Rich and I have been guests in the wonderful city of Amsterdam for nearly two days now. The people here are without peer in their worldliness, English comprehension, effeciency, and friendliness. The only bad thing I can say about this city is that the weather hasn’t been entirely accommodating. There has been miasma hanging overhead due to fall weather but the haze indoors is even worse. But that is another story.
Throughout this entire trip I’ve met many, many Dutch travellers. In every case they have been spectacular ambassadors for their country. In Istanbul it was a family that ribbed me for the 50€ massage I got in Istanbul and how that would have compared to a massage in Amsterdam of the same price. But they invited me to join them for dinner when I visited Amsterdam so they could introduce me to the city.
In Sofia I met Astrid and Barbara, with whom I spent a great day and night visiting the Bulgarian countryside. They were also accomplished world travellers with incredible knowledge of European languages. They, too, had expressed some interest in hooking up with us here in Amsterdam. But the best Dutch experience I had was at the Turkey/Bulgaria border crossing where screaming Turks and irate Bulgarians threatened to leave me at the crossing in incomprehensible languages punctuated with violent hand gestures. Without a Dutchman present who was Turkish by ancestry, we would never have resolved the situation. Again, something about learning five languages and having a country with a dozen ethnic communities really makes someone a good travel asset.
Another example of Dutch efficiency was the purchase of Rich’s Eurail pass. In France they insisted that the pass could only be purchased in your home country. “But I bought mine in Germany,” I said. “Well, you are in France now and this is how it works.” Thanks, asshole. When we got to the Amsterdam ticket office it had twice as many counters open as in Paris, half as many people waiting, everyone spoke English (not just one out of four), and they sold Eurail passes to everyone. When we explained our situation, she gladly sold us the ticket and gave us the shaking head and knowing look about the French that we get from everyone on this continent.
Yesterday we saw the Van Gogh museum which was nice, but not spectacular. In the next couple of days we should see some WWII history stuff, beer drinking stuff, and may take a bike tour. And all of these destinations would be a bit better of the fog would just clear. The outdoor fog, that is. As for the indoor one, we’ll just have to find some Visine.
Chip,
How’s it going?? Your trip sounds like a total blast!! But- you know, I want to hear the inside story. Therfor, I would like to extend an invitation for you to join us in Colorado for Thanksgiving – and give tell us the rated RR version. I just got off the phone W/ Dad and Eileen, and they are going to start to look at travel options for all three of you. I hope this works out. I understand that you were initially going to go to Nashville, however, this may be a nice change?. And – we havn’t seen each opther for quite a while. Hey – have an awsome time on the rest of your trip. I wish I could beam myself over to Amsterdam–“Scotty”. Look foreward to talking to you soon. Joe
Take Care. Joe