I Amsterdam Continued

Julie, Brent and I hit Amsterdam pretty hard on Saturday. We had an excellent letter from Pleun with a list of her favourite spots in the city as our guide. The guide did not lead us astray. We saw all of the major tourist haunts and many lovely places that are not known to too many tourists. Amsterdam seems like a bit of a dream really. It is relaxing and beautiful, yet it has a unique quality that gives it some zing (and I’m not talking about the odour from the coffee shops)! The sun shone the whole time we were there and, even though those of us who live in the UK did not think it was possible, the temperature reached 28 degrees. It was a little taste of summer for Brent and I who have grown accustom to grey and rain. Perhaps all the vitamin D clouded our judgement of the city, but we loved every minute of Amsterdam. Some of our highlights included the Van Gogh Museum, the Museumplein, strolling along the canals, the Anne Frank Museum, and Vondelpark. We didn’t get to take a canal boat ride because of the Pride Day festivities taking over the canal, and we didn’t get to visit the Rijksmuseum as it was closed for renovations, but this just gives us reason to go back again. In the waning hours of Sunday, before we had to travel to the airport to return to Leeds, we did some wandering around the shops. It was during this wander that I stumbled upon my dress for Stephen & Pleun’s wedding. It seemed quite fitting that I should find it in Amsterdam during a trip inspired by Pleun’s list of places to see. It was easy to find the right dress in a city where we felt that Pleun was all around. The trip was a great way to get to know more about her - through her friends and through the city she called home. Time well spent.

P.S. Brent and I almost didn’t make it home from Amsterdam. Our flight had been over booked and when we checked in they did not have seats for us. Julie was flying home at the same time, but on a different airline (since ours was full at the time of booking her flight). We had given her our only house key in case we got in at different times. It’s a good thing we did considering we almost ended up spending another night in the Netherlands and taking a flight the next day. In the end, it all worked out. There were empty seats in business class so we got bumped up and arrived in the Leeds airport at the same time as Julie.