Hello From Amsterdam -
Just arrived in the free-wheeling city of Amsterdam near the North Sea. Walked out of Central Station and ran into a cold wind. We’re in our hotel, and it is not quite the Paris apartment. No surprise. Let’s catch up!
Day # 6 – Friday, December 27 – Yes, we survived the Eiffel Tower in the morning and Marlene and I made it through our walking tour of antique shops. We took the Bus #69 home from the antique tour, only emphasizing that the #69 is a lifesaver if you stay in the Rue Cler area. That left the Louvre Museum and how to attack it. It was either go early in the morning or try Wednesday or Friday evenings, the only nights the museum is open. We grabbed the Friday evening opportunity, taking the cab from our apartment and disembarking in a light rain. The line wasn’t too long. We got inside and headed to see Mona Lisa. There’s a photo to prove we were there. The Louvre (you can look it up) was once a palace and the entire tour of art work covers 12-1/2 miles. afterwards, we went to the movie to see The Wolf of Wall Street. Keaka had announced it was PG-13. It’s closer to X-rated, so we dropped a bit of cash to see part of a movie (and give our teenagers a quick course in trashy sex and language).
Day #7 – Saturday, December 28 – So, we were down to our last day and we still had to walk the Champ-Elysses, go to the Arc de Triomphe and take the evening Seine River cruise. We got to the Arc de Triomphe via the Metro just before dusk. Lots of people! You’ve got photos to prove we were there. It was windy and chilly. We did a very short version of walking down the Champ-Elysses and stopped into the highest grossing McDonalds in the world (15 cash registers at the counter). That’s Marlene in the photo among the bright lights of the Champ-Elysses. Got home for a rest and then went to our farewell dinner at the Café Rousillon, which is where we started with the fabulous pork chop dinner preceeded by great onion soup. It was all of the second time through.
Day #8 – Sunday, December 29 – Checked out of our apartment, walked to the nearby cab stand and got ourselves to the Gare Nord (North Station). Always great to drive anywhere through Paris. What great buildings and atmosphere. Paris is the most densely populated city in Europe and more densely populated than New York City. We got on the Thalys train (Dutch company, I believe). The train left one minute early and arrived in Amsterdam right on the money. There’s a reason the history books talk about “the Germans rolled through the lowlands into France”. There were a few hills near Paris, but after that the terrain was flat, flat, flat. More single family homes in Belgium --- red brick construction. Same thing in The Netherlands. Brussels downtown looked like a poor man’s Paris. We also stopped in Antwerp and Rotterdam. Both reminded me of Baltimore on the train, which only means something if you’ve been through Baltimore on the train. Lots of modern buildings downtown. Also, lots of multi-story, multi-family living outside the center of towns. The train made a stop at the Amsterdam Airport (train went under the airport), which is a 3-hour train trip from Paris. Antwerp and Rotterdam seemed really close to Amsterdam, to say nothing of Brussels seeming close to Paris (I believe it was only 1:20 on the train, which compared to the cars we passed seemed to be going about 160 mph). The train was nice – carpeting and velvet-like seats. The train is the way to go!!!! Our directions in Amsterdam were to leave the train station and take the tram to the Muntplein Station. Outside there was a maze of people and any number of different tram lines. We finally got some directions, jumped on the crowded tram with our suit cases and rode through narrow areas with people everywhere. Very tight quarters and bikes, bikes, bikes. Obviously, lots of canals. Actually, on the train there were lots of canals in small towns and farm lands once we got into The Netherlands. A farm might be broken up into six sections, divided totally by small waterways (6-feet wide). Very interesting. So, we’re about to hit the streets (maybe I should say hit the canals).
We’ve got all of Monday (tomorrow) here in Amsterdam, with the Anne Frank House seeming to be near the top of the list for things to see.
The Wilsons
