Lian with Pieter in Amsterdamen

We made it. The6 hour flight wasn't so bad with our stop in Iceland. I noticed I had the only pink toenails with sandels in the airport. Other than being embarrassed about that that we were okay. I also ran into someone I knew who was heading to Sweden. Lian had some pretty bad airport eggs and we then took the 3 hour flight to Amsterdam arriving around noon. Lian and I spent 2 full days in Amsterdam on June 11th and 12th. A friend of a friend named Pieter met us at the airport and helped us get to our hotel. Amsterdam is filled with bikes, bikes and more bikes. It seems as if everyone rides to work on bikes. We saw people with three kids in big baskets on the front of the bike. No helmets (unless you saw an American) and yes - people riding bikes while talking on their cell phones. We only saw one wipe-out and I think he was drunk. I'll eventually post some photos.

While in Amsterdam, Lian and I visited the Anne Frank house which is quite the moving experience. It also would have been her 80th birthday on June 12, 2009. My mom turns 80 in December, and like Anne Frank, was born in 1929. It's hard to believe that my mom was in Montgomery, MN enjoying life in a small town while at the same time, Jews and others were being taken from their homes and killed through Hitler's concentration camps. In the room Anne Frank lived in during their time in the Amsterdam hidden rooms, she plastered photos of actors, Shirley Temple, and other things that were popular at the time. I imagine they were also popular with my mom too.

We walked all over the city on the beautiful brick paths next to the canals. We learned there are more canals in Amsterdam than in Venice. There were a few shops we checked out. Lots of fleece art, scarves, slippers, and toys. Check out this website: www.zij-aan-zij.nl
All the art was made by people with developmental disabilities. Beautiful works that blended silk and felted products. I should have bought a scarf. Still can I guess.
We went on a tour of the canals in the evening with Pieter. So many people in such a small space. It was nice to get on the water for a different perspective. Lian and I visited the Van Gogh museum too. What can I say. The amount of work that man did during his short life was amazing. I learned that he was the son of a preacher. I also learned that David Sedarus used his skull smoking a cigarette painting on the cover of his last book. I had no idea that was a Van Gogh.

We took a train to Brussels on the morning of the 13th. Saw lots of beautiful scenery of the Netherlands: cows, fields, bikes, paths, flowers and yes - even a few windmills. Europe has many of the windfarms we see in Iowa too: just not the quantity in one place.