Hello from Amsterdam

Our trip is going great.

The flight over here arrived about 30 minutes early, and we were at our hotel around 1030. Unfortunately our room wouldn't be ready until 2, so we had breakfast and then walked to the Amsterdam branch of the Hermitage (St. Petersburg) Museum. They had a very interesting exhibit there about some German landscape artist from the 1800's who I never heard of and whose name I can't remember, except that his first name was Caspar, and every time they mentioned his name on the audiotour tape, all I could think of was "Casper the Friendly Ghost." Nonetheless, his works were beautiful, and it was the perfect sized exhibit - we were through the whole thing in less than an hour.

Then we walked back to out hotel and our room was ready. It is beautiful, with a sitting area, and a very large bathroom with a shower (with a huge shower head), and a huge baththub. Perfect for Mitch (a bath person) and me (a shower person). The room has floor to ceiling windows overlooking a canal, beautiful furniture, high ceilings, and is just DELIGHTFUL!

We took delicious naps, and unpacked, and then went for dinner at a local restaurant (where there were very few tourists) which was delicious (and not just because there were no Americans there!. It's so nice that everyone speaks perfect English - better, in fact, than most Americans, because the emunciation is so precise.

Then we went for a walk which was lovely. The weather is cool (they are all complaining how cold it is, but for us it's like early Spring), and calm. During the day it was partly sunny; today it is sunny.

The city is so beautiful at night, with all the lights reflecting in the canals, and all the arches of the many bridges crossing the canals have little lights around them. It is very quiet, and the architecture is just incredible. All the "canal houses" are tall and narrow, with floor to ceiling windows, and very intricate gables (all different) on top. Lots of people keep their shades open and you can look in. It's all very peaceful and organized....and very Dutch.

Anyway, today we're going to the CoBrA Museum (contemporary art), and then tonight we have tickets for the Royal Concertgeboew Orchestra, which Grammaphone Magazine just ranked the best orchestra in the world! I'm really looking forwad to that.

Tomorrow we're going to Rotterdam.

Breakfast at the hotel is served in a beautiful room on the canal, with a wonderful selection of meats, cheeses, granolas, yogurt, smoked salmon and smoked trout (to die for), croissants that crumble into a million pieces when you bite into them, etc. Yum!

More later.............