Family, Friends, etc.--
Still got some catching up to do on Scandinavia, but
let me comment on the present for a second...
Imagine if you will: you are suddenly transported back
in time, it's the 80's again and you're playing the
classic video game "Frogger" again--in real life.
Except instead of dodging logs, boats, fish, and other
frog-oriented threats while trying to cross the
screen, you are dodging cars, trams, buses, drunks,
bikes, drunks on bikes, etc. That's basically what
it's like to cross a street in Amsterdam.
In fact, it's such an important concern that Karen and
I have appointed a position on our staff to handle the
procedure: "VP of Road Crossing." It's much easier
when there is a clear leader making the stop/go
decisions, instead of trying to make a joint decision
every time another Dutchperson is whizzing towards us
at 30 km per (heh... a little conversion test for you
there) with their hands casually jammed in their
jacket pockets.
So I'm glad that I've survived long enough to send you
this second Edition. In between road crossings, we've
seen a lot of cool stuff here: the Van Gogh museum, a
boat tour, the Anne Frank museum, an absolutely
hilarious improv comedy show called "Boom Chicago",
lots of cool bars and cafes to hang out at and
seemingly endless streets of picturesque buildings
overlooking canals.
Backing up a bit, we also had a good time at Stockholm
when we were there, especially because we had fun
hanging out with Torbjorn and Karin, a couple of
friends of ours that live there. Always nice to have
some locals to stay with and show you around, and
conversations with them give us a better picture of
what it's like to live there. And if those friends
happen to have a sauna at the top of their apartment
with a window overlooking the city.
We then travelled with Torbjorn down to his mother's
house in Southern Sweden. Lilleba was an exchange
student that lived with my Mom back in '61, and our
families have stayed in touch ever since. It was
great to get to know her, and we did a lot of
reminiscing about Mom in the process. She was so
generous with her house and her time!! We also had fun
exploring the local area glass factories, where some
of the most incredible crystal in the world is
created.
Then on to Copenhagen--the first town where we were
truely "on our own" with no one to visit or stay with.
Downtown Copenhagen has a sprawling network of roads
that are pedestrian-only, with tons of shops,
restaurants, bars, and museums--I think we were
walking around five or six miles a day we were there.
We spoiled ourselves with a private two-bunk cabin on
the way to the Netherlands, and arrived in the small
town of Oisterwijk in the south to visit some other
family friends, Lia and Dick. Again, it was great
staying with locals, we had a lot of fun chatting with
them. They also had a guitar--making it four out of
four homes that we have stayed at that has had a
guitar--always nice for me!! I've had fun playing
songs for them, jamming with Torbjorn, and backing up
for sing-alongs.
Holland is amazingly flat--a cyclist's dream! Karen
and Dick and I took a rambling ride to a local town
the first day we were there. We also visited the
picturesque town of 's-Hertegonbosch (that's how it's
spelled, believe it or not!).
And that brings us to Amsterdam... and I've got only
2 minutes left in this internet cafe, gotta wrap it
up!! I hope this finds you well, I've enjoyed writing
it.
Take care--
--Scott.
|
