Day 1: Amsterdam -Our Adventure Begins

We finally arrived in Amsterdam this afternoon after our day long journey to get here.

Our journey started in Loxton at around 1pm on Sunday. Missy dog was picked up by Murray and Trudy for her holiday with them in the morning and we have said our good byes to Oscar cat who is being looked after by Charmaine who is house sitting for us. We drove to Murray Bridge and caught up with Jay, Fiona and the kids for a coffee and cake and then headed to mum and dads for tea. Fliss and Charlotte joined us for a traditional Dutch meal prepared by mum which was a fitting start for the holiday ahead.

A highlight while at the airport was running into Graham Gates, he was seeing his son off who had been over from London to visit him. We only got to chat for a few minutes but I was rapt to catch up with him as I have hardly seen him since leaving Coorong 4 years ago. I have utmost respect for Graham and will make a point of catching up with him when we return.

The first leg of our flights took us from Adelaide to Dubai and took about 12 hours. It's a long flight but we did manage a few little sleeps. We were both over sitting down by the end and enjoyed wandering around Dubai airport during our 2 hour stopover. We did find some new bottles of Jameson's which we may purchase duty free on the way home.

The next flight from Dubai to Amsterdam took 6 1/2 hours and was much easier than the first leg, especially as the last hour or two the excitement levels increased substantially as we closed in on the end of the flight. The red wine and jack Daniels probably helped with this as well.

On our flights we do choose to sit at the back of the plane. We don't feel so crowded in and it does provide the opportunity to easily stand up for a while which is good to stretch and get some movement happening. We also enjoy meal time on the flights, not only was the food very good but meal times break up the monotony and are something to look forward to on the flight. They also had Vegemite with the breakfast so we have kept the two small sachets we got so Amy can satisfy her craving for Vegemite during the trip.

We took the train from Schiphol airport to Centraal and found our way to the Tulip Inn which is our lodgings for the next few days. The hotel is a bit old and dated but is very comfortable and in a fantastic location, we are very happy with it. Our room has a roof window and a few beams which I need to be mindful of and enough space for our bags and belongings. Given Amy's recent sore back it's probably a blessing that we are not staying in our favourite B&B down the road as we don't have the 5 flights of vertical stairs to contend with.

After a shower and freshen up we set out to reacquaint ourselves with my favourite city, remembering past adventures, checking out the wonky old buildings and enjoying a beer at a couple of favourite watering holes. Unfortunately our favourite Chinese restaurant in Chinatown no longer exists and is now a Mexican steakhouse. We were really looking forward to enjoying our duck fried rice but we settled for a plate of bittenballen, kroketten, frikandellen, wings with frites and mayo, all very yummy! I will probably enjoy bittenballen everyday we are here.

We were very tired from our trip so decided to have an early night, I think we were in bed by 8pm. Anyway, we are now up and about early this morning fully refreshed and ready to attack the day. First stop will be the Rijksmuseum one of our all time favourite places in Amsterdam.Read more