Amsterdam, Netherlands – Part 1

Chilling out in Amsterdam

Here are some pictures of my first adventure into Amsterdam just before Christmas. These aren’t the best pictures of Amsterdam (more will come in upcoming blog posts) but these are my first impression photos. 🙂

Fog, Minney Mouse, and Christmas trees outside Schipol Airport, Amsterdam

For our Florida friends…we’re thinking of you!

Me and Mickey strike a pose!

Amsterdam Centraal (train station) all decked out for Christmas!

It was cold but everyone was out and about having fun! Amsterdam trams!

More pretty buildings and happy people!

It was quite busy in the square that night!

Ice Skating rink…though it was cold it wasn’t COLD so the ice was actually melting and they kept sweeping the water off.

This big building is the Apple Store in Amsterdam! It’s an incredibly beautiful building inside and out! Definitely check it out if you have the chance. It’s the biggest Apple store around I believe.

More ice skaters in the square having fun!

Welcome To Holland!

Me at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam on Arrival!

I arrived here in Holland on Halloween morning, Matt and my 11th anniversary and thanks to a tail wind of about 100+ MPH my plane arrived a half hour early too. You certainly can’t complain about that. However because we were so early the pilot alerted us that there were no gates for us so we spend that half hour on the runway. Still not a big deal. I was happy to have the biggest part of my travel done with so no complaints from me.

Matt was waiting for me on the other side of the glass wall that separated all the arrivals waiting for their bags and all the people waiting for the arrivals. It was quite like a fishbowl really with the newly arrived being the fish and the people on the other side looking to see which fish they were going to take home with them. Fortunately Matt picked me! 🙂

After getting my bags and a brief visit to the airport Starbucks for a lifesaving latte we set out on the next part of the journey which was getting from Amsterdam to the little town of Alphen aan den Rijn with three big suitcases and a heavy backpack. Matt decided the bus would be best so we boarded and headed out on the half hour journey to Alphen. On arrival at the Alphen bus stop where we were hoping to catch another bus that would take us within a block of our apartment we found that it would be another hour and decided to walk it…with said large rolling luggage and heavy backpack. Needless to say it was the hardest part of the journey and after a few stops  to rest and re-position the bags we made it home.

My view as I write this blog. It’s a nice rainy day to write.

It’s a nice apartment with two bedrooms (one is an office where I am writing this blog..see above picture), bathroom with washer and dryer and a living room/kitchen.

So far I’ve been here four days and I’ve biked to the supermarket just like a native twice (once was even a solo trip…yeah, me!). But mostly we’re laying low so that I can get situated, unpacked, un-jet lagged, and so that Matt can recover from his cold that he has. I’ve grounded him until it’s gone. 🙂 Once he’s feeling better and I am not so darn sleepy we’ll head out to explore some more. Until then I just wanted to touch base with you all and let you know I am here and it’s a really nice little town. Very quiet, clean and everyone I’ve met so far has been really nice and helpful.

I’ll write again soon in a day or two. Until then take care and stay in touch!