We Made It!

We arrived safely in Amsterdam about this time last week--we actually managed to get three or four hours of sleep on the plane, and took a nap after arriving at the hotel, so the jet lag wasn't quite as bad as we thought it might be. We were well taken care of from the moment we arrived at the airport. Gay from Foursquare Relocation was patiently waiting for us just outside of the baggage claim area, even though we were an hour late because they "misplaced" one of our suitcases. John was impressed by her late 90s-model Volvo station wagon, which escorted us to our hotel.

After resting for a while at the hotel, we decided to take a walk outside to enjoy the sunshine. We quickly realized that although we are very close to the Ernst & Young office (we can see it outside our window), there is not much else in the neighborhood. We also realized that we were not actually walking on the sidewalk when several bicycles whizzed by ringing their bells. It turns out that in Amsterdam, and throughout the country, there is one sidewalk for bikes and a different, smaller sidewalk for pedestrians. This is one mistake that we will not likely repeat.

After becoming hungry and not finding any place to eat in the neighborhood, we wandered back to the hotel restaurant, Cote Jardin. This was largely an uneventful experience. We did learn, however, that you must ask for the check at the end of the meal. Too bad we didn't know this before sitting at the table for about an hour waiting for the server to return to our table.

We've only been here for a week, but we're learning quite a lot.