A return to normal but let's not forget Amsterdam. Rated R

And we are back tending a gate at he end of a picturesque lane about 70 miles south of San Antonio..  Lisa working days and myself the graveyard shift.  After traveling nearly 12,000 miles we have returned to within 5 miles of the last gate we left nearly two months ago.  And after vacation, it is time to buckle down and get a few things done while bracing for the hot summer that is bearing down on us, while also keeping a wary eye on the weather here in the great state of Texas and also the most natural disaster prone.  Kind of a lonely night, having talked with only a few people all evening.  And most importantly, when stepping out of our little trailer, keeping an eye on the ground for rattle snakes who tend to hunt this time of night.  Every little shadow drawing careful scrutiny.  So with cup of coffee in hand instead of the traditional ceremonial glass of wine I will recap the rest of the vacation.

After six days in Barcelona and despite the massive cold I had contracted and the banking problems I talked about earlier,  we decided to stick with the earlier plan and head to Amsterdam.  The local choices for Airlines were Vueling and Transavia who advertised the cheapest fares.  A flight of some two and a half hours and we still aquired our tickets for under a hundred bucks apiece. (Advertised at 42 Euro but you pay almost as much in taxes.  Still pretty cheap)  We crawled out of our Hotel at about 4:30AM and walked the mile and a half to the bus stop which has buses leaving for BCN every 15 minutes.  The walk along La Rambla at this time of morning was interesting enough.  I disagreed with Lisa that just because there were several single women along the way didn't necessarily mean they weren't Hookers. Small groups of young men, alot more police than I had seen during the day were patrolling this area in the early hours. Substantial garbage that would be cleaned before first light and other folks fast walking through the rain (I did mention it was raining didn't I?) Anyway, we managed to get to the Airport and get checked in without too much issue.  We watched  the flight attendant give the standard emergency protocols without understanding a single word she said.  Bit of a surreal experience.  To be fair, another FA was also attempting to translate in a very unintelligible form of English.  I have to wonder if the European airlines are required to conform to the same types of less extreme maneuvers required by the FAA because upon takeoff, the pilot placed the aircraft into a steep, I mean really steep climb.  Must be something like the astronauts feel.  Then performed a few fairly steep banking turns until finally leveling off.  Thereafter the flight attendant's main duties  was to peddle various snacks and drinks the rest of the flight.  Everything, including water had a price. Flying over France was disappointing because of the cloud cover but I was amazed at the number of canals there exist in Amsterdam.  We then dived, I mean started our descent into Amsterdam, landing at what I have to believe in my simple unpilot brain at full power.  I'm not saying it was a bad landing, just kind of alot faster than what I have come to expect here in the states.   Under these circumstances you just look around at the other passengers who appeared bored at best and think to yourself, "well he seems to know what he is doing" meaning the pilot.  And so started our excellent Amsterdam adventure. 

 It was very crowded in Amsterdam the weekend we went  due to the King's Birthday.  Otherwise we likely would have found cheaper lodgings but everything was booked. Access to downtown is amazingly simple by public transportation.  Either the Bus, Tram or for a few Euro the train goes directly to Central Station and back.  

I found this story in the New York Times of an American Expat in Amsterdam.  A good read:Going Dutch

                                 

                                               Leaving Barcelona

                             Ibis Airport Motel at about 150.00 a night.  Only one available on this weekend
The Ibis has a sister motel located about a mile away that is only 62.00 per day also with free shuttle.

  Ultimately, we only had one day in Amsterdam.  One very very long day. The day following our arrival was a major Holiday, the King's Birthday, which under other circumstances we would have attended, however by this time I was just shutting down from the chest cold I picked up.  Also the public transportation shut down for the event and the only way to get around was by Taxi. Something I avoided due to our unexpected financial issues.   We took a lot of Pics which I have uploaded here.  Various squares and buildings downtown of which I haven't a clue to their name.  Quite beautiful however.

This boat pulled over and he handed some euro to a young man on the bank for "smoke" it sounded like.  Maybe fish? 

                      Cheese, Cheese and more Cheese.  Hey, is that me?

Little out of Order Shilpol Airport

 Then we found the Red Light District.  Some of these following pictures are a little on the R,( or higher) side.  We did go into a prostitution museum which starts out with kind of a bizarre little movie showing first the morning in the red light district and the interactions of the residents.  Accordingly there are over 10000 sex workers in Amsterdam, (3000 Men) who accommodate 200,000 each year. The movie shows the very natural way of life that has evolved  here surrounding the sex trade.  For instance the movie showing the children of one sex worker going to school in the morning kissing their Mom goodbye.  I don't believe children are openly or intentionally exposed to this, but I also don't think there is necessarily an effort to hide what Mom or Dad does for a living.  Nor is the stigma we associate with these types of professions there. There was also a message decrying those forced into the sex trade. Otherwise The Dutch have completely legalized these activities . The rest of the movie more or less depicted the ho hum day to day routine of these occupations.   I thought of dropping a few resume's but the Ol Stink Eye of the little woman came to bear and I chose Life.  

I think this is some kind of contraption to make your back feel better.  Yep, I'm sure of it.  It's for Arthritis.

                This is that hanging upside down thing with the boots, for posture I think.

                                                    Kay, I give up. 

                                 


                            And here are the Natives in their natural setting.  A little shy popping in and out of the window.

                                              Central Station

                               These are ummm phones.

                            Good Food and Good Wine

                                 

                                            At the right Price

And that's it.  After one day of rest we headed back.  We lucked into an upgrade.  Here is Lisa settling down for ten hours of movies.

We missed so much in both Barcelona and Amsterdam.  Both, hopefully will be a redo someday. Anyway...


I like this one of us.  I captured something of us here.. Mike n' Lisa's quest blog UA-20271220-1 ga(‘set’, ‘&uid’, {{USER_ID}}); // Set the user ID using signed-in user_id.