5,002 Miles in 9 Hours

Dear Liza,

I’ll be seeing you in Horsens in a week or so, but for now, we are in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We caught a flight that went directly from Portland to Amsterdam, so we didn’t have to change planes. That meant that for 5,0002 miles, we sat.
And sat.

And sat some more. There was a dinner, (better than expected), and lots of movies to choose from (“The Lady Eve” was disappointing, “Babe” was adorable.) Sleep was difficult.

But this morning, ready or not, we landed in Amsterdam. After walking for what felt like miles down corridors, getting the luggage and presenting our passports, we were well and truly in the country!

Hooray!!

But we didn’t want to be still. We wanted to get to Utrecht, where we had never been before, and see what there was to see. Grandpa Nelson and Auntie Bridgett figured out how to buy train tickets from the machine, and we enjoyed the modernist vibe as we headed down the moving ramp to the platform.

The train ride was totally quiet, as we had accidentally chosen a “Silence Stilte”, a quiet car. It was probably for the best, anyway. We were exhausted and the scenery filled our brains.

We disembarked at Utrecht Central and, following Grandpa Nelson’s directions, we ambled past the farmer’s market, hip shops and yummy-looking restaurants to find the Leonardo Hotel, our home for the next three days. We stretched out (I even napped a bit) and then headed out in search of adventure.

We discovered that Utrecht is a wonderful mixture of buildings from the 1600s and the early 2000s, ancient bricks and stone overlaid with neon and cartoons.

The canals that help drain the soggy soil and deliver goods to warehouses now provide homes for ducks and ambiance for visitors.

We found Meneer Potter (Meneer means Mister) and had delicious salads and bread and wine. Our night’s sleep was bumpy because our body clocks were still mixed up. We all woke up about 3, were awake for a few hours, then dropped back off to sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up groggy, but ready for a whole ‘nother adventure.

Stay tuned!

Love,

Grandma Judy