take the bus to the train station to take the first of two trains to the port city of Harwich (pronounced like hair-itch). Needless to say we got there hours before departure, there were no services available, it was cold inside, the wind was howling outside, people kept dribbling in all day with the same idea to beat the storm and we finally did leave around 11:30 at night.

Well, you know those commercials where they tell you these big ships are great and you won't feel the rolls of the waves and pitches in a storm--they lie. That's it, they lie. They must. We felt every wave, every time the ship was pitched by a big wave the ship rose and crashed down. Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all; Nathan on the other hand managed to sleep through it all which is so surprising because he really hates this sort of stuff. Morning finally rolled around and we lived through the night--it's all about making memories! We went down for breakfast and I felt like I was having an attack of vertigo except it was just the roll and pitch of the ship. Whew, I was glad to get off and onto land. Sort of.....then we had a 2 hour train ride into Amsterdam.....will this never end? Why didn't we fly???? Oh yeah, this sounded like fun 😊. Well, it did back in September and October when the sun was shining and it was still warm outside. But now that it was cold, wet, windy and there is less than 8 hours of daylight each day, it's not so much fun.

But, then we started riding through the country and it really is pretty--all those canals and towns, bikes everywhere you look, literally hundreds of bikes parked by every train stop. And then we arrived in Amsterdam and it was all worth the trouble. We spent the afternoon at the Van Gogh Museum and it was transforming--the building itself is another architectural wonder--Sarah needs to take a trip to Europe and see the buildings. They are so inspiring. And Van Gogh's work--seeing so much of it in one space was almost overwhelming. They had it divided into floors by periods of his work and his mentors and teachers and we could watch his progress as an artist. They have been trying an experiment in allowing people to take photographs of pictures the Museum owns without flash and to me it was so disruptive. Nathan thought it was great and he took a bunch. I asked one of the employees why people were being allowed to take these pictures--honestly I've been to a lot of museums and I have never seen people taking pictures before--she said it was an experiment they had been trying but it would be over in 14 days. I told her I thought that was a good thing. Most of the people weren't even looking at the art, they were just walking up to it and snapping a picture. UGH.

After the museum we went searching for food and since it was Christmas Eve we thought we might have trouble. We were pleasantly surprised that there were lots of choices around our hotel. Keeping up the fine Jewish tradition, we opted for a Korean Barbeque that was really good although a bit expensive--we can't seem to eat anywhere that isn't expensive; we keep trying and it just doesn't happen. We did not, however, find a cinema to complete the tradition by going to a movie. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, those of us who don't celebrate Christmas generally find ourselves going out for Asian food and to a movie with family and friends; it's a time-honored tradition.

Tomorrow we have a full day planned with the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank House, the Portuguese Synagogue, more food (we have to eat) and whatever else we find to keep ourselves amused. And the best part is that it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow! No more dark and stormy nights after tonight. We hope everyone is home with loved ones tonight celebrating in whatever manner you and your family choose. May the year ahead be one of peace, health and happiness and may you be blessed with people with whom you can make memories.

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