Sep 24, 2018 - Haarlem Globetrotting

September 24, 2018 Amsterdam & Haarlem, Netherlands Haarlem Globetrotting Overnight the winds blew away the rain clouds, leaving a cool, brisk sun-filled day in their wake. A welcome change indeed. We started the day with a delicious croissant for breakfast at Kaffee Zuidke, a block away on Utrechtstraat. This is a real café, not a kaffee huis. It’s full of old furniture and tchotchkes and a couple of late middle-aged women (ie. people our age) running the teeny place, which had a grand total of 6 little rough finished wood tables with a...

Sep 23, 2018 - God is crying ....

September 23, 2018 Amsterdam God is crying …. When Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939 the Netherlands declared neutrality, just as they’d done in World War I. Hitler didn’t get the memo. The Nazis invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 and 4 days later the country surrendered to Hitler. The Nazi occupation of Amsterdam did not end from that day until the surrender of all German forces on May 5, 1945. Queen Wilhelmina and her government escaped before the surrender and formed a government in exile in England during the war. Meantime,...

Sep 22, 2018 - If there's a rock show ....

September 22, 2018 Amsterdam If there’s a rock show ….. Random fact No. 1: 5 years ago we saw Paul McCartney in concert at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn with Rabbi Irwin Huberman and his wife Patte. Random fact No. 2: Next Sunday, Paul McCartney is in concert at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Random fact(s) No. 3: I graduated from high school in 1975. Paul McCartney & Wings released their 2nd album that year, titled “Venus & Mars”. My favourite song on the album – and one of my favourite songs all time period – is the “Venus & Mars/Rock...

Sep 21, 2018 - Walking in (sort of) Circles

September 21, 2018 Amsterdam Walking in (sort of) Circles It’s just after 3:00am now in Amsterdam - 7:00pm on my internal Edmonton clock - so it must be time for me to get up and get an early start on the day. The only sounds I hear outside the window are coming from the odd stray(s) wandering home after a late night/early morning. More likely at a “coffee shop” as opposed to out drinking. Or maybe both? Amazing they don’t fall into the canal. We are living in an art museum designed to kill me. The Seven Bridges Hotel is named after the...

Sep 20, 2018 - New Year ... time for reflection on the theme of picking more daisies

Thursday September 20, 2018 Amsterdam New Year ... time for reflection on the theme of picking more daisies Things I was thinking about while sitting (and mostly standing) in synagogue over the past 25 hours or so for Yom Kippur services included this basic premise, best said by the late Nadine Stairs of Louisville, Kentucky. When she was 85 years old, she was asked what she would do if she had her life to live over again. "I'd make more mistakes next time," she said. "I'd relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been on...

Sep 8, 2018 - A rocky beginning

We had no trouble connecting with our KLM flight from Amsterdam to Bucharest and, while we got a bit of a late start, the 2 1/2 hour flight was no problem. In fact, we had in-flight entertainment by a group of guitar players called Manolo ; The Voice of the Gypsies. http://www.manolo-gypsies.com/. Manolo was seated right behind Jef and his guitar was buckled into the seat next to me. About half way thru the flight, the attendants announced that some of the group would like to play a couple of songs for us. Of course, everyone was videoing...

Aug 25, 2018 - Amsterdam

August 25 - Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro This morning we left the Hilton hotel and walked (all indoors) about 15 minutes to KLM checkin and waited for our 8 and 1/2 hour flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Upon arrival we were met by a representative of Ranger Safaris who expertly led us through purchasing our Visas ($100 each) and then retrieved our luggage by the time we cleared customs! We probably saved one hour of waiting through immigration and customs by having this gentleman assist us. It was approximately a one and one-half hour transfer...

Aug 25, 2018 - Valkenburg

The drive across Belgium took us through gorgeous green countryside with plenty of thick forests on a road void of potholes and debris. It was truly pleasurable and continued on into Germany. One of our favourite towns, Brugge, was again very beautiful and it was great to have visited it once more. We chose Valkenburg in the Netherlands and Kessel and Furth in Germany for short stops on the way to visit Nuremberg. Each stop had its own claim to fame. Kassel's huge park is the oldest in Europe while Germany's first railway opened in Furth...

Aug 11, 2018 - Saturday, 11th

Dear all, Well here we are in Amsterdam at last. What a journey. After the last blog where we were sitting in the business class lounge at Frankfurt airport ready to board our plane, we had another set back. The plane was delayed 45 mins. Finally we boarded and as we were taking off we should have been arriving in Amsterdam. It appears that the plane had a medical emergency at the previous destination so was late getting in. Consequently when we arrived there was no one to transfer us as previously arranged. Several phone calls to the...

Aug 5, 2018 - Amsterdam

After getting up - showering and having breakfast we gathered for our Freedom of choice trips, today we shose to go to Zaanse Schans - a village which dates back to the 18th century and continues to operate in traditional Dutch ways. The first thing we saw was traditional cheese making with the the large vat for stirring the cheese and talk about how the cheese is made, we then went and had some samples of the different cheeses. There was a small farm with goats and chickens, and all of the villagers dressed in traditional clothing and...

Jul 25, 2018 - Alkmaar

Wanted to go to the cheese market in Alkmaar, but got my days mixed up (only held on Fridays – I was a day late, but it’s hard to keep track of what day it is 𯘊). Stayed by a small lake and were entertained by a ski ride. Skiers use skis or wakeboard and are pulled on a rope around a rectangular course. A few jumps for the experienced, a long walk back to the launching pad for those that fall off. On our walk back from the ‘beach’, a guy was experimenting with water jets that propelled him up into the air.

Jul 3, 2018 - Where we started....

July 3 Tuesday Had #8 luggage tags which got us off the ship about 730am. Got through immigration. Played the great luggage hunt game, found a kid with a a baggage rollee, hailed a cab, and we were off to the airport. The cab was 80 euros and a 35 minute ride. Think we got ripped off but too late now. The $64 fee from ship looks like a good deal NOW! 15 minutes waiting for a check in machine, 20 minutes waiting to check our bags, 32 minutes to go through security ,where all four of our carry-ons needed to be gone through by hand. Dick had...