Amsterdam

Just as they said, the wake up call came at 1 a.m.!!!   We actually were asleep (with some help) at 8:30 p.m., so we got up feeling rested.  Our shuttle left the hotel at 2 a.m. and we arrived at the airport around 2:50 a.m.   Our flight on KLM was great!!  We managed to get a window and aisle seat with an empty seat between us.  We both slept most of the 3 hours to Amsterdam.  We decided to check our bags so that we could be free to discover Amsterdam.   While packing last night, we put everything we didn’t need in the checked luggage.    Richard had been to Amsterdam 25 years ago and said he was there for 7 days and it rained every day.   That went in one ear and right out the other.  Duh!   We’d not seen any rain for the past 15 days and it had been HOT!!!    After we landed, we took the train to the Central Station.   The weather was…..cool (60ish) and RAINING, and our umbrella and raincoats were in our checked luggage.   After walking around awhile, we ducked into a sidewalk pastry shop and ordered a coffee.  We began talking with the shop owner and his wife and asked them where we could buy an umbrella.  She quickly went to the back room and came out with an umbrella and said, “here, you can have this one”.   We couldn’t believe it.   She said that someone had left it there and that we were welcome to it.   So, we ordered a pastry and sat and visited for awhile.  We didn’t want to press our luck, so we headed back to the train station (with the umbrella).  After arriving back at the airport, we found a young oriental couple that were leaving the airport and we offered them our umbrella.  They seemed surprised, but gladly accepted it, smiled, and thanked us.   So we’re sitting here at the gate in Amsterdam, awaiting our 8 hour flight to Memphis.  More later, pending a safe arrival back in the U.S.A.!!!