Amsterdam, Holland ... Do you know where YOUR Tulips are?

So We're Back on the Road, or friendly skies ... Arrived today in Holland

     It's the start of a nineteen day swing through the Netherlands and Scotland, and we all arrived from different destinations within a couple hours.  

     Fiona came from Senegal Africa, where she has spent the last ten days.  Lewis and his wife Ruby arrived from Washington DC, where they attended a Peace Corps reunion.  And I myself flew direct from Portland to Amsterdam (nice!) on Delta Airlines. 

     We made our way to Haarlem where we are staying.  This is the original Haarlem, the one in New York is named after this place, but they spell it different.  And at one time, New York was known as New Amsterdam.  

     In fact, the Dutch were responsible for a lot of the things that we are familiar with in today's world.  Things like Tulips, Windmills, Cheese, and Dutch Bros coffee.  

     You know, someone might ask, why is the country called Holland, or Netherlands, and the people are known as Dutch?  Heck, I don't know, the language is also known as Dutch, although almost everyone here also speaks English.  

     The influence of this country is disproportionate to its size.  And it's a small country that would be much smaller with out the land they recaptured from the sea.  

     How did they reclaim (or claim) land from the sea?  They built huge massive dikes out into the ocean, they call them Polders, and put up windmills to pump the water out.  These people are clever, half the country is below sea level. 

     So we got our rental car and drove from the airport to Haarlem, and checked in to our AirBNB accommodations, which are very nice and close to the city center.   We laid in some groceries and promptly took a nap. 

     We went for a walk this afternoon, down to the historic church and town square.  Everything is super old here compared to America.  The city hall was build in 1630.

A local Cheese Shoppe

     We shared a nice dinner and headed back to the flat.  We'll hit the pillow probably pretty early tonight, as we all flew overnight last night to get here. 

     A couple of stories about my plane flight.  

     Once we settled in for the journey, the Asian lady in front of me with a couple kids, was trying to turn on the overhead seat light.       

     She couldn't figure it out and was turning the air flow knob back and forth and getting frustrated.

     I stepped in: "It's on the screen in front of you, the one on the seat back"

     Her: "What seat back? What screen?"

     Me: "The one right there" I pointed to the video screen.

     Her: "What?"

     Me: "Right here," I leaned over and touched the screen and the light came on.  She was amazed.

     Her: "You ... are ... technology!"

     

     I was surrounded by children on this plane trip, usually everyone's worst nightmare.  But it didn't bother me that much, I'm kind of used to it, shoot, I had my two young grandkids by myself all week.

     But there were some other who were really getting on edge with the noise and crying.  There must have been like ten kids within two or three rows.

     At one point it got pretty extreme and one little boy around two was really hollering and crying and busting out some serious volume.  It was probably one of the loudest screaming fits I have ever heard.      The father turned to me (I was sitting next to them!) and apologized.  I told him "Hey, I'm alright ... they're kids, what are you going to do?"

     But the other passengers kept turning around and glaring and staring at them and finally one lady had enough.  She raised her voice "Will you quiet that kid down!  Make him stop!!"

     That approach rarely works, especially with parents who are worn out and haven't slept.  That kind of thing is generally not advisable.  

     So the dad fires back "Why don't you mind your own business?!?!  I can't make him stop!  Why don't you stop?!?!"

     The arguing escalates and someone hits the call button for the flight attendant.  They are sympathetic toward the parents of the wayward child.  They calm down the agitated passenger and offer her another seat somewhere, but she declines.  

     I'm thinking "happy father's day, dude!"

     Off to a good start, with lots more to come.  

     This is a beautiful place.  Check out the scene below, with a water-born nursery selling flowers and plants on the canal.

     

     And of course, there is always the interesting sign:

     We're planning to be nice ...