Welcome back to another adventure from YDY Travelers. This year’s cast consists of me, the bloggiest of the travelers, George, sir sleeps a lot, and my mom, aka Kathy, aka Noname and aka our classiest traveler. Later, we’ll be joined by sister Jen(nifer) and niece Eliza, the smart ones of our group. Are they smart because they chose to skip Amsterdam? Or were that just born that way? We may never know.
Our travels stared the evening of the 5th, with a flight out of MSP directly to Amsterdam. Of course, as predicted by him, George was patted down by the TSA folks after being outed as transgender by the imaging machine. Double pat down and and a bag search later, we were on our way to gate B5, taking advantage of George’s recent recovery from a summer-long illness, and, well, Noname’s age by hopping on a transport car. I was just along for the ride, thankful to feel the breeze of the open road, or concourse, after practically unpacking the entirety of both our backpacks to prove that, yes, we are flying with copious amounts of medication, but no, none of it was illegal. The flight itself was as pleasant an an overnight can be, and we arrived in The Netherlands (or is it just Netherlands? And where did Holland go?). A train and car ride later, we are here, in Zaandam, just outside of Amsterdam.
Zaandam is a lovely little hamlet. Our Airbnb host, Callum, gave us many tips to start us off, including the important but quite odd fact that most grocery stores in the Nether only accept cash. And, he warned us to watch out for bicyclists — for good reason too. Shortly after settling in, mom and I took a walk to downtown Zaandam, which was punctuated by several near misses with skilled, aggressive cyclists. George stayed back to relax, swearing he wasn’t tired and would stay awake until evening to ward off the worst of jet lag. One guess as to what we found after returning from our walk....
Zaandam is a quirky, beautiful place. Green is the theme (see the pictures for proof!). Our short tour included stops to admire the Inntel Hotel, which looks like it was put together with green Legoes. All of the surrounding buildings take after the hotel, all Hollandish and greenish. Both of us were struggling with sleep deprivation, which only made our sluggish walk through the village more exciting (and life-threatening — see bicycles above). Stroopwaffles and a long sit in the town gazebo later, we headed back to our two story suburban home for dinner and a few hours of the stay-awake game. I, alone, am currently winning at that game. Of course, George was deeply asleep when we arrived back with food and moderately interesting stories from our adventures.And I’m guessing he’ll stay that way until morning.
Expect windmills and Netherlandy shenanigans tomorrow!
George is ready for Europe
The Inntel Hotel - Lego style
Zaandam is very green
You know, GREEN!
Beige sheep of the family
I want this Lego set
Circley circle canal bridge
Dutch-y
What? No bikes on the path!
We escaped the rain by 5 minutes on our walk home. What a beauty though, right?
Welcome to the beginning of daily K/A selfiesC
Aaannnd George, victim of jet lag
Sounds like a solid first day! Bravo to you for winning the Stay Awake Game, too. :) I always hate that on the first day of international trips, but it's worth it to get on the right sleep cycle!
ReplyDeleteIt really is. I was asleep at 8 and woke up at 8 today. Now feeling much better.
ReplyDelete