Jonna and Alan's Netherlands trip

Alan's cousin Heather was teaching in person at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands for the winter of 2023 which provided a great excuse for us to visit her again. Winter isn't the ideal time to explore the Netherlands since it is generally cold and rainy but, on the plus side, visiting outside tourist season meant we weren't competing with crowds to see things. So for this trip we focused primarily on museums and indoor experiences. We flew into Amsterdam where Heather joined us for four days of exploring the capital. Then took the train to Leiden to see Heather's "home" city for a few days. We then rented a car and drove south to Maastricht where we stayed for a couple of nights before moving north to Arnhem for a couple of nights. We then returned the car in Leiden and took the train back to Amsterdam for a final day before flying back to the US.

Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):

59) Bisschopsmolen, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - We only had one full day in Maastricht so we made the best of it. We were busy, busy today! We started off with breakfast. Our hotel didn't serve food so we headed into old town to solve that issue. We had read about a place three blocks away that was a bakery in an old grain mill. We found the Bisschopsmolen (Bishop's Mill) which has a 400 year old water wheel that is driven by water flowing through a canal behind the building. Inside, the mechanical gears that put that water power to work are slowly spinning and are still used to mill grain.

60) Bisschopsmolen, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - The best part though was the food. Yum! I had an apple and apricot tart that was delicious.

61) Boekhandel Dominicanen, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - With the first meal of the day out of the way we started walking a loop around the old town. A few blocks away we hit Vrijthof square. The large open area of the square was empty but it was covered with left over confetti from the past weekend's Carnival celebrations. Likewise, the bare trees were filled with colored streamers and there were empty mini-booze bottles scattered around the streets. Clearly Carnival is a big deal in the small parts of Holland that are primarily Catholic leaning. However, like many northern European countries, religion is on the decline in the Netherlands. ...But reasons to party are not so I suspect Carnival celebrations aren't in any danger. One example of that decline in religiosity is the Dominicanen bookshop which is a big bookstore built inside a 700+ year old church. Personally, I think this is a great use of an old church. Surely a bookstore is a sacred space!

62) Museum Aan Het Vrijthof, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - We walked the short block back to Vrijthof square and on the opposite side we went into Fotomuseum aan het Vrijthof - a photography museum that only shows touring exhibits. On display today was a collection of photos by the photographer Terry O’Neill - the famous twentieth century pop culture photog. The photos ranged from David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles to Raquel Welch, Sean Connery and Elizabeth Taylor. Interesting and worth a look but not mind blowing.

63) St. Servatius Basilica, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - Just down the block were two churches: the Basilica of Saint Servatius and Saint John's cathedral. Saint Servatius is open to visitors and has a treasury museum area. I kept my mouth shut about the richness of decorations and instead tried to just view it all as art. Gold chalices, bejeweled boxes, expensive paintings, luxurious robes and sculptures made of rich materials. Lots of tongue biting here! We also walked through the medieval church and one of the side chapels. Perhaps the most interesting part was a basement area where the walls of a 1400 year old temple were discovered in the past few decades during maintenance work on the church's foundation.

64) Maastricht Markt, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - Leaving the churches behind we walked a few more blocks to Markt square which is another large square but this one was in front of City Hall rather than a church. Also unlike the previous square, this one was definitely not empty! It was full of vendors for the weekly Maastricht market. Clothes, fabrics, food, household items and more were all on display. We walked a loop around the market to take in all the vendors but then shifted our focus on finding a lunch spot. On the edge of the square we found a burrito place. It wasn't the most authentic burrito but was close enough and the price was right given how expensive food is here generally. While we were eating it started to rain so after eating we decided to return to the hotel to rest for an hour before continuing our exploration of Maastricht.

65) Grotten Noord, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - After a little nap and after the rain cloud moved on we got in our rental car and drove a couple of miles away to the Sint Pieter Fort which sits atop a hill - creatively called Sint Pieterberg Hill. (Not particularly tall but very long so really more of a ridge.) However, we weren't there to see the 18th fortress but instead to take a guided tour of the massive tunnel system underneath. Starting in the early 1700s limestone was quarried from 20 meters under this hill. For 200 years veins were followed and building materials dug out resulting in over 200 kilometers of tunnels that extend all the way into Belgium. Over half the tunnels were eventually destroyed when 20th century mechanical mining literally scrapped away huge portions of the hill but there are still three sections of tunnels which can be visited by guided tours with a company called Maastricht Underground. The 1 hour 45 minute tour was terrific! First, there were the mining tunnels which were hand dug over 200 years.

66) Grotten Noord, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - Then, once mining was shut down in 1900 artists were brought in to decorate the walls with charcoal artworks.

67) Grotten Noord, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - The tunnels were open and unprotected until relatively recently so the walls are covered with names, etching and graffiti. However, among all the scrapings there are historically important ones like these - six Jews carved their name into these stones in 1941 while using these tunnels to avoid the occupying Germans while traveling between The Netherlands and Belgium. Then, decades later, one of them returned and scratched another entry on the wall to show they'd survived the war.

68) Grotten Noord, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - Third, the limestone itself contains fossils so there are places where you can see fossils in the walls and floor. Fourth was the farming - yes, you read that right. Mushrooms and chicory/endive is grown inside the tunnels. Coming across a garden of growing plants inside a place that is completely dark was bizarre!

69) Grotten Noord, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - Finally, there was the vault. Deep inside the tunnels is an secure vault made of steel and concrete that was built in 1939 to protect the most important artwork from the Dutch museums during WWII. Over 725 pieces of art, including Rembrandt’s gigantic "The Night Watch", were stored in this climate controlled vault all throughout the war and with a full time staff of over a dozen curators and guards.

70) Grotten Noord, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - This final piece of art was created to represent what scientists at the time thought the animals, whose fossils had been found in the tunnels, looked like. Later study has revised these ideas but it was still neat to see something from over a 100 years ago that was not only artistic but also scientific. A fascinating tour and highly recommended to anyone who visits this area.

71) Fort Sint Pieter, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - We walked out of the tunnels a little after 5pm and we had to hustle because we had dinner reservations to celebrate Jonna's birthday at a restaurant on the opposite side of the river. So we could only see the Sint Pieter from the outside as we walked back to the car.

72) Meuse River, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - I drove Jonna and Heather to the restaurant Le Courage, then drove back across the river to the long term parking lot and then speed walked back over the river via a pedestrian bridge and back to the restaurant.

73) Le Courage Restaurant, Maastricht, Netherlands, February 24 - Fortunately I made it in time and we were the first table seated when the restaurant opened at 6pm. We chose the lighter 3 course meal option and were served delicious dishes for all three courses. Scallops for Jonna and Heather, grilled avocado, broccoli and snap peas for me - both served with flavorful sauces. The main course was steak for the meat eaters and a lentil/carrot loaf for me. Again, both accentuated with heirloom vegetables and yummy sauces. Desert was a cheese plate for Jonna, and passionfruit tarts for Heather and I. These descriptions don't begin to explain the quality of the food so just take my word that it was a special meal perfect for celebrating a birthday. We strolled back over the river on a different pedestrian bridge and then back to the hotel. The end of a great day exploring an interesting city. Tomorrow we move on.

74) John Frostbrug, Arnhem, Netherlands, February 25 - After a whirlwind visit to Maastricht we moved on again today. We loaded up the rental car early and started driving north. After about 30 minutes we pulled off the Auto-strata at the small village of Elsloo where Jonna had found good online reviews for a coffee shop. We got there a little early so we went into a grocery store next door and bought a few things since we will actually be in lodging with a kitchen for the next couple of nights. As we were stowing the groceries in the car the door to Junn's Coffee swung open so we headed inside. It was a cute little cafe with a friendly staff and a remarkably good breakfast given how tiny their kitchen was. We had boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, cheese, yogurt with granola, sliced ham, a bowl of hearty bread and croissants that were incredible. Their selection of breakfast beverages was great as well. Satiated and caffeinated we hit the road again. A little over an hour later we were in Arnhem. This city is famous among WWII geeks like me because of Operation Marketgarden in September 1944 and well known among the film-going public in the 1970s from the movie "A Bridge Too Far". We drove straight to the John Frost bridge which is a reconstruction of the original which was destroyed after Operation Marketgarden failed. There is a small information center and museum on the north end of the bridge which tells the story of the battle. The museum space was underwhelming but it did provide a nice view of the Rhine and of the bridge. It also had some very friendly hosts who *really* wanted to help us out. Much appreciated!

75) Oorlogsmuseum 40-45 (Arnhem War Museum 40-45), Arnhem, Netherlands, February 25 - Our lodging was north of Arnhem in the small village of Schaarsbergen (which is on the southern border of the Nationale Park de Hoge Veluwe.) so we made the very short drive up and stopped en-route at the Arnhems Oorlogsmuseum 40-45 which is a small, privately owned World War II museum just a block from our lodging. The museum has an impressive collection by volume - I mean really, really impressive. However, it is more of a hoarder situation than a museum. Most of the collection is just piled on shelves with minimal labeling and almost no effort to tell any kind of story. Fortunately, I am the kind of WWII geek who can stare at a cabinet full of rifles and find it interesting but it was a bit too disorganized for Heather (who is, after all, both a history buff and ex-professional museum admin) and it was just too much of pretty much everything for Jonna. It is the kind of place that could really use to get rid of 2/3 of their "stuff" and then build an actual museum around the rest. ...or just get by solely on folks like me that will pay a modest entry fee just to gaze at a stack of 30 rusty German infantry helmets or pick out the different calibre cartridges in a display case of nothing but ammunition casings. By the time we finished with the museum it was time to check into our lodging - which was basically a modern pre-fab house trailer in a vacation "campground". It is really quite nice - the largest living space we have had thus far and, since it is in a resort-y kind of place there is an indoor pool and a store and laundry and even more rare - a parking space for the car. We went for a swim in the late afternoon which was very relaxing but the wind picked up while we were inside swimming which made for a frigid walk back to our "cabin" in wet clothes. For dinner we dug into the groceries we bought this morning to make quiche and salad. A relaxed afternoon and evening was quite the contrast to the previous few days. Tomorrow we will check out the National Park.

76) Kröller-Müller Museum, De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - The largest national park in The Netherlands is a big deal here but as someone that is used to national parks in the American west it can be a might underwhelming. Nonetheless, it is a scenic park with forests, open fields and big sandy areas called, creatively, "sands". What it does have, which should be the envy of every other national park in the world, is an amazing art museum. The Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller Museum is built on what was the largest private art collection of the 20th century - one owned by Helene Kröller-Müller and Anton Kröller. This collection contained almost 11,500 pieces in 1938 and it is housed in a equally impressive modern gallery space designed by Gerrit Rietveld that is in the middle of the national park. To make it even more incredible the museum is surrounded by a 25 hectare sculpture garden that contains more than 160 modern sculpture pieces. This place is, as I said before, amazing.

77) Kröller-Müller Museum, De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - Oh, and that collection? It is the second largest collection of Van Gogh’s work in the world with around 90 paintings and 180 drawings.

78) Kröller-Müller Museum, De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - The collection has entire rooms of Picasso, Seurat and Mondriaan. There are also works by Cezanne, Monet, Renoir and ...well, I think you get the point. After a quick homemade breakfast at our AirBnB we drive into the park and got to the museum when it opened at 10am. We figured it would be a small museum with a few bits of art on the wall to entertain park visitors that happened to pop in. So our minds were well and truly blown when we started walking through the galleries. OMG! We ended up being there for 2 1/2 hours. I was in semi-shock when we sat down in the cafe to get lunch. Again, AMAZING!

79) De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - Heather was feeling a little under the weather and over two hours of standing hadn't helped so our next stop was back at the AirBnB to drop Heather off to rest. Jonna and I drove back to Arnhem to a grocery store and stocked up on cold supplies - tea, lozenges, lemon and honey. We also picked up some pre-made soup and salad items from the deli that we could have for a light dinner in the evening. Another trip to the AirBnB to drop off the groceries and then we returned to the national park. We'd read that the park provides hundreds of free bicycles that visitors can use to explore the many miles of paved bike paths that wind through the park. We parked at the art museum lot and, despite the chilly weather (there was frost on the trees earlier in the morning) grabbed two bikes off the handy racks. From there we headed south on one of the paths with the idea we would just ride a little ways. However, the park is pretty in a sublime way - not overwhelming but lovely to watch roll past while peddling along.

80) De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - I would like to brag that we cycled over the highest point in the park. Of course, this being Holland, the highest point was about 5 feet above the lowest point so that really isn't saying much.

81) De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - Still, our "short" ride ended up being a 18km loop around the entire northern half of the park so I think we made up in distance what we lacked in elevation. Oh, and the bikes were single speed upright beach cruisers so we didn't have any of those new fangled gears or disc brakes to help us. Yup, it was uphill in the snow both ways!

82) Kröller-Müller Museum Sculpture Garden, De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Netherlands, February 26 - Once we got back to the museum we went back to the sculpture garden directly behind the galleries but it was closing at 5pm so we only had 5 minutes to see the pieces closest to the door. When the doors closed we went back to the car and drove towards the northeastern entrance of the park. By going that direction we could make a short side trip to drive past Jachthuis Sint Hubertus which is an early 20th century hunting lodge built by Anton Kröller on part of his vast estate. It was worth the drive-by! We exited into the village of Hoenderloo and then drove along the edge of the park all the way south back to Schaarsbergen. Heather had rested for the afternoon but got up for us to have a shared dinner of soup and salad. For the evening Heather worked while we did laundry, addressed post cards and read up on what we could do on our last day in Amsterdam. Tomorrow morning we drive back to Leiden to return the rental car.

83) Amsterdam Central Train Station, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 27 - This was a day of two halves. The first part was travel. The second was more fun! We started with a quick breakfast of fruit and cinnamon rolls in our "pod" in the Eco Park. One of the reasons this lodging was relatively inexpensive is because you have to clean it yourself. So after breakfast it was break out the broom, hand wash the dishes and strip the beds. It only took us about 20 minutes to do and we were on the road by 10am. The drive from Arnhem to Leiden was uneventful. We had to fill up the car with gas and drop off Heather at her place before we could return the car but those both went smoothly and by noon we were in an Uber headed for the Leiden Central train station. The next train to Amsterdam as in 20 minutes (should I reiterate how much I love the Dutch train system?) so Jonna bought us sandwiches to eat for lunch while we stood on the platform. The train was exactly on time and we got a seat in the "Silent Car". I *love* this idea. Whispers only, no talking on cellphones and no non-headphone music. I could peacefully watch the scenery pass by. What was funny was watching teenagers board the train at interim stops, start up the stairs (this was a 2 story train), see the "Silence" sign in the door and be repelled like vampires smelling garlic. They honestly had physical signs of revulsion. We arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station 35 minutes after leaving Leiden (see, this train system is just awesome!) and walked across the street to the A-Train Hotel. We had reserved two nights here but arrived before check-in so stowed our bags in their luggage room and grabbed a cup of tea. The hotel is train themed but it would be more accurate to call it a train museum. It is packed with memorabilia - photos, scale models of trains, signage from train stations and even the booths in the breakfast area are vintage train car seats complete with overhead baggage shelving. Neat. With our bags sorted we rushed back out to see more of Amsterdam.

84) EYE Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 27 - Across the Rijn River (also known as The Rhine to the German speakers a little further upstream) from the Central Station is the EYE Filmmuseum. There is a free ferry service so we hopped a ferry to the other side of the river and walked the half block to the very modern EYE Filmmuseum building. This is a shrine to film and was very fun to explore. Inside are hands-on exhibits describing the evolution of film with examples of a zoetrope, a zoogyroscope, a kinestoscope and cinématographe. All early projection systems before film was standardized. They also showed a range of early film cameras leading up to a modern smart phone. For real fun they had stations where you could be filmed against a green screen and have your image added to a classic movie (we chose Georges Méliès' "A Trip To The Moon"), a storyboard capture where you could create photos of scenes which would be assembled into a Director’s storyboard, pods with private screens that played old/classic movies and provided commentary (from a library of over 500 films), and a circular room with hundreds of movie scenes displayed, grouped by themes like "landscape" or "red" or "airplanes". You could chose the theme for a section of wall on a handheld tablet and then point the tablet at individual scenes to get information about the movie that contains the scene. All very cool stuff. Upstairs there was a special exhibit area with a selection of films and other art from Uzbek film maker Saodat Ismailova. We *loved* this exhibit which was called "18,000 Worlds" and particularly enjoyed the piece called "Stains of Oxus" which involves film projected into three screens simultaneously. In addition to being a museum EYE is also a theater with 4 screening rooms showing films (primarily independent and international pictures) the entire time the filmmuseum is open. Again, very cool.

85) Straat Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 27 - Once we were overloaded with film we were back on the free ferry system going a little ways downriver to the NDSM wharf. This post-industrial area was once part of the Port of Amsterdam and is centered around a few large warehouses. These laid empty for awhile and were eventually squatted by a group of artists. The warehouse spaces areas are now divided into artist's studios and exhibition spaces. One of those exhibition spaces is the Straat Museum also known as the Street Art Museum. Inside is a rotating display of huge works done by street artists from all around the world. The interior of the warehouse is 4 stories high and some of the works are at least two stories in height. BIG! Walking around you see the variety of subjects that street artists create. Some are just geometric or abstract. Some are self referential pieces. Some are political or social commentary. Some are mythical or cultural stories. It was a fantastic space and something very different than what we are used to seeing in art museums. Well worth a visit. As we left the clouds were thick overhead and the wind was picking up) after two gloriously sunny but bitterly cold days) so we ferried back to the hotel to officially check in. A little google-foo using the hotel wifi turned up a Soup & Salad place on the edge of the Redlight District with affordable food so we strolled past the "Coffee" and "Special Bakery" and "Tobacco" shops to a clean and simple cafe. We had warm and tasty soup while watching giggling 20-somethings parade by on the sidewalk outside. We retreated back to the hotel afterwards with out feeling the slightest desire to follow the crowds into the more carnal backstreets just a little further down the canal. We have one more day left to explore Amsterdam so we plan to get an early start tomorrow to make a full day of it.

86) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - Okay, I am officially exhausted. This was the last day of this trip and our last day in Amsterdam so we made the most of it. We were on the go from morning till night! The day started with a quick breakfast at the hotel and then we were off. It was raining when we walked out the door which then turned to sleet and finally to full on snow. Nonetheless, we were committed to seeing as much as we could which, for us, means walking so no taxi or tram just one wet foot in front of the other. Most of the museums open at 10am but the Rijksmuseum (the fabulous National Art Museum we’d visited early in our trip) opens at 9am so we headed there first. We'd rushed through some of the galleries during our last visit and missed the 20th century and Asian galleries altogether so those were our focus. All were as excellent as what I'd described after our earlier visit. Highlights were an early 20th century airplane designed by a Dutchman for the British and a pair of Japanese temple guardian statues. Our "quick" visit lasted almost 1 1/2 hours. But the good news was that the rain had abated when we did exit so our walk to our next stop gave our jackets an opportunity to start drying out.

87) Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - Stop #2 was the Huis Marseilles which is a small photography museum in a beautiful 17th century canal house. The museum had a special exhibition of African photographer Samuel Fosso's work. Starting at age 13 in 1973 he opened a portrait studio in Cameroon. To perfect his portraiture he practiced by taking self portraits in various costumes. This turned into a lifetime career of doing self portraits in elaborate outfits, assuming personifications of historical figures and doing fashion shoots for famous magazines. The photos were stunning. Another new artist for us and time well spent seeing the exhibition. Back out on the street we were again pounding the paving bricks and now the grey skies were starting to break open with little holes of blue visible beyond the low and fast moving clouds.

88) Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - Our next destination was The Hermitage Museum. This is an offshoot of the famous Hermitage Museum in Russia and actually shares the building with the Amsterdam Museum (which is a modern take on the history museum). The Hermitage Museum had a special exhibit of paintings by Rembrandt and his students/peers. We headed straight for the special exhibit and that was when we hit the museum saturation limit. We started walking through these amazing 300 year old paintings with mythical or Biblical themes and we just didn’t care. I was basically numb to seeing beauty anymore. We walked through taking quick glances at the work and only stopped a few times to really take in a piece.

89) Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - After the special exhibit we switched over to the Amsterdam Museum to see their presentation of Amsterdam’s history but again we were just fried. The chaotic displays were overwhelming so we gave up and abandoned the museum altogether.

90) Weesperplantsoen, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - We decided to find lunch to see if taking a break and getting some food in us would give us a second wind. For the third time when we exited a museum the weather had improved and now there was a bright blue sky overhead and only a few fluffy clouds. Quite the contrast from snow this morning! The first cafe we found had a 2+ hour wait list so we kept moving. However, next door to that cafe was the Amsterdam Holocaust Memorial so we took a moment to walk through that somber park.

91) Nieuwe Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - The blue skies, which we really hadn't experienced when we were in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, really lit up the canals providing beautiful reflections of the old canal homes. It made our stroll around the eastern part of the old town quite lovely. We eventually found one of the famous "Brown Cafes" which are old cafes with wood paneled walls, a big chunky bar and intimate tables. We had soup, a sandwich and some fries while watching the mostly older crowd linger over their meals chatting away. At least we got a glimpse of what the Brown Cafes are all about.

92) Verzetsmuseum (Museum of WWII Resistance), Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - Just down the street was the Verzets Resistance Museum - a museum that tells the story of the occupation of the Netherlands during WWII. This museum is very well done. Maybe it was the lunch or the break or switching types of museums but we were both very engaged in this one. Each item on display tells the story of an individual and the information provided ends with some data explaining the bigger story. For example, a display with a ration book will give details of the person that had that book and will tell that person's story including whether they survived the war or not. Then the last section would explain how many ration books were provided throughout the Netherlands and how food rationing effected the heath of the citizens. Thus each item was very captivating but still told the whole story of the war. Excellent! It was 4pm when we walked out and with museums closing at 5pm we were done with our museum marathon.

93) Pathé Tuschinski, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 28 - However, we still had daylight left so there was more to see and do. We made another long walk back to the Central Train Station where we bought our train ticket to the airport for the next morning. That saved us having to deal with automated machines while carrying our bags. We made a quick stop at the hotel but were right back out the door to find dinner. Jonna had found a combination Tibetan/Indonesia restaurant but it was way back on the east side of town nearly at the Hermitage Museum so that meant another long walk. Somehow we ended up on streets we hadn't walked before so we had new sights and sounds (and, given all the shops selling weed, smells). Among the places we walked through were the Dam Square and Rembrandt Square. The restaurant was a comfortable little place with Tibetan decorations. The food was tasty and the staff very friendly. The sun set while we were eating and the temperature started to drop putting a chill back into the air. We took a different route back and stumbled across another cool thing - Pathé Tuschinski. This grand art deco cinema was build in 1921 and is beautiful inside and out. We walked into the lobby to see the lavish decoration there and walked across the street to better see the gorgeous exterior. From there we continued back on a parallel street to the one we'd taken on the way back to see even more of the city. Once we were back in the hotel I was done. My feet hurt, my hips were sore, my brain was mush and it was all I could do to type up my daily diary. We have done Amsterdam throughly!

94) Amsterdam Central Train Station, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 29 - This is our travel day back to the US but I made one last write-up for this photo. After a restless night we woke up groggy and grumpy. A quick breakfast at the hotel and we stumbled out into the darkness to walk to the train station for our trip to the airport and *BAM* we were hit with a most beautiful sight. Fog rising off the Rijn River and shrouding both the Amsterdam Centraal train station and De Oude Kerk church. Gulls were wheeling in and out of the wisps of fog and boats were creaking on their ropes along the docks. What a stunning way to bid farewell to the Netherlands. We just had to endure a 10 hour flight to get back to the US, a 4 hour layover in Houston, a 1 1/2 hour flight to Denver and a 2 hour drive home in the early part of a snowstorm. I was still groggy and grumpy when we got home!

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Alan Fleming