Greetings from Holland! First of all, the trip...upon arrival at the KC airport, we were told that Chicago was getting snowed in and that we would be re-routed through Dallas. What we didn't know was that our business class tickets got bumped up to first class. Sweet! The seats are like pods and fold flat. You also get your own butler practically, who wines and dines you the entire time. They take really good care of you. So, we arrive in London, and sprint to make it to our connecting gate, in another terminal of course. We make the flight, but our luggage does not. It did arrive at Jenna's house, much later that night, so it wasn't too horrible. On Sunday, we took the train to Amsterdam with the idea that we would see the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum. The rest of the country seemed to have had the same idea. Instead of standing in the long lines, we walked around the city, had lunch, cruised the Red Light District (yikes!), enjoyed the flower market (did I mention that it was raining/snowing this whole time?) and trained it back home. The flower market was unbelievable! The quantity, variety and prices, just unbelievable! Then for supper, we went to a restaurant that only has one seating, so the table is yours for the night. It's a set menu, so everyone is eating the same thing, but it's about 12 different things! They bring 4-5 small plates of food at a time and we would munch on that, then after awhile, they'd come back with 4-5 more plates, and so forth. We ate fish, pork, veggies, pasta, mussels/clams/oysters, meatballs, prosciutto/melon/mozarella, it just went on and on! And of course, a lovely Chianti. Good thing we had to walk home! We ate for 3 hours; I was a very happy girl.
Today, we rode The Leiden Loop on bicycles. Jenna has 4, as everyone bikes. The Loop consists of 25 stops of historical importance. Leiden is a very old town and has lots of history. This is where they planted the first tulips in the west. In fact, one of the 2 tulip growing districts is here. Right now, the daffodils are blooming. Gene was a little concerned I think, about the whole bike thing, it's been quite awhile since he's ridden. But he managed without any wrecks or killing any pedestrians. Did I mention that it snowed while we were biking? If we can find an open restaurant, we'll go out again tonight, but since it's Easter Monday and a holiday, that may be harder than we think. Funny, businesses were open on Easter Sunday, but not on Monday. Go figure.
I haven't asked Jenna for a tutorial on downloading pictures onto her Mac yet, but I'll try eventually. So for now, that's what happening here. It's lovely and so unlike anything we've seen before. It's easy to see why Jenna loves it so.
I hope everyone is well, I wish you could be with us, it's a great adventure! Take care, more to come...
Love, Joan
