Tulips and Windmills

Other than a slight delay on our flights, we made it back safe and sound to Columbus about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3.  We started in Amsterdam at 6:30 a.m. their time (11:30 p.m. here) so were up nearly 24 hours, but we got through it just fine. The trip was everything I thought it'd be, and more.  As usual, we met some very nice people (although we really missed our traveling buddies Ray and Mary Lee).  A pair of sisters, one (Farryll) from Louisville, KY and the other (Lizzie) from Portland, OR caught our attention and we particularly enjoyed having dinner with them.  Farryll and I share an affinity for bourbon (just like ML and I), and that made for some fun times. The weather had its moments - some days were cold and rainy, and others were sunny and showing hints of spring!  Of course we were prepared with rain jackets, but walking around outside in a cold rain is never fun.  There was more sunny weather than bad weather, so I consider it a victory. Ch...

 It is 7 a.m. and I'm sitting in the Schipol airport, nearly 3 hours before our flight leaves for Detroit.  Oh those Dutch and their desire for promptness!  But, waiting at the end of today's saga is my own bed and I'm really looking forward to that.  First Detroit then Columbus around 5:30 p.m. Yesterday was a ton of fun and spent entirely with the kids.  We met Jenny, Dave, Ava G., and Niamh (Gigi) at 9:15 a.m. and did "stuff" all day long until retiring about 9:30 p.m.  First, we had tickets to the Rijksmuseum (Rikes-museum) for 11:30 a.m., and walked the few blocks to the Dutch national museum and home to the Dutch masters, particularly Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Van Gogh.  What a magnificent building the Rijksmuseum is, both inside and out.  It reminds me a lot of the Louvre in Paris in that you could easily spent several days exploring its contents.  We, however, were on a bit of a timeline as we had tickets to follow for the Van Gogh Muse...

We disembarked from the Viking Freya in the morning after 9 days of sailing on various rivers.  A nice ride from a charming Dutch man took us in private Mercedes over to our hotel, the Amsterdam Pulitzer.  It is an interesting amalgm of canal houses, 4 or 5, that were gradually purchased by the Pulitzer magnate over time and joined together into a hotel.  Its origins are obviously quite old but it is a lovely five-star hotel so we are enjoying the amenities while we stay here until Wednesday morning when we head to Schiphol Airport for our return home. The morning consisted of a 90-minute walk around Amsterdam with a very knowledgeable guide who pointed out the differences in the architecture - again, most buildings along the canals date to the 16th. or 17th. century - in this city of 800,000 who see 8 M visitors a year.  There are more than 1.2 M bikes in Amsterdam and they are the bane of a walker's existence.  You have to be constantly on the lookout because,...