Blogs from Netherlands, Europe - page 385

Bikes bikes everywhere. Perhaps this is the reason why the Dutch are so slim, and we in North America…are so not. Bicycles seem to outnumber the cars on the roads. Why not? Holland is a flat country rendering it ideal for biking, and the Dutch sure take full advantage of this fact in their infrastructure planning. There are designated “bike-only” along every street, and many streets in the city center are only accessible by bike or foot. Boys, girls, jeans, mini-skirts, pregnant mothers, grandfathers, and families - they all rode their bikes! That morning I visited the Van Gogh Museum; the other, larger and more comprehensive, museum was called the Rijksmuseum and housed famous works by Vermeer and Rembrandt. I could only see one however so I choose the former. At first, Van Gogh’s brush strokes ... read more

Going Dutch Its been little more than 48 hours since we last blogged, but as we sit inside our pantry sized 2 person sleeping car traveling overnight from the land of wooden clogs to the Bavarian favorite, Munich we have decided to write this blog together to tell you a little bit about our adventures in Amsterdam. Some of you mentioned that the Paris blog was lengthy, however, rest assured this one should be a bit shorter…but no guarantees. To our new readers welcome and feel free to catch up by reading our previous postings, to our old readers (i.e. people who have read the blog before not the AARP contingent) welcome back and we hope you continue to enjoy reading our musings as much as we enjoy writing them. Lastly, we really enjoy comments and ... read more

After three hours of sleep, I awoke at 9 exhausted. Today I was to heading to Amsterdam, and my mode of transportation was with Jochem’s rowing team in a twenty-year-old limousine. They were heading to the Southern Netherlands, and were able to swing by Amsterdam to deposit me. It was nice to have had the opportunity to stay with Jochem and Jaust, and perhaps I will see them again someday. I arrived in Amsterdam around 5:00, and due to the late hour and lack of planning ahead, all the hostels were booked and I took the cheapest hotel I could find which was 50 Euros. My first night in Amsterdam, it was obvious as to the place that I should first investigate - the Red Light District. I sauntered up to the District about 9 that ... read more

Today I arose at 0345 hr in order to grab a ‘taxibus’ that was to take me to the Geneva airport. Having worked on my presentation the previous night until about 12:00 p.m., I felt like I had never gone to sleep at all. My EasyJet flight was in the air by 0630 and we touched down to a beautiful day in Amsterdam at 0830. Groningen, the town where the conference was held, is situated in the north of The Netherlands. Thankfully, due to its small size, a train from the center (Amsterdam) to the north only takes 2.5 hours. I arrived in Groningen at 12:00 and was shortly therein whisked away by a member of the ISCOMS organizing committee to the faculty of medicine building. Here is where I registered and received my information packet ... read more

June 9, 2005 Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean… I guess you could say I had my first special moment, I woke up, the plane was very quiet and the sun was rising in all its crimson and yellow rays, over the ocean. I was listening to Bob Marley on the Ipod and it hit me what a journey this was. It actually brought tears to my eyes. The song was “Every little thing gonna be alright”… Michael Cox, I thought about you and your love for Bob Marley. And then the next song was U-2’s One which is the theme song for the ONE Campaign… DATA campaign ending World Hunger, Poverty and HIV. For those that don’t know about Bono’s campaign please go to the www.one.org or www.data.org site. They have helped me with this trip ... read more