Wooden shoes, anyone?

Grammy's post

Like all the days so far, today started waaaaay too early! Rich and I woke up at about 3:00, a few minutes before our 3:15 am alarm. Rich had arranged a 4:00 am taxi to take us to the BSI station to catch a 4:30 bus to the international airport. It’s about a 45-minute ride, so we needed to allow plenty of time for our 7:40 flight. Ugh!! It was not pleasant to get up so early with all of us still suffering from jetlag. But I consoled myself with the promise that this was the last day we’d have to do such a ridiculous start time (or even an early one) because there is nothing scheduled for the mornings from here on out. Johnny gets to sleep until the sun gets warm –something he is greatly looking forward to. I have to admit both Rich and Johnny were fairly cheerful even though there was no place to get coffee until we got all the way through security, an inhuman situation if ever there was one!

The Reykjavik airport was sort of zoo-like—crowded and disorganized—but we made it through all of the hurdles and enjoyed breakfast and a quiet corner of the waiting room to regroup before boarding. The plane was about 45 minutes late departing, but the flight was smooth. One nice little surprise was that since today is Iceland Day (in honor of their independence), the flight attendants served everyone a little square of traditional chocolate cake with a tiny little Icelandic flag!

We arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport late and found the train to Amsterdam Centraal, the central station. Once there, we got tram passes for the week and caught a taxi to our Airbnb houseboat #511, across from 25 Jacob van Lennepkade. We love it! There are two nice bedrooms and a big living room-dining room combination, one bathroom, and a kitchen. The best part is the big windows providing us with great views of the boats and ducks on the canal.

Once we got settled, we strolled half a block to a little neighborhood place called Café Toussaint. We sat outside and enjoyed watching a friendly gathering of Dutch families visiting, playing ping pong, and drinking while their children played together in the little playground area next to the café. We had a wonderful lunch! Rich ordered a chorizo and cheese toastie on brown bread (actually an excellent grilled sausage and cheese sandwich); Johnny had an open-face sandwich of thinly-sliced beef topped with capers and a delicious mystery sauce; and I had a quiche with a fabulous salad with grilled vegetables. We agreed to head back there for breakfast tomorrow morning.

We came back and napped briefly while watching the World Cup game between Germany and Mexico. Germany is the defending champion, but Mexico beat them 1-0 to much celebration. By the time that game was over, it was time for dinner. Since we had had a late lunch, we ate light at a Vietnamese place called Miss Saigon just down the canal from us. We shared appetizers and all split one main dish.

Then it was back to the houseboat to watch Brazil vs. Switzerland. It’s kind of nice to have the World Cup games today. Watching is a great activity to do together while relaxing and catching up on our blog!

Abba’s comments

It felt good to get back to Amsterdam, always one of my favorite cities. Staying in a houseboat on an Amsterdam canal has been on my bucket list for decades, and even though I have nothing to compare it with this one seems like a really good one. The little neighborhood café where we had lunch was a wonderful surprise, and just hanging out in the houseboat resting and watching a couple of World Cup games without feeling a need to Do Something was just what the doctor ordered. (Sadly, Brazil, whom I always root for, didn’t win—the game ended in a 1-1 tie, which was a dirty shame because the Swiss player who scored on a header clearly pushed off the Brazilian defender to give himself a clear shot…but I’m not bitter.) Tomorrow we Do Something—canal boat tour, Van Gogh Museum, rijstaffel, who knows what else…or we may just nap.

Johnny’s comments

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