travel

Oktoberfest opening day! We started with the opening parade, where the wagons of beer are pulled by horses into the Theresienwiese to kick off the event.

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Munich Day 1: We had an early start out of Amsterdam. For some unknown reason, our train got to Düsseldorf 2 minutes after our connection left so we put ourselves on the next ICE train to Munich, which was packed.

We had to wander a little to find unreserved seats (we had reserved seats on the original train). We lucked out and found a couple free seats in a “quiet” compartment for most of the journey.

We got to Munich in time to meet up with our tour group for a welcome dinner in the absolutely massive Augustiner-Keller Biergarten just north of the train station.

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We spent the morning at the Van Gogh Museum, seeing the world’s largest collection of Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork, including one of the five “Sunflowers” pieces. The museum also has numerous other artifacts, including the full collection of nearly 900 letters he wrote to his brother Theo. Some of those letters are displayed on a rotational basis.

I remember learning in school that Van Gogh cut off his ear “over a woman” but that was wasn’t quite accurate. He cut off his ear in a fit of rage, after a fight with Paul Gauguin, and then he presented the ear to a girl, a 17 year old working as a cleaning girl, at a nearby brothel.

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We took the train about 50 minutes south of the city to the beautiful town of Gouda (which they pronounce more like “HOW-dah”). The home of Dave’s favorite cheese.

Here we visited the stunning Sint-Janskerk (St. John’s Church) with some 60 massive stained glass windows dating back to 1555. They were taken down and hidden during WWII, buried in sand dunes on the coast!

Then we toured a Gouda cheese facility (run by the Vergeer cheese company based on the branding) and the Kamphuisen “siroopwafel” factory — featuring a treacle-based syrup center based on a recipe that pre-dates the better known “stroopwafels”.

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After the canal cruise we wandered around until our 5:15pm Anne Frank House entry time.

We enjoyed an outdoor canal-side cafe for lunch, the floating flower market, the Delft shop, and the Lego store (full of really cute Netherlands-themed builds). Dave met a salesman in the Lego store, Mark, who is as big a Lord of the Rings fan as he is; Mark showed Dave the colossal Minas Tirith he got to help build.

The Anne Frank House is a must see, and if you’re like me and hadn’t read the book in 40 years, I recommend the ticket that includes the 30 min introductory lecture. No photography inside the museum itself, but it’s quite powerful.

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Today is our busier day, with things scheduled/reserved.

We took a morning boat tour of the canals. There were just six of us on a smaller boat, captained by Fokko. I’m glad we did this instead of one of the bigger tour boats. We meandered through several canals, learning the history of Amsterdam, its unique architecture, and how the city’s geography survives at 2m below sea level.

I’m especially intrigued at how the buildings sag and sink; Fokko said that there’s a city ordinance that you cannot modify the front facades when renovating/improving buildings.

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Like we normally do with flights that land in the morning, we try to power thru staying awake till Central European Time bedtime, which is getting more difficult as we get older.

We are staying in an AirBnB about 1/2 km south of the Amsterdam Centraal train station, built in 1590, right on a canal. It’s small and full of quirks, but will be perfect for us these next few days.

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It was only six hours after we got home from the Air Force – North Dakota State football game that we were on our way to the airport for a flight from Denver to Montreal. We had a six hour layover in Montreal.

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After the Churchill War Rooms, Dave and I grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to the nearby Westminster river pier to hop on a City Cruises narrated boat tour on the Thames. We could stop at some of the more popular photo locations on the way.

It took us to Greenwich and we learned quite a bit from the tour guide. It was a relaxing way to travel, with restrooms and a cafe/bar on board.

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After the morning and mid-day at the British Museum, Dave and I spent the late afternoon at high tea at the Palm Court at the The Langham, London then headed over to Harrods to see what all the fuss is about.

The tea was spectacular and there was way more food than Dave and I could even finish. The sandwiches and pastries were absolute works of art.

We took a double-decker bus from the Langham to Harrods. It was fun to sit in the front row of the top level.

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