Good to the Last Drop(shot)

Tuesday night we had our last dropshot in Amsterdam! For those wondering it is a distinctive Dutch anise flavored liquor, nothing like sambucca. Our hotel bartender, Anca (from Romania) served it to us after dinner as a going away gesture. She has been a terrific ‘friend’ while we stayed at the hotel!

Tuesday we finally had our canal cruise with Diego as our guide. He works for the Saint Nicolas Boat Club which is connected with Boom Chicago here in Amsterdam. There were only three of us on an old canal boat sailing the hidden canals – what a wonderful vista of the shoreline… Idyllic. After the cruise we visited the famous Amsterdam Flower Market and had an incredible Indonesian lunch at one of the rijstables.

We ended the afternoon with a sobering visit to the Anne Frank Museum, a must see for anyone coming to this city.

As we flew again across the Atlantic we both carried with us fantastic memories of the places we visited.

Journeys are never about the destinations which first attracted us. When a particular journey ends you have tangible photos of places en route. What is difficult to share are the feelings we have for the people we have met, the people who gave of themselves to complete strangers in most cases.

In Rome – Todd, Juan and Thomas

In Cinque Terre – Barbara, Massimo, GianLuca, the doctor from Copenhagen who bought us drinks on the beach

In Paris – Neil and Brenda, John and Andrew (Fat Bike Tours), Patrick (our taxi driver)

In Prague – Jaroslav and Marshall

On the Viking Danube – Ann  and Caroline, Sandra and Stephen, Christian, Gabor, Tibor, Marcela and Claudia, as well as Tomas

In Budapest – Joshi and Zsolt

In Bruges = Jo, Marcelline, Gabriella, Werner, Nathan (www.visitbruges.Org)

In Netherlands – Joe and Aimee, Ypke, Anca and Stefano, Diego

Thanks to all of you who followed us on this journey and offered us your kind words and support.

Thank you all for being who you are. Hopefully our paths will cross again, either in Mexico, Canada, the Us or even Europe…who ever knows?

Lastly, thank you Larry for this most incredible and generous birthday present!!!

In the weeks ahead we will sort out the 3200 photos. I hope to put out a condensed version of the trip in a subsequent posting. For now I leave you with a few last photos…

Diego

Flower Market

Canaling

Yellow Tulips

Anca and Larry

Sunset Over Amsterdam

~ by reg45 on June 3, 2010.