Wednesday, June 20, 2018 (Amsterdam/United States)

We arrived about 2-1/2 hours early only to find a huge, long line waiting for American in order to check in our luggage. There was a big flight going to Philadelphia also and everyone was trying to check in at the same time. That flight was 20 minutes after ours. We waited in line for over an hour until finally we were put into the priority line for all Dallas flights. We checked in our luggage and then headed toward security. It was another long line. We had about 40 minutes before our flight so we decided to grab something quick for breakfast. Tiffany had a good friend from Nebraska that happened to be coming into Amsterdam that morning. They were able to meet up and have a little visit before our departure.

Tiffany and Christy

It was going to be a long flight and comfort would be at a premium. I didn’t want to have to climb over someone anytime I needed to get up so I told the ticket lady I had an infection and would need an aisle seat. She was able to give me one and put Tiffany right behind me. We did have to sit further back in the plane but the aisle seats were much more comfortable.

I didn’t want to sleep much so I would be able to go to bed once I arrived at home. I watched a couple of movies, and typed on this blog. It was difficult to keep it updated during the trip since our days were full and we were always tired once we reached the room. The passenger sitting next to me asked if I was writing a book. I explained we were teachers on a fellowship and were keeping a journal of each day. He was on his way to Las Vegas – he said it was a frequent trip from Amsterdam.

We made our connection in Dallas without incident. We had to retrieve our luggage, go through customs, recheck our luggage and go through security again. We managed to do so without extremely long lines and had about 30 minutes before our flight. This was the last leg of our journey. There has been so much happen that some seem like a blur. The blog will be a great reminder to help us remember details. We do have some “adult” happenings to add to our personal journals but wanted to keep this blog family friendly so our students and parents could enjoy hearing about our trip in a G rated version. We are very thankful for this opportunity and look forward to implementing many new ideas this next school year.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 (Amsterdam)

We got up early and headed to the airport so we could get a bus to our car rental place. We needed to catch bus 341 and had some trouble finding the designated bus stop. Turns out they had moved the stop to a temporary location but it was not clearly marked. We had reserved the car for an 8:00 pickup so we wanted to be sure and get it before having breakfast. With the delays of finding the bus stop, we did not arrive until nearly 9:30. It was a 45 minute drive out to the sea wall and we had an 11:00 appointment so we decided to find a quick breakfast stop on the way. Our rental car was a cute little white Fiat. I was going to help navigate and Tiffany was going to drive. It turns out we were leaving the town so food stops were nowhere to be seen.

Tiffany driving in the Netherlands

Johnnie with our ride

Tiffany with our ride

Johnnie going 102....km/hr . haha

As we approached 10:15, we saw a McDonalds just the other side of the lagoon and road construction was involved. It took us another 15 minutes before we realized how to find a street that went across the lagoon. We actually drove by McDonalds 3 times before getting to it. Our tour was a two hour tour so we knew we had to have something to eat first. We ordered a quick sandwich and hit the road with sandwich in hand.

At 11:05 we arrived at the sea wall, Maeslankering. This billion dollar engineering feat is very impressive. This enormous storm barrier is one of the largest moving structures on Earth, with each arm taller than the Washington Monument. Our trip to visit the wall was generated from student questions about the flooding in Houston and again when we were studying negative numbers and we discussed below sea level. We learned that 2/3 of the country is susceptible to flooding. In 1953 the only warnings of flooding would come on the radio. A flood came during the night and without adequate warning, took 1800 lives in one night. Today it is mandatory that all children must know how to swim once they reach the age of 7. Our guide was very thorough and provided us with resources so we can show our students the video we saw explaining about the barrier. There were many hands-on exhibits to show the students how the barrier is designed. Our students would have been very impressed and full of questions.

Johnnie and Tiffany at Maeslankering

Representation of the sea wall

What inside one of the pipes looks like

The sea opening is used every 7 minutes with a cargo ship coming through so the barrier is only tested once per year. It has been used twice for emergencies, most recently in January of 2018. The huge barrier doors are floating pontoons that can be filled with water. The weight of the water makes them sink and turns them into massive barriers. They are the height of a 7 foot tall building. After the potential of flooding subsides, the water is pumped out of the pontoons. Everything is computer controlled and reinforced with humans overlooking the process. Our guide was very passionate and talked about the vital importance of caring for our Earth now for the future. He talked about water conservation, saving rain water, and was not a fan of bottled water at all. He talked about as a child he would go out on the many lagoons and ice skate. He now has a son that is 16 and it has only been cold enough for him to skate once in his lifetime. He also talked about even if governments do not collaborate to a level we need, scientists across the world are collaborating and sharing ideas. He talked about how engineers and scientists in the Netherlands are currently working with engineers and scientists in the United States about flooding in Houston, Lousiana and other places. He said the barrier wall would not work in Houston because it could not withstand high winds.

Modern windmills

A ship passing through

Those are trailers for semis stacked on the barge

Tiffany, Johnnie and our amazing guide

We need these.  They use them with kids and they don't have any problem keeping this in a single file line!

After our visit, we headed to Kinderdijk. This is a town about an hour away from the sea wall and is a UNESCO world heritage site. There are nineteen windmills located in Kinderdijk. This open air museum is impressive and shows the way of life for the previous owners. We were able to walk up into one of the windmills. It was impressive how every inch was used for living space and that the family that lived in the one windmill we visited had thirteen children. The steps were steep and their were multiple levels. I’m sure there were many dangers for the family.

Kinderdijk

One of the families that had lived in the windmill

Johnnie with a windmill

We forgot our clothes to wash!  Darn!

A vegetable garden reminiscent of what would have been kept in this area.

A little "barn"

Johnnie and her goats

Tiffany with one of the windmills

Johnnie at Kinderdijk

Tiffany at Kinderdijk

After our visit to the windmills, we decided to stop at a local restaurant and have a snack. It was now about 4:30. After our snack, I drove back to Amsterdam to drop off our car. Traffic was busy now so the GPS took us on an alternative route. It was more in the country and very scenic. It was a nice drive. Upon arrival at the car rental, we were able to take a free shuttle back to the airport.

Tiffany

This was our last night in Amsterdam, our last night of this fellowship. We had wanted to visit the home of Anne Frank but tickets had to be bought at least two months in advance. We decided to get a bus and walk by her home. We were surprised that at 7:00 there was still a line outside her door. We asked about tickets, just in case, but none available. We were able to see her house. We then walked around to find a place for dinner. We found a cute Italian place and decided to split a pizza for dinner. After dinner we walked down the street and had an ice cream. We took the bus back to our room.

Anne Frank "house"

Johnnie at Anne Frank's house

Tiffany at Anne Frank's house

Just the door

Johnnie with a nice cow

We packed a little and got ready for bed. Tiffany was sound asleep within ten minutes. I was so excited at the thought of coming home that I could not sleep. I walked downstairs to the reception area and called David. We had a 11:00 flight tomorrow morning. It was a 10 hour flight from Amsterdam to Dallas. I could not wait for morning to arrive.

WALKING ACTIVITY: 7.4 miles; 16,312 steps; 3 floors; 72 degrees F

Monday, June 18, 2018 (Amsterdam)

We got up and went to Omelegg for breakfast at the suggestion of the hotel registration employee. It was a good breakfast, closest to statewide breakfasts and conveniently located just a half block away. Tiffany had purchased our transportation pass online, thinking we would have it on our phone and could get started with our agenda for the day. It turns out we had to have a printed copy of it and would have to go to the train station to get those. We wanted to quickly get going and the weather was rainy and cool. We decided to take an Uber to the train station to save time and energy and to keep us a little dryer. Upon arrival the train lady told us to go to the magazine shop and get the pass. The magazine employee told us to go to the train lady. We headed back and asked to speak to the other attendant. She confirmed that we would now have to go to the Central Station to get our passes printed. I think we looked a little distraught because she offered us complimentary tickets to get to the Central Station. She told us you had to scan a ticket when you get on or enter a station AND when you get off. We thanked her and headed to Central Station.

Johnnie with her breakfast

Rain and a sample of the number of bikes everywhere

Not sure why he was sitting on his bike on the metro

We scanned our ticket and got on the metro. As we arrived at Central Station, you had to scan your ticket as you exited the metro area. Tiffany reached into her pocket and realized she did not have her ticket. She had put it in her pocket with her phone and it must have fell out when she reached for the phone. She was going to just squeeze in behind me when the gate opened to exit. As we walked through, several other people were walking through at the same time. The alarm went off and the security person stopped all the people behind us. He made them all stop and show their tickets. We just walked on like we didn’t know what was going on.

We finally got the tickets printed. Again the ticket person told us to be sure and get the tickets scanned as we got on AND off public transportation. He warned us that if you did not use it when you exited, it could lock up the ticket and then you could not use it at all. There was a wide variety of shops at Central Station. Tiffany bought cheese. Our main goal in Amsterdam was to see the many bridges, this is a city with over 1200. We also were planning a day trip to see the billion dollar sea wall. Regularly scheduled public tours are held on the weekend so we had to make special arrangements for a private tour. We were disappointed that it cost more but this was our main goal for visiting the city so we had no choice.

Our first stop for the day was at the Rijkmuseum. We saw many amazing works of art. I especially was impressed with the intricate dioramas and liked the cluster of paintings with various scenes, a great way to highlight chapters of a book. Of course, the Van Gogh and Rembrandt pieces were beautiful. We then took a ride to visit the floating flower market. Tulips are already out of season but the markets were abundant with all types and colors of tulip bulbs. I found a little shop with hand painted ornaments. The glass ornaments were actually painted from the inside and quit impressive. I purchased an ornament for my collection and Tiffany purchased a little wooden windmill as her ornament. We found a little café near the market and stopped for lunch. It was still drizzling and cool so it was nice to sit inside and warm up while we ate. Tiffany tried the pancake, a local specialty, and I had a club sandwich. The pancake had bacon and cheese mixed in it and it looked more like a crepe than a stack of pancakes. She enjoyed it.

Loved that the Rijkmuseum Selfie Zone

Johnnie in front of the Rijkmuseum

A little Van Gogh

Two Mothers

Two Mothers

Children of the Sea

Cow Beside a Ditch

Diorama of the Zeezigt Coffee and Cotton Plantation 

Sleeping Beauty

Tiffany in the National Archive area.

The rain had let up a little so we decided to take our channel cruise. Everyone walks and rides bikes in Amsterdam. It was funny to see a lady in a suit and heels riding along or a man in a suit pedaling his bike. Actually, everyone walks throughout Europe. When someone tells you it’s just a ten minute walk, you should beware because it’s going to take longer than ten minutes for Americans to walk. The ticket lady was very nice but unfortunately, sent us several blocks off in the wrong direction from our tour. It took us more than the designated 10 minutes so we had to wait for the next ride.

The cruise was an hour long and was very good. The guide pointed out that the homes had metal hooks on the outside of the homes near the roof. These were used to hoist items to various stories of the home when moving things. He said people did move around and it was not uncommon to see a washer or refrigerator being pulled up through a window. The house are also tilted slightly out at the top so items don't bang against the side when raising and lowering them.  We learned that the houses had the windows narrower as they got higher to make them look like there was more height. We found this interesting that perspective was again used to make an impression, similar to how the Old Town roads had been designed in Croatia. We were told that the reason for some of the houses looking tilted was due to the fact they were built on marsh land.

Windows got narrower near the top to create an illusion

The metal hook at the top helps to move thing in and out of the windows

Some houses have a group of similar houses together

Johnnie on a canal

We spent the rest of the evening walking around looking through the shops along the streets. We were both craving Mexican food and had seen one earlier during our walk. Tiffany pulled out the trusty GPS on her phone and navigated us back to the restaurant. We both had enchiladas and they were very good. As we were walking around after dinner, Tiffany was getting cool in her shorts and short sleeve shirt so she decided to put on her poncho. We had to laugh when a local man stopped Tiffany and asked her why she had that on when it wasn’t raining. It does not get dark until 10:15 and people tend to eat much later in Europe. The World Cup was also going on at this time and the bars and restaurants were overflowing with cheering fans. Our feet were tired and tomorrow is a big day, our last day. We headed home for bed.

WALKING ACTIVITY: 11 miles; 25,181 steps; 6 floors Temperature 64 and it was cool, rainy, and windy.