Settling Into Amsterdam

 

A flight into Amsterdam is nice, everything is so green. The customs go quickly and were so easy. And after the hassles with the PLF forms in Chicago, the customs agents didn’t even want to see them.

Of course, there must be a malcontent somewhere. There was a man and woman a few people behind us in line, so that we were within earshot every few minutes. The guy was talking about immigrants when he saw some women obviously of another religion. He started talking about Biden and our immigrants and these immigrants. Then it was Covid, it wasn’t real, couldn’t trust the CDC, wondering if the Netherlands was a free country. The US is a free country. On and on. The other people around him started rolling their eyes. We just laughed at him with eye rolls, when we’d hear him but I don’t think he even noticed. The woman with him, at one point, told him to quit talking but he didn’t. My comment to Dale was “why did he come, why not just stay in the US”? He, unfortunately, is the kind that make us all look like ugly Americans. But we will do our best to fit in, speak a few Dutch words, and try to change the perception.

We’d paid extra to upgrade our hotel room to include a view of the canal. I’d read a few complaints so was a little concerned but figured we’d make the best of it. Our room, as it turns out, has nearly a wall of windows. The view in the day is really nice, at night it is beautiful with all of the lights on in the flats across the canal.

View from our room, including dish towels that I carry so that we can eat in. They were made by a cousin Barbra, who I write this blog for.

When we arrived at the hotel I was starving, having had little besides salads and a little container of yogurt. The woman who checked us in said that they serve breakfast until noon. She went and spoke with the people at the breakfast area and arranged for us to go in and eat. I was able to get a full meal before starting our day.

As we will be here for the next 2 weeks, we got unpacked and settled in. From our window we could see people walking across a bridge and decided that we’d go at least around the block. We ended up walking even further, peaking into a church built in the early 1600’s, having coffee at a little shop, looking in the local grocery store and wine store.

An old church built in the 1600's

One of the women at the front desk told me that there isn’t really any Dutch cuisine, but that they are a soup country. We did find a soup restaurant and got 2 different types to go. The woman working there said that there are different soups every day. Today we got a Tuscan Tomato and a Spanish sausage soup to go. They went well with our wine. We will likely be back and this is not from from where we will be coming and going.

The view from our room at night

An old building from the 1600's that is now a tavern

A view of the canal