Arriving in Amsterdam

May 22: We woke up today around 6:45 AM to start our travels to Amsterdam. We needed to catch a bus in Wutta to get to the train station in Eisenach around 8:00 this morning. We walked down to the bus stop (we weren't sure where it was but found it relatively easily) where an older man was waiting. He assured us that we were in the correct place. Eric wrote down about three different bus numbers that we could take just to make sure we would get to the train station in time. All of the sudden Eric says "look there is Connie driving!" (Connie is Reggie's girlfriend, who are friends of Eric's dad)... just then she offered us a ride to the train station! We couldn't of asked for a better deal! So needless to say, we ended up being about an hour early for our train out of Eisenach.

We took the train from Eisenach to Frankfurt Main to catch our Amsterdam train. It took about 3 hours from Frankfurt to get into Amsterdam after about 6 stops. We ran into a little rail track construction problems, and the staff made an announcement to apologize for being 8 minutes late (you wouldn't find that kind of sincerity in the US). From the train station we had to get the keys to the apartment that we were staying. My father's cousin, Eric Hespenheide, offered us his apartment for the duration of our stay in Amsterdam. Eric H. is not going to be back in Amsterdam till Wed evening because he is speaking to a group of people in Denmark. We were very appreciative of his kindness, and the apartment was right in the middle of the city! It couldn't have been better! Once we got the keys we started walking back to the area were the apartment was located (in a very nice area might I add). So Eric and I took advantage of the nice weather and went to grab a bite to eat. We found a little pub a few blocks away were a local convinced us that this was the place to eat! And it was very good... the people in Amsterdam are very nice and outgoing. We sat by the side of the canal as the sun went down taking it all in!

May 23: We woke up around 9 AM (our new wake up time:-) and went to the grocery store for some food! That is the good thing about having a kitchen, so that you can cook or at least have some snacks around. We went straight to the old Heineken Brewery in the city to take a tour (they call it the Heineken Experience). This was not the typical museum... there were rides and bars (where you got 3 beers included in the 11 Euro charge). It was very entertaining and fun to learn about the history of the family and marketing of the company.

Then we walked around a little through a park where many groups of people were smoking tobacco, week, or hash???? It was a great place for people and pet watching! We got some ice cream and started back to the appartment (3 beers will catch up to you really fast).

Eric H. returned from his trip and we all went to a pub to catch the soccer championship game between AC Milan and Liverpool. The bar was standing room only and the fans were crazy! Eric works for Deloitte (audit company) and travels 100% doing just about whatever he wants to do (now). He has been with the company for about 30 years and has been all over the world and involved in many huge business deals! It was very interesting talking to him about his goal to be on the board of directors, traveling so much and work. He really likes what he does and it shows...inspiring for both of us.

By the way... AC Milan won the game! Yea... I was cheering for them since I lived there for a short period of time!