Saturday, March 24, 2007
Amsterdam - part one
We landed in Amsterdam at about 1 PM or so the captain said, the temperature was a mild 9C with a light wind from the east. We did not feel this for a while as we had to make our way through Schipolt's many corridors and "halls". The airport was rather nice as far as airports go long clean walkways, many windows and those fun moving sidewalks that Abby took great pleasure in running, walking and simply standing on. An automated voice would say, "mind your step" pleasantly as we stepped on each one and we would watch and listen to our fellow travelers as they conversed with one another in any number of different languages.
We followed the flow through the maze of converging hallways to the passport control wickets, which I was for some reason surprised to see, and as we handed over our passports we told Abby that she was going to get a stamp. She promptly rolled up her sleeve and began to extend her arm before we deflated her enthusiasm when we said the stamp would be in her passport. The hallways did not end there and we had to make our way down speedy escalators through doors and down ramps until we finally glimpsed the natural light of the sun shinning down on Holland.
We emerged from the smoky smell by an airport restaurant into a pleasant day and looked all around at the flowers and the modern architecture of the airport's buildings. We quickly laid our eyes on a long line of impressively clean and expensive cars at the curb, which I was amazed to see were taxis. There was not a vehicle there that was not older than a couple of years and not less prestigious than a Mercedes. We went to the front of the line and were welcomed into an immaculately clean Mercedes van. We took the back row of seats after our
driver clad in a suit and tie had loaded our bags into the rear of the vehicle an we were off to find the hotel.
We followed the flow through the maze of converging hallways to the passport control wickets, which I was for some reason surprised to see, and as we handed over our passports we told Abby that she was going to get a stamp. She promptly rolled up her sleeve and began to extend her arm before we deflated her enthusiasm when we said the stamp would be in her passport. The hallways did not end there and we had to make our way down speedy escalators through doors and down ramps until we finally glimpsed the natural light of the sun shinning down on Holland.
We emerged from the smoky smell by an airport restaurant into a pleasant day and looked all around at the flowers and the modern architecture of the airport's buildings. We quickly laid our eyes on a long line of impressively clean and expensive cars at the curb, which I was amazed to see were taxis. There was not a vehicle there that was not older than a couple of years and not less prestigious than a Mercedes. We went to the front of the line and were welcomed into an immaculately clean Mercedes van. We took the back row of seats after our
driver clad in a suit and tie had loaded our bags into the rear of the vehicle an we were off to find the hotel.
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Totally exciting! If you stay in Amsterdam for a few days, try to get to the Van Gogh museum or the other one (I think it starts with an R). Oh my god, this is really making the travel bug flare up. Don (Val, Myles, Abbey)
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# posted by 
: 5:39 AM, March 24, 2007
: 5:39 AM, March 24, 2007<< Home
