Hello Amsterdam!

27 December 2014-

Ugh. 

It's too early in the morning but it's time to get up and walk over to the terminal and check in.  

Brace yourself.

EVERY TIME we've checked in at the Munich airport we've been met with rude customer service and too many grumpy (and even down right ANGRY) folks.  

Just wanted to warn you….we're hoping for the best but we're also not holding our breath.

Weeeeeellllll…..what do you know???  I guess even the Munich airport can change!?!?!  Check in was easssssy peassssy.  No trouble.  (what caused HUGE problems last time was that the check-in person would NOT believe us when we showed him our Chinese resident visas even though we explained that was the document that allowed us to enter China.  Sigh. This time the lady manning the front counter was easy going and believed us.  Don't you think we should have it figured out by now?  We've only lived in China for three years and we've traveled in many countries.  Whatever.) Even security wasn't bad.  We even have time for a bite of breakfast and a coffee before boarding our flight to Amsterdam.

Our flight was soooo smooth.  We sat at the VERY BACK of the plane but the flight attendants were just awesome (KLM).  Know worries needing to run to the next flight as we've got about ten hours to kill in Amsterdam.  What should we do?????

Well, first we need to stash our carry-on luggage at one of the "convenient" lockers (more on why I wrote that in quotes later):

We got out of the main terminal and proceeded to the information desk in the airport.  Apparently the "winter storm" is causing havoc on the public transportation system and the trains are running about one hour late.  We've been told that it's best to take a bus or maybe taxi to get into the city.  My goal for this day in Amsterdam??  Go see the Van Gogh Museum!

I think we're going to try finding the right bus that will take us close to our destination but …first…check out this food stall located just outside the airport:

After munching on some sweet goodies we were walking around trying to find the correct bus when we happened upon the taxi stand.  Can you imagine our surprise when we discovered that the first taxi in line was a Tesla (an all electric car)???  Well…Mark INSTANTLY switching his thoughts from a taxi being too expensive to WE MUST TAKE THIS TAXI.  

I do have to say, this Tesla is a nice car to ride in!

Views of Amsterdam as seen from the back seat of a taxi on a rainy, wet day:

Oooooooo…THE Tesla taxi.

Well…you have to admit, by taking a taxi we cut our transit time in half and now we're at the Van Gogh Museum (which just opened for the day).  There isn't even a line to get in!  And my oh my…what's wrong with my Girls????Love the buildings in Amsterdam:

No photos allowed inside the museum except here:

We LOVED this museum!  So many beautiful pieces of van Gogh's artwork on display and lots of interesting history about his life.  Makes him come to life!  I'm now inspired to try painting something in his style.

Time for lunch!  Does it look like bad winter storm to you?  It just looks like a windy, rainy day to me.  huh….

We found a restaurant called Small Talk just down the street from the museum.  From the frustrating sounds the waiter was making I think they were also under-staffed.  (never a good thing)

We're sitting inside in a warm place…but look outside at the blustery, windy weather:

Hot chocolate!!!!  Yummmy!!!!

Dutch cheese?  Yes please!The girls ordered pancakes…and these are the toppings:

Ava's pancake.  Yum!  (she ate it plain):

Time to head back to the airport.  If the weather was more cooperative we could have spent hours wandering Amsterdam but as it is we'd feel better back in the airport.  Check out the long line to get into the museum now!:Here's the cafe we ate lunch at:

My view of Amsterdam as seen from the back of a taxi:

All righty…this is where things get a wee bit complicated.  Remember our carry on luggage we so carefully stowed away?  Well, that luggage is located in one terminal but our tickets will allow us access ONLY to the terminal we're flying out of which is NOT the same terminal as our carry on luggage.  Crap!  So….long story short, after talking to several security guards (showing them proof of our locker rental purchase) we were allowed to enter the terminal that our luggage was stowed in.  Jeesh.  That was waaaaaaaay harder than it needed it to be!  Surely we're not the only ones that this has happened to, right???!?

Now it's sitting and waiting time…. Not quite amused to be waiting….Time to board the flight!

And here's the "Welcome back home" we got….Not at all what I call a nice way to come home!  (it means the air quality is so bad that it is beyond their measurement capabilities.  Yep.  That's BAD!)

We're back home now…thank you for joining us on our brief adventures through Paris, Munich, Austria and Amsterdam!  We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holidays and we wish you a Happy New Year!