Amsterdam
After checking in we went exploring while waiting for Andy to be free so he could meet us at our hotel. Their Queen’s birthday celebration was the 30th. This is a yearly event drawing an additional crowd of 800,000 to the city. We saw the aftermath but by Monday afternoon it was very clean. They were still having a carnival in one area on Sunday and we ate lunch there. We had a fish dish and a coke.
Our hotel was on the edge of the Red Light District. There were shops selling the unseemly and irreverent in beautiful historic buildings between nice restaurants and tourist shops selling wooden shoes, scarves, tulips and t-shirts. There were drug, not the kind for aspirin, and tobacco stores and occasionally an old church.
Andy came to our hotel that afternoon. After a long, big hug he took us on a walking tour. He seemed sophisticated and older. No southern accent. He is enjoying his study program, especially the other American college students. They are mostly from the east coast. His roommate goes to school in Boston. Andy chose Amsterdam because it was overseas, with an English speaking university. He could get an international experience without struggling with language.
Amsterdam is flat. The only hills are the bridges that go over canals. We first went to the library. Besides books, it had a current exhibit of Dutch patents. Since the library is several stories high you can get a good look at the city. We went from there to walk the streets and find a place for dinner. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. It was not bombed during World War II. From the train station there are arcs of canals and streets. There are many boats and houseboats. We saw buildings leaning sideways and even forward. Andy explained that the entire city was built on logs that they piled into the water hundreds of years ago and under water they do not rot.
Next morning we went to the Keukenhof in Lisse, Holland. It was gorgeous. The Keukenhof is a large park surrounded by fields of tulips being cultivated. I noticed that several tulip companies created the gardens. Wendell uploaded a few pictures of me and the tulips to Facebook. We ate fried ham on a bun from a park vendor and ice-cream. That night we took Andy and his roommate, Mike, who is from Rhode Island to dinner. He has nice manners and was quite personable.
Tuesday we rented bicycles. I was pretty nervous. It was so crowded. I ran over a man’s foot. “So sorry!” Andy took us lots of places including the Anne Franke House, Rembrandt’s home,Bloemenmarkt and the University of Amsterdam’s botanical garden. The Anne Franke House tour was quite moving.
They displayed all kinds of pictures and short films of people involved in the story. We went up the hidden stairway and saw the attic. They had a short film by Otto Frank in his later years discussing how surprised he was by the mature and thought provoking things Anne had written in her diary. He said, “I have come to the conclusion parents really never know their children.”
Berlin
Wednesday we flew Easy Jet to Berlin. Peter and Ursula met us at the airport. She brought us to their flat via bus and U bonn and served us breakfast…fresh orange juice, scrambled eggs, all kinds of croissants and brochen, sausages, cheese, grapes and the first good coffee in Europe. She likes it more American style.
That afternoon we toured a giant glass dome that they have built over their parliament building which was bombed during World War II. This gave us a commanding view of the city.
We got to see the raising of a small draw bridge (one of the oldest in Europe). They lift the bridge every hour for the boat traffic. The university is old and there are monastary ruins dating back to 1199.
On our return to Berlin, it was a two hour train ride from Berlin each way, Ursula and I had a wonderful visit.
Friday we had a leisurely breakfast and flew back to Amsterdam that afternoon.
We changed hotels. This area was also busy. Our hotel, Amsterdam Marriott, was quite nice. We had a canal and square across the street and Vondelpark was adjacent by a side street.
Saturday was museum day. We went to both the Rijksmuseum (all the Dutch Masters and famous pictures you think of by Rembrandt) and Van Gogh museum. We saw everything you probably ever think of except Starry Starry Night which is in New York. They were having a Picasso in Paris exhibit as well. Andy has had art classes and so he had a lot of information to share and I think when he looked at the pictures he saw art. Wendell saw the kings clothes.
Early Sunday morning Wendell and I walked back to our other hotel and to the store front where we had seen the sign for a church service. Sure enough they were meeting. Worldwide Missions was on the sign. The ministers were Dutch African. The service was in Dutch and English. We sang songs in both Dutch and English. I recognized one of the songs. “I am a friend of God. He calls me friend.” The melodies were mixed with a bit of an African beat. The speaker was a she because it was mother’s day, I think, and the main pastor was speaking elsewhere. She spoke on Deborah and Barak, Judges 4. A very cute woman with big dimples translated in English. The minister would speak several sentences in Dutch and the interpreter would say five words in English. She struggled for some words and a man on the front row prompted her, but we got it. Actually it was a good word. She talked about strategy. You must have a strategy. And she said you will depend on either your spirit or the Holy spirit to work the strategy. She asked, “Which will you chose?” She also said, “Get up.” Deborah told Barak to “Get up.” She said it over and over, “Get up!” This spoke to my heart.
We ate lunch at KFC. Andy’s choice. Wendell had rented a tandem for us. It was difficult was at first. We didn’t see anyone else on a tandem. They are long. There are many quick turns. Toward the end of the day we got a bit better. Wendell adjusted his seat and I changed shoes. That helped. We ate dinner at St. John’s Irish Pub. GREAT food. I made Wendell take a picture. Andy had Irish stew, I had cottage pie and Wendell had a chicken pot pie of some kind. Our view was of historic buildings, tree lined bricked streets, statues, people, bicycles, and the sun setting at 10 o’clock! A wonderful last evening.
Next morning we ate an Irish breakfast…ham, sausage, eggs, b&w pudding, toast…b & w pudding looked like a salmon croquette but was made of pig liver & blood…those Irish! An older oriental woman came by so wobbly on a bicycle that a waitress chased her down the canal hill. We could hear the Asian woman insisting “I ride, I ride, I can ride”. We thought that very kind of the waitress. A group of Australian sounding men were eating at a table near us and had been watching the situation. They made some funny comments as the Asian woman finally wobbled off on her bike.
Our flight home was even less crowded than going over. I watched four movies and Wendell read most of the New Testament. We flew into Memphis and could tell from the air that the Mississippi River was very swollen with rain water. We made it home to Fort Smith about dark. Home sweet home.
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