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Todd, Nina and I headed out this past evening for another excellent adventure to Stary Kraj.  Our flight was relatively uneventful sans the non-functional monitor in front of my seat.  This is the second international flight this has happened to me.  After two reboots and three hours later it finally was functioning but at that time I was ready to sleep.

We arrived at Schipol Airport, hailed a taxi and were on our way to our pension.

We were greeted by our hostess, Matushka Aliona.  Her husband is the priest at the Orthodox church here in Amsterdam.  We have two lovely rooms in their home on one of the canals.

After settling in we set out for a tour of the Anne Frank House.  The queue was over an hour long but one of the persons in line with us said we were lucky...most days it is over three hours!  The tour was over two hours long and wound throughout the entire house and annex.  Although it was not furnished there were photos of what it looked like originally and displays were set up with artifacts in each of the areas.  At the end we were able to see the actual diary.  I have wanted to come here for quite some time and it did not disappoint.

After the tour we met Tammy Bacsik and Matthew House.  Tammy is the daughter of a long-time friend of Nina's and mine from our teens.  They took us to a tasting room for a particular type of gin they manufacture here.  We also sampled several different liqueurs.  All were quite tasty!  The building itself is from 1679 if I remember correctly.  

The inside was packed with "tasters" and had lots of old bottles and flasks.  They fill the glasses to the brim so it is tradition that you must bend over to take the first sip.

We then made out way to a small and quaint restaurant tucked in an alleyway.  The Dutch are very friendly and almost everyone speaks English...and quite well.  This was no exception with our waiter. Of course our table had tulips on it..my favorite flower...and even better they were my favorite color combination.

And so we made it through our marathon first day!  Tomorrow we will meet Matthew and Tammy again for a tour of the canals by boat, picnic lunch and a trip to the famed Keukenhof Gardens.

So for now...good night from Amsterdam!