Out of This World

Of course, I HAVE to tell you about Saturday's boat ride(s) here in Amsterdam, since that was what we all looked forward to the most. And of all the days, it was the sunniest and warmest! The Universe was smiling!

We started with the most famous cheese shop in Amsterdam, De Kaaskamer, which happens to be just a 10-minute walk from our apartment. So many choices! HOW do you choose? Thankfully, all I did was take the photos and left everything else up to them. Donica, of course, was the one who knew.

At 2 p.m., the boys came in the rental boat to pick us up at the dock a couple blocks away from our apartment on the Lijnbaansgracht.

That's Matt at the helm, who was our chief navigator for the 3-1/2 hours we were on the canals. Oh yes, James, to my left (out of the photo) was often the pilot, of course.

This is an electric boat, BTW, that gets charged up at night and lasts for 12 hours. The engine is underneath the table and is so quiet you can't hear it. What a way to go!

The lucky part of the day, besides the sun, was a rowing competition that we bumped into several times throughout the day. What a fun event to see up close and personal!

You can see how it was a sight to see for those NOT in boats as well. How they squeezed through those tight spots is beyond me.

You really see a different perspective of the canals when you're at ground level, so to speak!

Potty break time! Yup. So you just find a place to stop, climb out, and find your nearest cafe. Which we did. :)

What a lovely time to just BE. Family and friends together.

Amy and Jack (aka Jackie) strike up a pose.

And then it was time to say Good Bye.
A humongous THANK YOU to James and Matt for joining us and facilitating this incredible adventure. What a memory!

As if that wasn't enough, later in the evening, after it got dark and we had eaten dinner, we went down to the Centraal Station area for a night cruise on a tourist boat. Here we're waiting in line with Centraal Station in the background.

With all those windows, it's a great way to see over 100 Amsterdam sights in the course of an hour...many of the same sights we had already seen during the day. That's the Sint Nicolaaskerk (St. Nicholas Church) in the background.

Speaking of Nicholas! While we were on the little boat, Donica's phone rang and Nick (Nicholas' dad) was on the line. He started off by saying what a soccer game (in Atlanta) we had just missed! Nicholas not only kicked his first goal ever ("and it was a hard kick, not just a wimpy dribble!"), which tied up the game 1-1, but at the very end he saved a kick from being scored by the other team! When Amy asked Nicholas how that felt, he said, "It felt like I kicked it out of the world!"

The girls are now safely back in Atlanta after a safe trip home yesterday. But that's exactly what we felt at the end of the day on Saturday after a long weekend. It was a day out of this world, which we will never forget.

Amy and Angie

Today is a big day! Later this afternoon, Amy (my daughter who just turned 35) and her best girlfriend from work, Angie (turning 40 in November), are joining me on my same flight back to Amsterdam and will be staying at our apartment till Sunday.

Angie and Amy on June 13, 2005 (my birthday)

Amy and Angie both work at the same company here in Atlanta and just recently had a nice little bonus given to them, enabling them to make this trip to Amsterdam. Amy's birthday gift to Angie is the board and room at our apartment. Isn't that sweet!

So in 4 short days, we will cram everything in that they are up for. I think the Van Gogh Museum is on the list, which is good, since it'll be my first time to go as well. Other things like the Anne Frank House will happen, of course, but what we're all looking forward to (maybe the most?!) is a boat ride on Saturday afternoon with our buddies, James and Matt. Nothing like our own personal tour of the city along the many canals...with cheese and wine to boot.

Donica is in Hannover all week until Friday evening, at which time she'll join us for the weekend. How fun is that!

So, here's to Amy and Angie! Hip-hip-hooray!!

A Sunday Joy Ride

Yesterday afternoon, Donica and I had the time of our lives with James and Matthias...and little Jack...on their "new" boat of one week! Aren't we the lucky stiffs!

After a delightful hour of hors d'oeuvres in their apartment, within walking distance from ours, Matt went off to get their orange boat (a good Holland color :).

James is coaxing Jack to get into the boat, while Donica holds the leash. Today was Matt's turn to drive.

I was behind James all the way! HA! At this point we were on the Amstel River, which is Amsterdam's big flow-through waterway and very wide in relation to the canals.

For much of the ride, little "Jackie" found a friend for life, I think, in the arms of Donica. So cute.

It was a Sunday, mind you. So Matt had to navigate us behind many a boat, out having the same joy ride we were having, of course. In many cases, we simply had to take our turn in going under the bridges. He was a master navigator!

You see Amsterdam from a slightly different perspective, of course, when you're ON the canals. We've been on the much-larger tourist boats (for me, that was 9 years ago!) but the small boat is cozier and under OUR direction or whim.

Whether on the smaller canals or the larger Amstel (with the famous Magere Brug drawbridge in the background, originally built in 1670 and then renovated in 1969), it was a perfect day for a joy ride.

At the end of it, as we walked back to our apartment, Donica said, "When they get their new boat [something they're considering as an upgrade], maybe we can buy this one!" HA! I can see it coming. :)