Final rundown

Thursday: Today was spent in a town on the outscirts of Amsterdam. The town had a small area where windmills can be viewed. It was a nice trip to see the countryside and the village was nice to see. We had a confusing time getting back to the hotel but that was an adventure all its own. A calm day not much to write about.

Last words before heading home:
This will be my last chance to write. In all my trip was good. I left life behind to really have some quiet time for myself. Amsterdam is truly an amazing place. The history, the beauty, the art, the vices, and the culture. I had a lot of thoughts all were good. It was really nice spending some fun time with Brad, he tends to always bring out the worst in me ;) I could let my gaurd down here. I am happy to be having this experience. People are people and I found that the Dutch are no acception to this. I left life behind and it found me here in Amsterdam. I miss my girls, family, and friends; oddly work too. I am looking forward to getting home with this experience with me and a comfort knowing I have now visted Europe. So much more of it to visit but this is a small bite of a big meal I hope to one day finish. God bless!

All good things must end

Wednesday: Today was my day. I stayed here until 4 in the morning watching the election results and was very tired. I slept until 11:00 and I did'nt get out until late in the afternoon. The day was cold and foggy, and my iamsterdam card expired. So I spent the afternoon in St Nicolas's church. It was interesting how I ran into this church, I was bummed that the museum I wanted to go to rejected my touring card and said it was expired. So I took the train down to Central Station to verify. Sure enough a 72 hour touring pass only lasts three days. What the hell was I thinking. So frustrated and wanting to at this point have a pint I head west out of central station and run smack dab into construction. So I back track and run square into St Nicolas. Yes Santa Claus. So I ducked in. It happened to be the only church not being renivated that was open. So I spent some quality time here.
I felt better leaving, and ran into a cool cafe that was tucked in at the edge of an alley called Skek. This was a cool looking cafe and appeared to have plenty of local feel. So I had a coffee here. I got talking with the bartendar about restaurants, her trek through chile, and other stuff. A worker started playing some music so I wrote in my journal and topped the stay off with a glass of wine. On the recommendation from Laura my bartendar I found an Indonesian restaraunt to have some rijstalf (sp). It was good day

Monday was busy

Monday: We got a fairly early start out by around 10:30. A quick breakfast in our hotel and planning our train route. Our first stop was the Rijks Museum which holds plenty of art pieces and historical artifacts from the Holland area. The building also has this old european look to it and so it makes for good pictures. I tried to figure out how old the building was but couldn't. Anyway Rembrant's most famous piece of artwork is here. This was a mellow and good start to a busy day.
After the Rijks museum we took a walk through a large park and found the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh happens to be one of my favorite artists. The whole museum is pretty much dedicated to him and his apprentices. I spent a lot of time enjoying some of my favorite pieces. The bedroom is one of them. This was worth the trip all by itself. I also got to see "Wheat field with Crows".



There were absolutly no waits to get in to either of these. I guess normally during touring season you can wait a long time to get into to these museums. Our next has been know to have hour waits and we stumbled across this looking for a restaurant. There was maybe three people in line. The Anne Frank house was eary and inspiring. I had an amazing reaction to the idea that her family 50 some years ago was locked up in the actual space I was standing in. Not to mention that the views she had from her window which she rarely had were basically untouched. This was really a moving couple of hours. Very Sad, especially being a father with daughters. In the photo you can see the annex in which the Frank family was being hidden. The top floor was where they were kept. Tuesday: Was going to be a day to look at some of the old buildings and churches. They just all happened to be closed or were being restored. So this became a day to simply shop around...buying nothing of course. We got to see where Rembrant's wife was tombed.

The church was right in the middle of a web of buildings and the famous red light alleys. True paradox! There were literally woman at their glass doors standing in bras and panties facing the church, not more than 25 yards away. I held the tension. After the site seeing we found Rembrant's House and took this tour. His artwork is truly emotional. Many of his paintings capture scripture. Many of the museum artifacts are four hundred years old including a chair I sat in, and was promptly told "that chair is not meant for sitting". Thankfully the dutch know the meaning of the word Oops.

The day ended early because of a lot of walking. We found a pub and sat down to discuss saving Holland and the rest of the world.

Fianlly found a kiosk!

Hello Everyone or Hello! Goede dag

It has been a really memorable experience. My plane ride was very tiring and smooth. I sat next to a man from Amsterdam who said very little. That has been very representative of the people here. The people are very reserved and stoic. It is very interesting trying to get around because the language is not recognizable at all. Transportation is very convenient. Amsterdam is very clean. The weather has been cold, but tolerable. The culture is very admirable because of the respect for space and efficiency. The city has designated bike lanes. I found this out by walking on them. I would hear a "ring..ring.ring" and look back to see a belgium style bike cruising right for me. A majority of people get around on really old bikes. It is really nice to see. The city is amazing and it is really hard to realize that many of the buildings have so much history behind them. There is so much to say and I have so much more to do.

Sunday:

I got in early in the morning and the city was empty. I took a really long walk around the hotel which is about 15 minutes outside of center of the city. I got to see how some people actually live. There are a lot of apartment complexes that look like corporate buildings, often looking like east german or socialist style housing. There are a lot of green belt areas along canals with walkways with beautiful views.

Later that day we went into town and had a nice dinner and had a quick walk about the Dam area of the city. Here a few pics from this walk.

Here you can see a street side coffee house know for its finer delicacies of canibus. In the picture next to it you can see how the canals run through the city and the cool historic architecture. Also you can see an old belgium style bike chained to the canal railing. Everyhting is brick.

More to come about my Monday, It was a busy day. Time is running out so be back again God willing!

Stayed up all night watching the election. Europe is in love with Obama and they despise Bush not much difference from home ;) To Elena and Veronica Te Amo, mucho! Mom thank you for helping me make this happen. Greg tell everyone at the office Goede Morgen!

Obama yo Mama!