Amsterdam Metro 52

Okay, so Augie has been sick, and alone in Poland for the past week. Stomach stuff and flu symptoms. So we talked him into coming back to Amsterdam for a while to get to the doctor and recover. Today he went to a tourist doctor and was diagnosed with salmonella. From Poland. Go figure. He picked up some antibiotics and is feeling much better this evening. Total for physician visit and meds: 70 euro. How much would that have been out of pocket for a visitor to the US?

While he was at the doctor, Nancy and I rode the new Amsterdam metro line from north to south. The metro line was a long time in the making. Amsterdam's soft soil and high water table made the design and construction quite challenging. They followed the line of the old Amstel riverbed. It's hard to imagine how much stuff fell into the river in the area's 10,000 year history. During excavation they discovered almost 700,000 historical fragments and objects dating back some 4000 years. Nancy found the following website discussing the construction and cataloging the finds. https://belowthesurface.amsterdam/en

Pretty cool.

We'd heard that each new stop on the line had work commissioned by separate artists so we got on and off at each stop to explore and take photos. There were quite a few Nederlanders doing the same right along with us. More photos can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GzGibKwyczr1sckv9 We also got to ride the longest escalator in the Netherlands.

Finding ourselves at the end of the line we decided to hoof it back the 10 kilometers or so to Tuinstraat. We passed through Queen Beatrix Park, the restaurant court Foodhallen, and couldn't help getting a photo of Nancy next to the Kwakersstraat Cafe. Interesting that the translation of Quaker and quacker is the same in Dutch--Kwaaker.

The ceramic orb with the quote 'Some people dance in the rain, others just get wet' was found in Queen Beatrix Park. It reminded me of the long hikes that Grace and I used to take in the rain. Plants are greener, rocks are more colorful, and the amphibians and waterfowl are more active. Best time to hike!Read more