Blogs from Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 2

Monarch Empress remained docked overnight in Amsterdam. Morning sightseeing began at 9:00 a.m. Neils, the local guide, narrated a brief coach tour around Amsterdam. Susan and I recognized many landmarks from our 2014 visit to Amsterdam: the Rijksmuseum, Concertgebouw, Vondelpark, and the RAI Amsterdam exhibition complex. New sights appeared: a residential area of fine houses, the former German Synagogue, now the Jewish Museum, and the seventeenth-century Munttoren. Then we made a stop at the Die Riekermolen. I did not know Amsterdam had a windmill! (It has more than one, actually.) This one was built in 1636 on the city's outskirts at that time. It is a pumping mill intended to pump water from the polder into the Amstel River. It is still occasionally used for this function. Now it was time for the Amsterdam canal tour. ... read more

1. Mombasa I began what felt like the longest day of my life (no night sleeps, but several naps) in Mombasa, Kenya. It was 4am on Wednesday and I'd had less than 4 hours of sleep because--well, you know how it is when you're about to travel. The last day in town is always the busiest, and then I'm a last-minute packer anyways, so I was up until midnight packing. Thought I'd sleep, but noisy neighbors and late-night drunks had other ideas. My tuk-tuk was there at 4:30 to take me to the bus station. There I boarded a Tawakal bus to Dar Es Salaam. Slept a bit on the bus and arrived in Dar around 6pm. I'm skipping a lot there. The bus ride from Dar was far from uneventful. After sleeping most of the ... read more

And so it begins....with a wild ride to JFK by kamikaze driver. Had my eyes shut all the way and shivered under the air conditioning. Exited the car and....you guessed it..... managed to fall flat on my back. Hopefully I got that out of the way. I was trying to wrestle the suitcase, carryon, handbag, jacket and cane. Did I ask for help? Once on the ground I gathered myself, asked for my wheelchair, checked in and headed to the gate. My wheelchair driver did not take me to the TSA pre check at first and the checkin line was very, very long. My advice is to get TSA Precheck or plan for three hours to check in. Once on the right line I breezed through, enjoyed my security massage and settled down in the lounge. ... read more

Sunday was about the two other famous museums in Amsterdam: the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum. The Van Gogh is structured as a narrative which takes you through his development as an artist. Fascinating, engrossing and ultimately overwhelming in it's detail. I had heard that many of his famous works are elsewhere which seems to be true. Much of what is on the wall is "developmental"; i.e. he was working on his approach and technique. Many of these pieces seem weaker than those he is known for. Nevertheless, there is plenty of "good stuff" like "Wheatfield with Crows" with that distinctive thick palette and bold color. The Rijksmuseum which is the size of an modern indoor arena has a vast collection but we were there to see the "Dutch Masters" (Vermeer, Rembrandt et al) and the collection ... read more

As noted in an earlier post, we learned Wednesday that our train to Amsterdam was cancelled due to a train strike in the Netherlands. We booked a bus (Flixbus, very impressive) with reserved seats for 1:00 PM today. The adventure began when we tried to get a taxi to our apartment on Grand Place which is on a street for pedestrians only. We picked a likely intersection and used the "Green Taxi" app (Taxi Vert) to get a ride. The first driver called us after we noticed he was seeming to get further away from us but he did not speak any English. We gathered that our location was not accessible. He cancelled without further comment. A second driver (a true gentleman) worked with us for about 20 minutes to get a mutually convenient rendezvous. Got ... read more