A bit delayed due to my travels home for family, but I’m back to it now and a recap of our trip to Amsterdam is due…
Over the Easter weekend, most of the family converged on Holland. Shain lives in Amsterdam, Lisa came over from London, Mom came from Toronto and I flew in straight from Denmark. It was great to get together.
We started out with Thai food in the Red Light District and finished the evening out with a walk through Amsterdam at night. (I arrived late in the day; Mom and Shain had already done Anne Frankhuis earlier and Lisa made it in time for an afternoon drink).
Friday was Jewish Quarter and Market day with shopping in Waterlooplein and seeing the Porteugese Synagogue (really amazing!). And if you can believe it, we ran into some old friends from Toronto while there at the synagogue – small world! We finished the day with a boat ride on the canals with Shain’s landlord and a bunch of their friends followed by a great dinner cooked by all back at their flat.
Saturday was car-rental and drive through the Netherlands day. After getting a late start because I didn’t have my passport with me (and Shain having to run back home from Schipol Airport to get it), we went down to Keukenhof Flower Gardens outside of Lisse (incredible – that’s what you’re looking at when you see photos of the fields of tulips). We then went to Delft for a walk through the old town (and a crappy tourist lunch). Then we drove up north, around Amsterdam, to the small fishing village of Marken, which used to be an island, but after the building of a causeway and the closing of the IJ, is now only a tourist stop (they fly brown sails in mourning on their boats). Then we quickly went out to the North Sea past Haarlem for sunset.
After dropping the car back off, Lisa and I left Shain and Mom and went to meet Humberto Manueco (a friend from LBS who went on the Israel trip with us last year) and his new girlfriend Nicole for dinner in Haarlem. It was great to see him again as he always makes us laugh – he’s the most jovial person I think I’ve ever met!
Sunday was museum and park day – we went to the Van Gogh, then wandered around Vondelpark and sat in cafes. We then wandered back through some tourist shopping areas (the only ones open on Easter) and had a great Spanish dinner.
Monday was a bit abbreviated – after a nice brunch, we went for a good shopping walk, but everything was closed before noon. I then had to head to the airport to get back to Denmark, but the rest of the family kept walking and shopping all day. It was amazing – Mom must have walked 6-8km each day this trip…in Amsterdam no less (lots of cobblestones and odd streets – with uneven pavement and bikes running you over every ten feet) and the weather was fantastic.
It was a great trip!
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| Amsterdam with the Fam |
