Champagne Anyone?

Yesterday I woke up early and let Trav try to sleep more while I prepared our stuff to be packed. Our goal: get all our stuff and all the things we bought into our 2 original suitcases and our original carryon bags so we could “easily” get on the metro to the train and then on the train. Of course there are no weight restrictions for the metro or train except to say that Trav and I each had to be able to schlep the bags through one metro train change (meaning up and down multiple sets of stairs with no escalators or elevators) and onto our train to Reims. Once in Reims, we picked up our car that would see us till the end of our trip and also the opportunity to “lighten” the suitcases and put purchases in the other bags I brought along for just this reason (learned that lesson the first time!).


The train ride was quick – only 45 minutes from Paris to Reims on the TGV (fast train) and then to Avis for our car. Getting out of Reims was a bit, shall we say tense, with Trav driving (hungry and jonesing for a drink) and me trying my best to navigate with the GPS through a lot of construction that impeded our progress. We finally made it out, but then Trav was driving like a mad man to “get to where we were going” – problem, we didn’t really have a “plan” to go anywhere in particular. This is the wing it part of the trip and I had no plans – so finally he pulled over and I drove from there at a much more leisurely pace to the town of Ambonnay. Once there we wandered toward the Henri Billiot & Fils champagne house, but they were not open so we continued down the street and ended up wandering into a home/champagne place (we hoped) on the street that sort of seemed open. With my rudimentary French we asked the winemaker (we didn’t know at the time that is who it was) for a tasting and after asking us to wait 5 minutes he obliged. It was rather odd, but after we started talking more in English he explained that it was perfectly fine that we were there and we discussed that maybe his signs needed to be a bit better to announce that he did in fact accept visitors for tastings.

While there discussing his wine making operations, two british visitors also showed up and so there were four of us tasting and discussing wine making around the table where they feed the farm help during the growing season – quite surreal actually – but quite nice as well. The wines were quite good and we left with a couple bottles and headed back to see if Billiot was open yet. The front door was still locked when we went by, but an older gentleman came around from the garage entrance and we asked for a tasting – he of course let us in, but he seemed nervous that we only really spoke English and a little French since his English was very little – turned out to be Serge Biliot (his father was Henri) and he was quite nice and we conversed best we could with my French and his English and two more bottles for the “boot” or trunk whichever you prefer.

Our first wine maker – also Serge – gave us a reco for place to stay that also had a fantastic restaurant – Hotel Cheval Blanc in Sept Saulx so that is where we headed to see if they had any rooms available. All in French (whoo hoo me) we negotiated a room and dinner at Cheval Blanc and what a lucky find! The hotel was very nice, clean and the rooms/bathroom was very large with French doors (I wonder what they call them in France?) to a great garden with patio chairs and such. Dinner, well it was awesome, of course that was after much help translating the menu – like I’m supposed to know the French word for guinea fowl – right. We only had like 4 courses, but we were FULL to the gills and making me wonder how us three girls managed 11 courses a couple years ago. And best of all, a KING SIZE bed and finally a good nights sleep after 5 nights in a double bed against the wall (my side)!

Hotel gardens

This AM, a good breakfast with coffee and tea the way you like it (they ask the night before and have it ready at your requested time) along with pastries, toast, cold cuts, cheese, cereal, yogurt and many fruit juices… what a great hotel and a lucky winging it excursion!  Where to next?  We don't know exactly, guess we'll figure it out in the car...

Stay tuned and Bon Journee!

Le Cadeau

Today was full on shopping day! Well, we did make it to the Louvre as well… It was another rainy (really quite rainy) day and so we jumped on the metro to the Louvre and headed inside to see our girl Mona Lisa… Holy Crap – talk about LOTS of people. It was practically insane inside the main area of the Louvre and of course walking to the Mona Lisa area – forget about it. And – HOT – you’d think that they forgot what AC was for the day it was so hot. I was fanning myself with my museum map like a crazy lunatic and of course still pouring sweat and shedding clothes as fast and far as I could and forget about Trav – HE HATES CROWDS, so it was not going well for him either. We found her as quickly as possible, navigating around all the Japanese tour groups who always seemed to stop in the least desirable places, like the middle of a stairway, to have discussions and then, to see Venus and OUT. We were out of there, and Trav said “I can say I went” and I was fine with that – it was INSANE.

In the rain we headed through the Jardin de Tuleries towards the Orangerie museum and barring the rain it was a very nice walk. The early tulips bulbs and such are done, but the Irises were still blooming along with many other spring flowers and shrubs and it was quite lovely. We stopped off in the park for a coffee and tea for a warm up and then checked the line at the museum – well, we were just line averse this week and I definitely know we shouldn’t try Paris in the summer unless we want to spend the whole time in our apartment – it was a bit long, outside and still raining, guess what we decided? On to the Place Madeleine where we intended to wrap up our shopping expedition and also had a very nice lunch at a Brasserie called Cristal. It worked out fine, even with the rain, we had a wonderful lunch, picked up most of our gifts and then jumped on the metro towards home. Leaving Trav at our station, I continued on – die hard – to grab a few final necessities for us and friends and family and soldiered home in the rain, hands full of shopping bags.

Dinner was uneventful but good at the restaurant right outside our courtyard gate as it was still raining and we ate quite quickly and then went straight to bed – exhausted from another long day on the streets. We left the packing for the morning since we keep waking up so early and our train didn’t leave till 11:30ish.

Bonne Nuit Nurse!

Museum Day?

OK, OK, I’m getting texts that I have neglected those that are “vacationing with us” by not posting for a few days. Geesh, so much for my every day commitment… I don’t really have a good excuse for Thur/Fri since we were still in Paris with WiFi, but we have since left Paris – yesterday (Friday AM) for the Champagne region and we are “winging” it with accommodations and so far – no WiFi. But….

Our Wednesday Breakfast (fetched by me of course)

I digress as I’m really a couple days behind anyways… So Wednesday I told you it was raining and so we were headed out for a museum day. We did start that way, going right down the street to the Pompidou Center which is the modern art museum of Paris and a very odd looking building in some ways. It was built in the 60s or 70s I think – please don’t quote me since I don’t have internet to fact check my blabbing – and was built with what we would consider the “inner workings” on the outside. So the heat ducts and elevators and escalators are all sort or “outside” the inner building. Anyway, it is quite colorful and noticeable and viewable from the window of our apartment.

It is the building with the blue looking pipes - Le Pompidou

Now, I must admit that modern art is not really my thing. I like some, but definitely not the majority. It is a bit too freakish sometimes or stark other times or just plain disgusting for me sometimes too – but it was close and was a museum we didn’t attend the last time I was here, so time to have an experience. Well, it was an experience just as my expectations lead me to believe it would be, some good, some freakish, some stark and some plain disgusting. Of course, what I found to be any of the above others may have found something different, that is art. I can at least appreciate the “art of it” where as sometimes Trav was saying “this is art?” – well, maybe, who is to say what is art and that is why we are not gallery owners or museum curator.

An Optical Illusion Piece We Liked

All that being said, we did see some interesting pieces and had a nice time out of the cold, rainy weather inside the “not too hot” museum. We thought about lunch on the upper floor at Georges, a restaurant by the Hotel George V chef, but it was a bit too foo foo (yes, the official term of the day) for us at the time. Instead we had lunch at a self serve brasserie right by the museum, not the cheapest (a bit touristic) but still very good quick serve food for the hungry and thirsty.

Lunch

Me - after Trav told me I don't know how to operate my camera - so I ask you, have the pictures to date on this blog, remotely suggested I don't know what I 'm doing?

After one museum, Trav wanted to head back to Notre Dame since we only briefly saw it on our first day. On the way we stopped at another monument/church that I can’t recall the name of – geesh, I’m helpless without my wifi. Anyways – maybe my Paris visiting friends will help me out in the comments? It is in the 4eme in Paris and has many gargoyles and a statue in the middle and I think it was dedicated to a King Louis??? Who knows. It had a nice little park around it and I hadn’t ever noticed it till we were atop the Pompidou center and you could see it clearly – a wonder I didn’t notice 2 years ago from Notre Dame – will have to look at other pictures from that trip. Trav took some pics from there and then we headed on to Notre Dame.

At least Wed it was not a mob scene at Notre Dame square – on Sunday you could hardly move there or on Ile St Louis. Since it wasn’t too crowded we were able to quickly enter the inside of the cathedral and have a look around. Those of you who followed me a couple years ago may remember that it really only took me about 10 minutes to “cruise through” the inside of the cathedral, then of course I had to wait another 45 minutes or more for my friends to finally make it out – well, good catholic boy Trav, he held up under 10 minutes and probably would have been faster if I hadn’t been there. I think he saw the confessionals and decided to high tail it out as fast as possible! It really is a quite cool church on the inside, but I don’t know any saints or anything so it just doesn’t grab my attention as it probably should – we did light a candle though for all of our family and friends!

Following that, we realized we really only had Wed afternoon and Thurs to do our shopping for some of the deserved souls we know. Ile St Louis is where we headed to start our shopping fete as they have some really cute/nice shops and I am familiar with the territory. We picked up a couple things – although Trav wouldn’t look at EVERY SINGLE scarf in the middle eastern scarf shop like Sandy and I did – I did still make out and yes, that means somebody out there reading is getting a scarf – but I won’t share who… and of course there was a chocolate shop involved too… Are you all starting to salivate? But, what did we not do again – no Berthillon Ice Cream yet again – sacre bleu!

After some shopping and walking, we needed nourishment so we stopped at the girls favorite café and had a champagne and a Gin and Tonic before the walk back to our apartment. I tried to get Trav to lead the way – can you find our apartment type of thing – and he tried, but we could have been wandering for quite some time so I stepped in and helped out. We stumbled on a market on the way home and picked up some asparagus and new very baby potatoes for dinner, that along with a pork tenderloin and some cooking helpers (onion, garlic, wine) from the stores along our street made up a nice meal! I love how I have to think of “new ways” to prepare something when I don’t have my own pantry – it usually ends well and also inspires a new “recipe” for home when I do have my pantry!

So – that was Wednesday, museum (one) day that ended as shopping day!

Roland Garros - Faire du Tennis!!!!

FYYYYYFANNNNN (and those close to me know this is Swedish swearing and also know what it means, but is not for my PG audience) I just figured out what happens with this laptop and deleting my work (whole work) as I'm typing away.  I must accidentally touch the laptop touch pad with my thumb (which selects all the text just typed) and then the space bar (which deletes all the text just typed) and I promise it takes SEVERAL large gulps of wine to cure my cussing and anger when my whole post, almost complete, disappears.  Just friggen happened to me again and Trav thinks it is funny.

Tuesday was really all about tennis...  When we struck out on Monday getting tickets, we were able to purchase tickets for Tuesday instead.  Maybe all major (and minor for what I know) tournaments work the same way, but Roland Garros does not post the schedule of play for each day during a round until late the night before, and I assume they do this so there is not a rush of "scalping" prices for each day because "someone famous" is playing - AKA everyone wants to see Roger Federer so if ticket agencies and scalpers knew he was playing on a certain day, on a certain court, they could then jack up the prices for that day/court several days in advance.  All this is to say, when we purchased the tickets, we didn't know for sure who would be playing and on what court.  But, since it was the last day of round one, we did sort of know which "big names" were left to play, but we didn't know which of the 2 big courts they would be playing on - ours (Phillipe Chartrier) or the other (Suzanne Lenglen).

We checked before bed on Monday night and Phillipe Chartrier had a line-up that started with Justine Hennin, and was followed by Andy Roddick and then a couple others.  Woo Hoo, Trav hadn't seen Andy at another tournament he attended and this was my first tournament, so how cool to see Andy, an American, at our first major open tennis tournament?  We took off plenty early so we could also see Justine - who we have always liked - and to avoid some of the crowd on the metro - didn't happen.

What an awesome day!  Of course as you know (if you read the previous post) it was pretty warm - 80s for sure - and so at every changeover in play you had to stand up and air out your butt.  Meaning the platic seats didn't really breathe and so our shorts were pretty much wet, but so were everyone elses (including the unsweaty french) so I guess we weren't strange.  The clouds started rolling in eventually and so it did finally become more bearable.  Justine won her match quite handily and then Andy went to 5 sets with a nerve wracking 4th set tie break win to stay in the match - awesome.

Following the Roddick match, we were bushed, we had been watching for over 5 hours in the sun on the sweaty, plastic seats and it was time to do some shopping in the gift shops and then head out.  We did grab a couple big beers and watch some of the Nadal match on the big screen after shopping (3 different times, Trav couldn't make up his mind) and they just might have been the best beers ever - it was just that kind of hot day when beer tastes SOOOOO GOOD!

Arriving home we had some snacks, wine and cold showers!  Chilled for a bit and then got ready for dinner which was finally a hit.  We headed to the Italian place on our street and had a very good meal and some great gelato and then back at the apartment, I fell asleep in about 20 seconds....Trav says snoring, I really doubt it!

A Bientot...

Typical Tourist

First of all - I know, I know, I know - I've been lax.  It has just been hard to blog everyday and again I must blame Rocket!  This time is different though, yesterday as I sat down to tell you about our Monday, I was in a good huff cause Rocket and I had spent ALL of 6 days together and well, sometimes (as you with significant others know) it just gets to be a bit much.  So sitting and typing, I wasn't inspired nor was I funny and it just wasn't working.  Then last night I was hungry, then tired so now it has been two full days and so I am now going to get back on the horse and after a yummy breakfast...

Monday was a typical tourist day...  It wasn't on plan, but our plans fell through when we weren't able to get tickets for Monday's French Open play.  It worked out that we did get tickets for Tuesday though, so at least we were headed to Roland Garros!  So, since we were close, we headed to the Tour Eiffel.  It really is breathtaking how HUGE it is - especially at the base.  You sort of forget that the base of the tower needs to be as square as at least the length of a football field in order to support the total and man, underneath it, well it is amazing.  Rocket (aka Trav, he says some of you don't know him as Rocket, so I guess I will drop the alias going forward) took some shots (of which we haven't downloaded from the big camera - sorry) and then we just stood there taking it all in.  We didn't go to the top, I guess I just don't see a reason for it, I know everyone is SUPPOSED to do it, but maybe that is why I don't want to do it - rebel traveller you see, besides the lines are always SO LONG and we don't really love crowds that much...  excuses probably, but we just didn't do it.

From the tower, we took the route the girls and I took a couple years ago and headed towards the Arc de Triomphe where we took a look around and again passed on going up (my fault this time as we hadn't picked up our museum passes yet and didn't want to wait in line) but I think we will cycle back here if time permits because I do think going up top of the arch is actually really cool.  So from there to the Champs Elysee and into massive crowds.  They had an exhibit on the champs this last Sun/Mon where they closed the road and brought in all kinds of agriculture (trees, "mini fields", mini farm exhibits etc) to try to remind these Paris city dwellers where there food comes from and it was PACKED!!!  Apparently over 2M people visited on Monday alone - can you say crazy, and for those who don't love crowds, MANIACAL - so down the stairs to the metro we went and out of the hordes - whew.

Did I mention it is hot here?  Well, not today so much, but Monday reached the upper 80s and yesterday was low 80s so it has been a bit unseasonable and not so much my cup of tea.  And on top of it, I hate that French people seem to not sweat, really pisses me off, especially me, miss sweaty bee, dripping wet and all the frenchies (just need to use the word here - since I'm enraged :-)) wearing 2 and 3 layers of clothing and looking all cool and stuff - grrrr.  So, after the metro ride home it was still hot and we were tired (we keep waking up at 5:30 ish AM) so we popped into the apartment for a nap.  Of course this is Paris and not many places have air conditioning, our included, so it was a bit of a hot, still sweaty nap, but it sufficed.  Finally made it up and headed to dinner around 10 pm hoping that going to bed later would result in sleeping later.  It was a rather uneventful dinner since it was Monday and most of the good places to eat around our neighborhood are closed Mondays, but we had a nice time anyway and Trav showed he is brilliant at the "take your own photo" thing - I by the way - am horrendous at such a thing!  But here is  his effort - not bad eh?

So walking the quiet (Monday) streets of the Marais after dinner we decided to stop by our local cafe for a glass of wine and maybe a dessert.  While sitting there, I keep getting smiled at by a french man a couple tables over and finally he can't help himself and he is sitting across from us chit chatting away.  Now, this is so not typical French cafe behavior.  I have to totally restrain myself here from talking to all the strangers sitting next to me, and I mean right next to me as outdoor cafe seating is a bit cozy, like I normally would in the US.  You can always tell at the cafe when the people next to you aren't French, because they actually might strike up a conversation with you, like the nice Australian women earlier in the day, but never the Parisians.  Well, never say never, cause here was Francois across from us chatting away, of course admitting that he was not your typical French guy and that he loved "being an ambassador for Paris" and talking to people and of course that he was a wee bit drunk.  He was highly entertaining and gave us his number to call him so he could show us Paris from an insider's view - we are supposed to call tomorrow (Thursday), we'll see.

I think I'll post yesterdays amazing time later...  it is time to head out for a museum day.  The temperature has dropped 10-15 degrees and it is overcast and may very well rain - good day to be mostly inside!  A bietot!

Ahhhhhh Paris....

Ah sacre bleu - I was just typing away - a funny post mind you - and of course I got to typing too fast on this little keyboard and wham bam something happened and I have nothing left - WTF - how does that happen?  I'm never as funny the second time round and so that really pisses me off!

So, it went something like this - Rocket luckily woke us up after I was lying in bed waiting for the alarm - go figure his clock time (on his phone) is still on EDT time - not help!ful.  We quickly grabbed breakfast - luckily no one in Europe cares about my bed head - and then packed, showered and headed to train station.  We were plenty early and of course train travel is so easy here, if a bit disconcerting due to the lack of security.  In our line of business (especially paranoids like Trav) no security (and I mean NONE) is a bit weird.  You expect it to be a bit like a plane, but anyone can walk onto any platform and board a train.  They didn't even check our ticket till we were between Antwerp and Brussels Belgium - more than 3 stops into our trip - crazy!

The train, well they are FAST, and we were in Paris in 3.5 hours.  Along the way - I happened to be looking out the window as we slowed down through Brussels and to my surprise - a Brussel red light right outside the train window.  Now, this did not include many of the "shops" but did include many of the "windows" if you know what I mean.  I thought I was imagining it at first, then I payed more attention - it was actually creepy since it didn't seem like a "there for tourists" kind of thing - yikes.

So, we are here... Of course there was an issue with me having transposed some numerals in the number to call the apartment people and reaching a "very french" couple instead... Rosetta Stone (through 1.8 CDs) only takes you so far...  Once I figured out my mistake we were good and John Pierre was at our apartment within 30 minutes to let us in and give us the keys etc.  Cute little place (see pics) and nice to have some (little) room to spread out in comparison to the hotel in Amsterdam.

Once I unpacked - and Rocket "chilled" - we headed out for a walk.  I took him to our stomping grounds - how cute am I to think I have Parisian stomping grounds - and he was in AWE of Notre Dame.  It is just so impressive in person - photos just can't do the experience justice.  From there we headed across the bridge to Ile St Louis and I intended to take him to our (me and the girls) little cafe.  Unfortunately and fortunately - it was a BEAUTIFUL weather day here and there were no outside seats so we moved on to find somewhere else. 

After a bit of a crabby spell (Rocket and low blood sugar don't mix), we found a boucherie and grabbed some saucisson and fromage (sausage and cheese) and even without getting to eat them, well this seemed to make everything better somehow.  We stumbled upon another cafe at the end of our street that had some people just leaving an outdoor table and so we snagged it and had some wine and sandwiches and more wine.  Cute little place - may be our new "adopted neighborhood" cafe for the week...

A few more shopping stops to include the boulangerie/patisserie for some dessert and we are finally settled in our place watching some futbol (soccer) and eating the most fabulous chocolate/raspberry tarte thingy and drinking wine watching the sun set over the buildings outside our window - ahhhh Paris - so fantastique!

Au Revoir....

More Clarity

Well, I already failed at my attempt to blog everyday...  Sorry.  And, not only that, I completely failed to explain why I titled the first blog City of Bikes.  Geesh, if I could keep it together that would probably help my readers eh?

So, "city of bikes", is really apropos for Amsterdam - this place is a biker's haven and bikes seem to be the favorite mode of transportation.  I'm not sure I can do justice with a description, but it is really mesmorizing.  And I don't just mean "mode of transportation" for one person getting themselves to some end destination.  These bikes (think mostly beach cruiser style) are outfitted with baby and child seats, baskets, big front loader boxes (think travel trunk between the handlebars and front wheel) and everything in between.  It is common to see 2 adults, almost like we used to do as kids, one peddling and one riding on the back rack or on the bar in front of the peddler.  The travel trunk variety are loaded down with everything from 2-3 kids to groceries to other supplies.  It really is amazing and quite frankly dangerous for pedestrians as there are bike paths along every street and you better be paying attention when crossing the street or you may be taken out by said bikes!  I wanted to take a short video to make this hit home, but by the time I thought of it - well, it is Saturday and not all the people are riding to work like the other days so it just wasn't as exciting today.

Just one Glance at ALL the bikes

So, on to my excuses for not blogging yesterday, really it comes down to Rocket being a bad influence.  Really.  We woke up quite early (stupid jet lag) and had to wait for breakfast to start at 7:30 - then we gorged ourselves on the hotel breakfast (love me some european breakfast!) and watched the bikes go by.  I snuck in another nap following breakfast then it was time to be productive tourists.  We headed to the Van Gogh museum and took a quick tour of it, not really getting our money's worth as it was super hot in there and we were both starting to make frumunder cheese.  From there, well of course it was time for a drink, I'm beginning to think hooking us up to an IV would be more cost effective, so we headed to Vondel Park to a tea house and had a cocktail.  We chilled for awhile, then headed toward our "day's destination" the Red Light District, of course we made it not even 1KM before stumbling on an Irish Pub with outdoor seating on a canal - what can I say we were tired of walking already and needed refreshment.

A nice cool glass of Rose and I was back in business and we headed north yet again, I was about to tell you we made it all the way, then I remembered that we didn't - lushes!  This time it took 2 glasses of Prosecco to jumpstart my engine and a couple glasses of red (too hot to drink red if you ask me) wine for Rocket, and of course a bit of a snack - we needed pure sustenance for what was to come.

Finally, the destination Amsterdam is famous for, and it didn't disappoint.  Unfortunately for all of you, some of my FB friends are of the rated PG variety - so not alot of detail to go here.  We will surely discuss it with all of you over a drink upon our return!  But, just a teaser of a picture..

We hauled butt back to the hotel, draggin and tired, and a bit overwhelmed by the crowds.  In the room Rocket suggested we "take a quick nap" before dinner, and this is the reason it is his fault I didn't blog yesterday.  We lied down around 5PM, and woke up at 10 PM, decided to forgo dinner for some trail mix and went right back to sleep until 7 ish this morning.  So, I guess we needed it, and I apologize for letting you all down.

Today we reaffirmed that we are not meant to be on tours (of any kind) that last more than ~90 minutes.  BUT, Rocket wanted to see some windmills and we decided to brave a 4.5 hour tour to windmills and a couple small fishing villages.  We were done at the 90 minute point having seen the windmills and done a brief lesson at a cheese factory, along with a nice cheese tasting.  Unfortunately we had 3 hours left, with a bus full of slow old people...  trying, but we lived through it. 

Tonight, a good Thai meal and now we are off to bed again, each day is getting a bit more clear and less jet lagged.  We leave tomorrow for Paris - bon voyage - see you in the City of Lights!

Trav with the wall of Gouda...

Amsterdam - City of Bikes

We arrived in Amsterdam at 6:30 AM - 1/2 an hour early after 2 uneventful flights!  Take that volcano!  Unfortunately we didn't sleep much on the plane and so by the time we arrived at our hotel (7:30 - customs was FAST) we were winding down and hoping to check in early, maybe catch a quick nap and a shower and then begin our day.  Well, expectations are a bitch, and so we were told we could leave our luggage but that check in was at 2PM - WTF - all jet-lagged that was more than 6 hours to waste in our zombi state.

We wandered out of the hotel, suffering our fate, and randomly headed down the street.  Jet lag is sort of funny and comes in many different ways - today, you would never have known that Trav and I are educated professionals as we aimlessly wandered down side streets turning this way and that with no idea which way we were headed, why we were headed there, or what we intended to accomplish - just wandering.

Starving, we finally asked for help (a page out of the Amazing Race book) to find a place for breakfast.  We found a bagel shop that also had wifi and with a little food, a restroom and an iPhone we finally figured out where we were and formulated a plan to get us through till at least noon.  Back to the hotel to grab sweaters - apparently in "jet lag land" we thought we were in the Carribean - suffered the "bitchy" look from the desk lady "you can't possibly be back to check in already" - we got our coats and headed toward the city center (I had north all wrong the first time round). 

THE PLAN - head to a photography museum, then grab lunch, then maybe we would have wasted enough time.  THE EXECUTION - got to museum 15 minutes before opening, decide to go around the block for a look around, found a cafe and decided we should have a drink, or 2, then lunch - well, it was a beautiful day and sitting in Rembrandt Square we just sort of melted into some outdoor chairs in the sun and time seemed to drift away, besides there were street musicians to entertain us...  so, no museum, but we did get some food and at noon we thought we might be safe to "face the bitchy desk lady".

Not so much.  Our room still not ready, and me completely comatose and about to melt down we headed to the hotel bar for another drink (like I needed that) to wait it out.  Finally an hour later we were in the room, clothes strung out on the floor, shades pulled and out cold.  I know those of you who have done the Europe travel thing will be thinking - you should really stay up and suck it up and get on the right time schedule - yeah, well, suck it I say.

Finally feeling a bit better after a snooze we headed to a nice dinner at an Italian place L'Ozio ( I think) and it was delicious - a bottle of wine, some fine food, racous atmosphere and it was time to say good night...

So, goodnight, talk to you tomorrow.