The final few days August 5-7 ...
Monday
We got up fairly early and headed out for our 20 minute walk to the train station. Daddy said it might rain, so he took his umbrella, but it wouldn't be cold so he didn't take his jacket. Carmen thought it might be cold, so she took a jacket, but she didn't think it would rain, so she left her umbrella home. I didn't know what it would do, so I took both jacket and umbrella. I won that bet.
When we got off the train in Amsterdam we saw several tour boat stands, and we walked up to the closest one and found that they had almost exactly what we wanted. Every 45 minutes another boat would follow the same route, so we could get off one at any of the 7 stops, and get back on the next one or the one after, or the one after ...
So of course when we went to get on the boat we saw it leaving, and we had a 45 minute wait for the next one. And it started raining. We ducked into the entryway of a restaurant to wait for the next boat. When it was time for the boat to arrive, all the people waiting for it lined up, and we were still waiting off to the side where it was drier. The boat arrived, and I noticed that it wasn't stopping where all the people were waiting.
So I stood where the boat was stopping, and Daddy and Carmen lined up behind me, and everyone else trooped over and lined up behind us, so we were able to get just the seats we wanted.
The first stop was the Anne Frank House and Museum. I didn't expect such a long line, but I suppose I should have. We waited in line about 40 minutes. The rooms Anne and her family stayed in were somewhat bigger than I had expected. The entryway through the bookcase was very low, and Carmen bumped her head on the top.
I would have preferred to have had more time in the rooms, without all the crowds. But I suppose all the thousands of other people would have liked the same thing for themselves. It's hard to really feel what it must have been like with hundreds of people crowding around.
After Anne's house we got on another boat and headed off to the Rijksmuseum. We wandered around a very small fraction of the exhibits, then Carmen and I were exhausted, and Daddy was willing to head back, so we went back to the boat stop where we had to wait about 20 minutes for the next boat.
Then back to the rain station, where we had a hard time figuring out where and when our train would be, and I was very hungry and thirsty.
So I noticed a Burger King in the station, and I dragged everyone to it, where I bought us all something, to go, and I carried the food all around the station while we figured out where to catch the right train. When we eventually found it we got on and had our dinner.
And then we walked home from the station in the rain.
More pictures Here
Tuesday
Nothing much happening today. I did a load of laundry, but Daddy says he'd rather take home his things dirty and wash them there. I plan to be tired and have too many things to do when I get home, so here's one thing I won't have to do.
We counted out our Euros, figure we can spend about $15 each between now and when we leave, or we'll have to change more money.
Lucien emailed me a while ago to let me know he's going to phone me and try to talk me through a banking online transaction that he can't seem to do with his internet connection in Finland. OK, I'll see what I can do.
We phoned the KLM Airline folks to verify that they are expecting us. They are.
As soon as it's too late to do anything about it we'll remember all the things we should do before we head home. But that's for later.
I guess we should start resting up for our long journey home. Now that I'm completely adjusted to Holland time (and Holland weather) I'm not looking forward to having to do it all over again. But I guess there's no choice, other than returning on a very slow boat or something. And I'm finally feeling at home on Lucien's computer. I'll have to learn how mine works all over again.
We went for a short walk to a street a few blocks from here, Noteboomstraat. Since Daddy's mother was a Noteboom, we decided it would be necessary for us to get a picture of him on the street.
Lucien phoned and I did his online banking for him, with him talking me through it. It wasn't as hard as it would have been if I didn't already do a lot of online work, but it was still very hard, with me trying to read what I was seeing on the screen, and of course it wasn't in English. I don't think I messed up his money transfer. If I did I suppose I'll hear about it.
He also wanted me to transfer the ownership of several domain names he controls. That was easier, since I was the one who originally taught him how to do it.
Carmen just came home from work and asked me if I was hungry. I was, of course. So I guess she's fixing dinner. After tomorrow we'll have to fend for ourselves.
Wednesday
We're wandering around taking care of the last few things before we head for home in the morning. We'll probably be able to check our email for the last time around 7:30 Thursday morning, which will be 10:30 Wednesday evening back home. Or if we're running late our last email check will be about 10 Wednesday evening - 1PM Wednesday afternoon back home.
We bought a few snacks for munching while we wait between planes for 4 hours in London.
We're trying to get our smallest suitcase into the largest one, giving us one less thing to carry and lose. I think it can be done, but we haven't assembled all our things so we don't know for sure.
Mostly we're just killing time. But I'm sure the last minute will be upon us before we're ready.
Gotta water the plants for the last time, turn off the computer, put our keys where we said we'd put them, and get on the shuttle for the airport. Then watch out California, here we come!
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