Day 10 – Friday, April 13 – Amsterdam, flight to London
On Friday, Jeremy and I took a little day-trip out of Amsterdam and went to visit Keukenhof, the famous tulip fields. Like the day before we jumped on the train and went just one stop to Schipol (the airport and main train station). After a 10 minute delay on the tracks for a reason we’re not totally sure of (the announcements were in Dutch), we arrived at Schipol and found the desk where we could get our “combi” tickets for the bus and entrance to Keukenhof. We got in line for the bus with lots of other visitors, and listened to the lady in charge bark orders until we were able to board. A short 30 or so minutes later, we were at the flower fields.
Keukenhof is the world’s largest flower garden, covering about 32 hectares (about 80 acres) with over 7 million bulbs planted there annually. The gardens are only open 2 months out of the year, which makes them a very heavily visited tourist attraction. The flowers were absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we turned there was a different variety of tulip with a different set of colors and name. I had no idea there were so many variations and varieties of flowers. Each path we turned down was as beautiful as the last. We spent almost 3 hours walking around the gardens, and felt like we saw maybe 20% of the park. But after a while flowers all start to look the same, so we bit farewell to the tulips and got back on the bus that took us to Schipol. Jeremy grabbed a quick bite at the Albert Heijn in the airport, then after a quick visit to the KLM store (Jeremy was like a kid in a candy store), we were back on the tram to Becky and Eric’s house.
Becky met us at home, and she and Jeremy indulged me by taking a trip to the Purse and Bag Museum. It was actually pretty impressive. They had bags dating back to the 13th century, and the museum went chronologically detailing changes in the style and function of bags over the years. To me, the most impressive bags were the ones that were knit in intricate patterns, where the designer first had to string all the beads onto the yarn in a prescribed pattern, then knit the beads into the most amazing designs. After that museum we made our way to Foam, the Amsterdam photography museum. The content of the museum changes every few months, and we were lucky enough to see a huge exhibit about the New York Times magazine. In addition to having the articles and photographs, they also had the story behind the photographs and the proof sheets that the pictures used in the article had been chosen from. The exhibit was both beautiful and moving.
On our way back to the apartment, Becky and Jeremy stopped to pick up some ossenworst, a sausage-like meat made from raw beef. A store right near Becky’s house is known for their ossenworst, so we picked some up to try. Becky enjoyed it, and at his first bit, Jeremy said he’s moving to Amsterdam. Even Eric liked it, although he previously had not enjoyed this Dutch delicacy. To celebrate the end of Pesach we ordered pizza for dinner, and all too soon we were off to the airport. Becky and Eric drove us the few minutes to the airport, and we said our goodbyes. The four of us don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like, so the time that we got to spend together in Paris and Amsterdam was really special.
The Schipol airport is massive, full of really cool stuff. We passed a meditation room, showers, a museum (part of the Reijksmuseum and free to the public), a variety of shops, lounge areas with really comfy chairs and fake fireplaces, and a 4D theater. The one downside of this was that our gate was really far away. We kept hearing announcements of "Passenger So-And-So, please board your flight at Gate 25. You are delaying the flight. If you don't show, we will off-load your baggage." Very aggressive announcements.
British Airways #433, Amsterdam (Fri. Apr. 13, 10:00 PM) - London-Heathrow (10:10 PM)
G-EUUZ, Airbus 320
Seat: Window/middle, Exit row
AMS: Depart 1 min late at 10:01
LHR: Arrive 3 early at 10:07
Duration: 1:07
After another 17 minute taxi to the runway, we were on our way. While our previous British Airways flights had a moving map, this one had updated software, making the map look even cooler. Again, we had a snack and beverage service. We were able to get exit row seats, however, according to British air standards, we had to move anything that would have fit underneath the seat to the overhead. A bit annoying, but that’s the small price you have to pay for having that extra legroom! Fortunately, once we landed, we were at the gate in very little time, especially for Heathrow standards.
After an easy jaunt through customs Leah picked us up. This trip was a far cry from Jeremy’s first flight into London! We went back to Leah’s apartment, laughed our way through the rest of the night, and had a good night’s sleep.
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