Amsterdam

I used my frequent flier miles to upgrade my family. Still have over 100,000 left over...

KLM business class is OK, but doesn't compare to Virgin. There were only three movie channels available (and none worth watching) and the food, though better than coach, was still airline food. I had their Indonesian meal, which had a rendang-type beef and a lot of rice. Similarly, the seat was not as wide as one gets on Virgin. I managed to cope ;-) and slept for a few hours before waking at 7AM Amsterdam time.

Alas, I still had four more hours of flying...

One thing they did do right: Flying business class got our luggage out faster and got us out of the airport quickly. We were at the Marriott within 90 minutes of landing.

Met up with everyone. My room was not ready, but the others were, so we waited for Lillian to clean up and then went on a canal boat tour. After this, my room was ready, so I took a quick shower before we all went to dinner. We opted for Indonesia, where we had the massive rice table. There were about thirty different types of sate and other foods. It was a filling meal.

After that, I didn't want to sleep. Eastbound jet lag is relatively easy for me to beat, I just need to stay up to my normal bedtime. I wanted to go walking; the only one of our party who wanted to walk was Betsy. So, we went on a night tour of Amsterdam. Ended up heading towards the Red Light district, where Betsy gave some estimates of verisimilitude. By the time we got back to the hotel, the rain had started.

I slept well. Getting the others roused was more problematic. I took a walk through Vondelpark and heard some interesting birds. In the morning, we went to the Reichsmuseum, which had an exhibit of interesting ceramics. Lunch was some fries and a croquette at an automat, after which my father, Betsy, and I headed off to see Ajax play Willem II.

Ajax are usually one of the better teams in Holland. They've won four European championships in their history, and with Feeyenoord they've dominated the Dutch leagues forever. We had excellent seats, in the front row by the moat (they have a moat around the field) near the north goal. Needless to say, Sod's Law applied, and all the goals were scored at the far end...

Willem II scored two goals for the game. The first, in the first half, counted for them. In the second half, under heavy Ajax pressure, one of the defenders scored an own-goal. Game ended up a 1-1 draw.

It was a wee bit of effort to get back to town. There was a crush for the train, as only a few gates were open and everyone had to go through them. So, despite ending at 4:15, we weren't home until after 5PM.

For dinner that night, we went to a Spanish restaurant near Leidesplein where we had tapas and paella. This time, my father wanted to see the red light district, and I still wanted to walk, so I showed it to him.

Monday was to be our last day. My father, Lillian, and Betsy wanted to take the Heineken brewery tour, but Lillian got confused on the tram lines and they ended up visiting the Sex Museum near Central Station. I met my father and Betsy at 11 AM at the Van Gogh Museum, which has been redesigned since my last visit.

We had lunch at the hotel, and my father and I ventured back to the Reichsmuseum where I saw the Dutch history exhibit. We stayed until the museum closed.

Last dinner was at a seafood restaurant near Leidesplein. Pretty good, but I felt it was the weakest of the three. I slept well for the last night, we woke early and caught a taxi to Schiphol Airport for the flight to Tanzania. There, we met up with the rest of the folks going on safari with us.

KLM 569