As a girl who has more words rolling around her head than she can spit out, it baffles me I can't describe our last 3 weeks with proper words. So I've decided to just do a "Show & Tell" instead.
This journey unfolded like a dream I didn’t know I’d been waiting to have.
We spent the first 4 days in Amsterdam, walking over 10,000 steps each day....desperately trying to figure out the Dutch tram and bus systems....and learning coffee isn't necessarily the only thing being served at Coffee Shops.
On the 5th day, we boarded the sailing ship Mare fan Fryslân.....a 65 year old prior freight ship....renovated to be a beautiful three-mast schooner. A total of 23 passengers and 5 crew members boarded her, and everyone on the Mare fan Fryslân knew someone...who knew someone....who knew someone else on this magical boat. My brother-in-law's sister, VirLynn, set this tour up with a hodgepodge of fun friends and acquaintances who are now like family to each other. We lived together for 8 days sailing from port to port and biking during the day through the tulip and windmill covered countrysides. We laughed, we cried and we picked each other up when we fell.
We moored Day 1 at a place called Hoorn. I fell in love with Hoorn....felt like I had walked onto a beautiful movie set. And as we walked its streets as the sun set the night before Easter, we heard the church bells ringing through the cobblestone streets built in 1357 begging us to REMEMBER the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we did….and we thanked Him for our miraculous Rescue.
Tomorrow....I'll take you on Day 2 and 3 of this unforgettable adventure.....But first, here's a few highlights of the first 5 days:
* Amsterdam is 750 years old this year and timeless....
* It's loaded with people....millions!
* Bikes outnumber cars....by a long shot!
* "Coffee shops" aren't necessarily coffee shops
* Homeless people look the same in every country....
* Street corner urinals is evidently a "thing".....
* The streets themselves carry painted warnings about pickpockets......
* And who says you can’t teach an old brick new tricks? 750-year-old buildings now offer modern restrooms....
* Families travel by bike to their destinations.... together.
* Giethoorn, a town about an hour outside of Amsterdam, must never ever be missed.....it’s Indescribable. Quiet, picturesque and almost like you arrived in a secret world.
* The Giethoorn village, fully accessible only by boat, is known as the Venice of the Netherlands.
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