Blogs from Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 9

July 17 We now interrupt this blog transmission for a moment of history in our world. Okay who among you reading this blog learned that in the year 1620 the Pilgrims left Plymouth England and headed out to the new world? Well I'm here to tell you there was sooooo much more to the story! Every trip I take I discover astonishing facts about history that didn't make it into our school books, for instance: Most students don’t learn about the time the Pilgrims spent in Holland. They weren't called Pilgrims then, they were called Separatist because they were "separating" from their church and they arrived in Holland from England in about 1609. Seems they quickly learned that they needed more than Holland had to offer and thought their children may be becoming "too Dutch" which ... read more

After the craziness of trying to find our bus, our travel to Amsterdam went smoothly...until we tried to store our luggage. Despite what at least 2 websites claimed, there is no luggage storage at Amsterdam Sloterdijk and the luggage storage onsite at Amsterdam Central is only available if you have a train ticket. Sigh. Thankfully, we were directed to a luggage storage place just down the street - where you can also rent bikes. We did not participate in the bike rental, but dumped our stuff and went to go find a quick meal before going on a canal tour. I highly recommend a canal tour since Amsterdam is a city on water. According to our tour, there are over a thousand bridges. The canals are also the only place that you are safe from the ... read more

Andernach to Amsterdam We set sail early the next day and arrived in Cologne around mid day. After lunch we did a walking tour of Cologne and of course the majestic Koln Cathedral. I stayed in Cologne back in the 80’s and early 90’s when we would come over for the massive furniture hardware show, so I was pretty familiar with the city, even after all these years not much has changed. When you consider that 90% of the city was destroyed during WW2 with hardly any damage to the cathedral was testament to the accuracy of the British bombers. I think the most disappointing thing we have seen since we landed in Europe, including Spain, is the disrespect of the environment by SMOKERS!! they just throw their old cigarette butts on the ground and walk ... read more

After breakfast, which was quiet and peaceful with so many of the guests sleeping in, we made our way to the Waterlooplein Market to check out the local goods. It was a cold and blustery and rainy day so we had to bundle up and there wasn’t much to see at opening time of 9:30. However we did a have a nice conversation with a Israeli woman who had children spread all over the world. Note: your life is in your hands as you make your way around the city. The order of importance is: trams, bicycles, cars and people. If there were room on the wheels of the bicycles it would show the number of people run down, like the number of cars destroyed in a demolition derby. You have to look both ways, for ... read more

Not today … John slept in after a raucous night of thunder and lightening and heavy rains. But upon opening the curtains it is cloudy but clear. Maybe this is Camelot. As we traveled around the city we found that there were some high winds last night. Five or more large and old trees fell on one canal alone. We saw the result, including crushed boats and damage to the sidewalks and canals. Global warming. We made it to the Rijksmuseum just as it opened and scooted into the Rembrandt special exhibit of almost all of his drawings and a number of his paintings, laid out over at least seven galleries. What a thrill to see all of his most intimate work. His drawings bring you into personal relationship with the people he was observing. You ... read more