A Traveling Broad, Amsterdam

Tuesday, August 4th, local time 2:00 PM

"We are not in Kansas anymore!" That's a fabulous quote from Dorothy that I've said a million times, but lived only once. Once, so far, that is.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are in The Netherlands. Pronounce the 'th' with a hard 'd' sound and you're starting to get the hang of the dialect.

Most people call it Holland, but according to our local guide, North and South Holland account for only two of the 11 provinces that make up The Netherlands, the country. We are staying in Amsterdam, the capital city with a population of...I can't remember. There's LOTS of water. Water, water everywhere, actually. Canals and lowlands dominate the scenery here. It reminds us a lot of New Orleans, only greener and cleaner.

This is a land where vowels are not appreciated as much as they should be. Where everything is in metric. Where you need a masters degree to operate the lights, the AC (hallelujah for AC), as well as the shower. Where bicyclists have their own lanes, stop lights, and states of mind. And there are thousands, no tens of thousands, of them.

Although no athletes were harmed and nobody ended up in the canals, there is one recorded incidence already of a bike encounter. I am sure it won't be the last, especially since the front stoop of our hotel is basically in a bike lane. I'll keep you up to date on any further such encounters.

We landed around 6:30 this morning, after flying through the night. Basically, we played hide and seek with the sun as it went left and we went right, departing and meeting again somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It was a nice flight. I watched a movie, slept a little, and ate a few times.

We met up with our bus driver and tour guide for the week as well as a local tour guide for the day. Listening to them speak English is a treat. Listening to them speak Dutch to each other in the next breath is even more interesting. We're all hoping they're not saying anything bad about us in front of our faces in another language as we smile and nod.

They took us on a tour of the city as well as a long lost windmill village while we waited for our hotel rooms to be readied. No, the village is not lost. The windmills as they are in the village there are a thing of the past. We saw some modern windmills in the Atlantic Ocean near the Amsterdam coastline this morning that looked a lot like huge advertisements for Mercedes-Benz. The windmills at the village are actually used to manufacture some sort of product and not electricity as the modern ones do.

Throw in a tour of a wooden shoe maker and a cheese maker within the village and the trip is off to a good start. If you knew how they made cheese, you might not eat it...but I won't spoil it. It tastes good anyway, right!?

The flowers here are gorgeous. I saw dahlias today as big as my hand and in the prettiest color combinations. Hydrangeas of all shapes, sizes, and vibrant colors. It's truly beautiful here.

I've taken some pictures already and am working on posting them soon. Seems they were a lot easier to load into Facebook. I'm working on some video, but don't think ESPN is ready for my broadcasting skills and techniques. Maybe something newsworthy will present itself tomorrow.

For now, I'm trying to fight off the jet lag. Bob, our tour guide for the week, told us to go to the room and take a short nap, but get up and get outside to see the sights. Hopefully after a few hours of walking around and a meal I can get a good night's rest and be ready to take on Amsterdam a little more tomorrow.

I haven't had any caffeine in a day or so and am in desperate need of either that or some coffee. I'm told I should be wary of the coffee shops around here, which puts even more pressure on me as I try to get out of this cozy European room and see some sights.

There's many more things to say, but they'll have to wait. I'm off to tour Amsterdam on foot, probably by myself for a while. Wish me luck!

Tot straks! (Google it if you really want to know)

ASteed
The Traveling Broad

*11:42 PM local time update

I had a few minutes of really, really, really wanting to get back to the good old U.S. of A. a little while earlier today. I think it was a combination of feeling paranoid about walking around alone, not understanding the language and customs, and being extremely tired and hungry. Throw in the fact I still hadn't had a Coke in a few days and emotions were really beginning to compound exponentially.

I chatted with my daughter through Facebook. That may have actually instigated a few tears instead of resolving some reservations I had, but I decided to put on my big girl attitude and try it again.

Timing as it was allowed Coach Maestri to be in the lobby looking for me at the same time (no cell phones over here). We struck out on foot again to dodge some bicycles as a dynamic duo. We had a great time experiencing this new place.

There's no place like home...

It's late - almost midnight now, and way past my bedtime. I've added some pictures. Not all of them of course, but if you're my friend on Facebook, you can see them all there. I'm ready for a good night's sleep, which will be the first I've had since Saturday night. I can truly say that I've got some beauty rest to catch up on.

Goedenacht-
:)

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