Arrival in Amsterdam

Saturday, June 2, 2012

For the past five days Renie and I have been traveling in Paris and arrived in Amsterdam via train yesterday.  Our trip so far has been incredible.  We have tried new foods and been to many museums in Paris.  Versailles was a favorite and we randomly ran into a family we knew from our years in Kentucky.  We have walked around Paris and have become adept at using the Metro.  One of the highlights of the trip was getting to meet up with Guillaume Gaud who spent two summers with my family as a high school junior and senior in the early 90's.  Guillaume is now a banker in Paris and being show the city with him and having dinner in his flat were both great starting points as we prepare for my week of classes.

Yesterday we took the fast train from Paris to Amsterdam.  The trip went quickly and we were greeted by for-pay toilettes at Central Station.  We stored our bags and found a map to wander towards the Anne Frank house.  This was an incredible eye-opening location for us to see.  The small house that nine people lived in for almost two years was amazing.  The journal recorded activities that Anne and her parents did to attempt to give her a real life.  The conclusion of the tour had short video vignettes where viewers had to make ethical decisions and this was also eye-opening.

Due to time constraints we wandered back to Central Station to catch the Metro to the office of another international friend, Constantijn Voogt.  Constantijn and his family came to the US during his (and mine) sixth grade year as part of a teacher swap.  Constantijn’s father, Jan, taught English at the local HS and the family from Tennessee they ‘swapped’ with came to Maasland.  

Constantijn and his wife Madeline have three kids and live just outside of Amsterdam.  Their two youngest children are the exact age of ours and we loved getting to be around children.  After arriving at their house we drove a few miles to the North Sea where we at in a restaurant on the beach.  We tried ‘bitter balls’ as an appetizer and found them to be similar to hush puppies but with a more liquid center.  For dinner I had a flat bread pizza with ham.  After dinner we returned to their house and had some good time catching up and just talking about similarities and differences in our lives.

This morning we woke at 7am with the alarm and went downstairs.  Constantijn’s wife had left for an-all day meeting with a civic organization that she volunteers with.   Constantijn drove us to The Hague and we had a traditional Dutch breakfast with coffee and a muffin.  We walked around the main square and Constantijn pointed out where parliament met, the US Embassy, and other important buildings.

After leaving The Hague we traveled about 20 minutes to Delft.  In Delft we walked through a market and found a great cheese shop.  Free samples were great and the most unusual was sheep cheese.  We bought several vacuum sealed cheeses that we are hopeful will make it through customs.  The market looked similar to flea markets in the US.  Many booths with junk they were attempting to unload.  At the end of the market we stopped in a café to eat a sandwich.  I had a ‘hamburger’ that tasted like it was steamed instead of grilled.  It was very good!

On the way back to Amsterdam we stopped by Maasland where Constantijn grew up.  While in the US Jan completed his dissertation (from Leiden) on the views of the Vietnam War by the citizens of Brownsville, TN.   We enjoyed visiting with Constantijn’s parents since I had not seen them in ten years.

 

Once we were dropped at the hotel we discovered that our room was not yet ready.  Since some of my classmates were in the lobby we went to the penthouse restaurant to have a drink while we waited.  Shortly after 5pm our room was finally ready.  We met many classmates for dinner and headed back to the room to settle down for the night.  Our class 'adventure' begins tomorrow with Orientation.