Ryan’s Week-End in Amsterdam – February 23-25

We got word through a reliable source (his Mom!) that Ryan was on his way – seat 6E. We headed out at 7:30 a.m.to Central Station to get the train to Schiphol to pick up our guest. He looked no worse for the wear, having survived his first trip overseas. Of note was that on board working business class was Delta’s senior most flight attendant. The tail winds were over 100 mph. Despite leaving Atlanta late, they arrived early.
We made our way back to the apartment, walking through the Noordemarkt for bread on the way home. Back in the apartment, we had bread, cheese, meat & fruit before heading out for the day.
Ryan forgot his camera at home so Bob handed his over & with little instruction, he was snapping away. We wandered back through the Noordemarkt & then headed to the Dam Square. From the Dam we walked to the Red Light District. There were plenty of windows open & people to observe. As always, interesting area to wander through.
From the Dam we walked toward the Leidseplein, stopping to walk through the floating flower market. We stopped at the English Bookstore to see if I could find more reading material. There were some possibilities but did not find anything worth buying. I did find a nice warm Amsterdam sweatshirt that I thought I had to have. The Leidseplein wasn’t as active as it usually is. Maybe it was too cold or we were too early. We took a canal boat ride that gave Ryan a little too much time to sit still. It was warm in the boat & the ride was over an hour long. I think he zoned out for much of the ride, needing just a little rest.
Ryan, outside the Hard Rock, Amsterdam

After the canal boat, we stopped at Hard Rock for some lunch. Ryan was disappointedthat they only had Amstel ‘light’. He came all this way for the ‘real thing’ and had to wait until we could get to the store. A couple of hamburgers later we were ready to walk again. We headed back to the apartment, diverting to the market for a few essentials, including the Amstel. Spent the evening looking at pictures and reading before he decided 9:00 was as long as he could stay awake.
Sunday was a little sunnier, a little warmer than Saturday. We started out by mid morning with the Van Gogh museum on our ‘to do’ list. As we headed toward Van Gogh, Ryan noticed the Rijksmuseum and opted to go there instead. It’s an interesting museum of Dutch history. The museum covers a small period of time – the 17th century, known as the Dutch Golden Age. After our fill of culture we walked to the Vlaamse Frittes stand where we take all of our guests. This stand sells a variety of things but its specialty is apparently the fries. They are good – and what better lunch than fries! After the fries it was back to the Red Light District. Intriguing place & Ryan seemed to think the souvenir shops there were worth going back to for a second look.
Sunday night we had dinner at home & were joined by Allen, one of the residents in the apartment building. He’s a couple of years older than Ryan & originally from South Africa. He is working here for a few years before finishing his education. He has been interesting to talk to & we thought he & Ryan might enjoy visiting. Allen was particularly pleased to be eating ‘an American dinner with an American family…..’ He mentioned that he wants to go to America so he can see ‘Hollywood’. Of course.
Monday morning all three of us were up and out early as we headed back to the airport. We finally found the infamous bus 18 that takes us to Central Station. It was so much nicer to jump on a bus at 7:30 in the morning & not lug all our bags through the streets. From Central Station, quick train ride to Schipol. We dropped Ryan at Delta after giving him instructions on how to get back to the apartment if his flight cancelled. He assured us he would be on the flight & indeed he was.
We made our way to Alitalia & jumped on our flight to Rome.