August 31, 2012

Well we are off.  Carol and Harry drove us to the West Coast Express where we caught the 06:55 train for Vancouver. The attendant at the WCE was really helpful and joked that we didn't need that much luggage for our train trip.  Once in Vancouver we hopped onto the Canada line and made our way to the airport, arriving before nine.  Alot of people use Canada Line to get to YVR when they are flying out.  When we got there we stood in front of the big board and looked for our flight.  Linda spotted it and the time for departure said 18:05.  We were floored.  We decided to go for coffee and a snack and while I was getting my coffee, Linda checked the Air Transat web site and it still had a departure time of 14:05.  A bit of a relief.  We walked around the airport for a while and saw Rick and Brian Antonson where doing a book signing.  I thought I might like one of their books so we went up and talked to them.  Suprise Brian remembered us from Kim's graduation.  Anyway we bought a book and then thought it was not to good of a thing to do because we would have to haul it around with us.  Had lunch at the White Spot and the speed at the airport is the same as Mission, slow.  After lunch we had to hustle a little to get down to the security check in, and the line up was miles long.  We snaked along at a reasonable pace until we got behind the frosted glass and with still a long way to go, a security guard pulled us out of line, did a swab on my hands and shoes and put us in the Nexus lineup which was very short.  We thought this was great.  Only problem was the guy doing the xray screening was taking 4 or 5 times as long to check the bags as the other line. The people behind us in the long line were through the same time as us.  We made it to the departure area with lots of time to spare.  Our plane was waiting, an airbus 300 which left approximately on time.  After an hour flight we landed in Calgary and by Canadian law we had to stay in the aircraft.  With nothing to do we wandered around the aircraft.  I noticed the cockpit door was open so went up front to have a look.  The captain saw me and invited me in.  He spent a few minutes explaining what the different switches and lights were and had to leave for a walk around so he told me to sit in his seat and the copilot would take care of me.  The copilot was busy putting in all the information for our next leg of the flight so he was explaining what he was doing.  Incomes a maintenance man who is trying to fix the terrain avoidance system who jokes and explains what he was doing.  Unfortunately when the captain returned I had to leave.  A cool experience.   The plane soon filled up with passengers, and with them were several infants.  One mother on boarding said your probably not happy to see me.  She wasn't far off.  It seemed like one or another baby cried most of the trip.  We tried to sleep but got very little, we should have taken David's advice and used gravol.  Overall not a bad flight, crew seemed good and the food almost edible and we arrived 20 minutes early.  Must have been due to the advice I gave the captain and copilot in Calgary.

Roy has pretty well covered our trip over.  Wow, he was so lucky to get to sit in the captain seat!  That will be a highlight of the trip for him. 
The luggage collected, we set out for the city, but first we had to buy our I Amsterdam passes, have a snack, and find the bus.  Jet lagged, that seemed to take forever but we were at our hotel before noon.  We should have taken the gravol, but as it makes me groggy for so long after I've taken it I was reluctant to arrive and have to cope with a new city in that state.  Roy felt the same.
My first impression of the city - bicycles, bicycles and more bicycles.  Reminds of the the Queen song about riding bicycles!  They have their own lane, which they share with motor scooters.  It is a different pattern of brick from the sidewalk.  I never seem to know which is which.  It is very hard to be on the right pattern!  We will be lucky if we aren't taken out by a bicycle before we leave.

Our hotel was a short, 3 minute walk from the bus stop.  It is old and European but there is an elevator.  We are on the 3rd floor.  Our room is small but has everything we need.  The window is like a dormer - double windows open so we can look out over the street.  We are next to Vondelpark and took a stroll through it last evening.
After checking in we visited Rijksmuseum and saw the Rembrandt exhibit.  The paintings seem as fresh as they must have the day they were painted.  It was interesting to see paintings done by teachers and contemporaries of Rembrandt.  It would be wonderful to have the talent to paint like them!  The downside to the visit was that jet lag hit with a vengance.  I have never experienced it like that before.  I thought, "we'd best get out of here before I pitch forward into a picture".  Surprise, Roy felt the same way.  We went and had a drink and a snack, went back to our room and slept for and hour and a half and felt a bit more like ourselves. 

Out we went to see Amsterdam.  Vondelpark was just next door so we walked through its 44 acres.  There are paths for bikes and walkers.  Stay out of the bike lanes!  People were picnicing, barbueqing, necking, playing, drinking.  It was a good way to see how people in Amsterdam relax on a Friday evening.  There is an out door theatre and a play called "Fold" was in rehersal.  We sat and watched for awhile.  The dancers were learning their steps.  The stage was covered in what looked to be peat moss and they kicked the dirt around as they danced.  In front of the stage there was a circle of peat that looked like the cone of a volcano.  Wonder what the play will be like.
After that we went to Leidse Square for pasta and strolled around the surrounding streets.  Home to bed.