Holiday

This time last week I was in Amsterdam with my daughter and two adult granddaughters this was a break that was supposed to be something nice to start the new year after the bad one we had all had last year. My granddaughters lost their father...my daughter and him were divorced...I lost my husband in August so my daughter had lost her dad and my granddaughters had lost the grandad they were very close to. The first Christmas without them was difficult for all of us so the break was something nice for us all. My daughter had a virus over Christmas but thought she was getting over it although she was still feeling unwell but we had obviously contracted if from her and after a couple of days in Amsterdam me and my grandaughters all developed sore throats, coughs and upset stomachs. We managed to carry on and see the things we wanted to like the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, a couple of markets and of course the Red Light district which is high on the tourist list but our energy was a bit low and by the evenings I opted to stay in the hotel rather than go out I am 80 and the walking had taken it out of me really..
Amsterdam is lovely and the public transport is so good trams and trains are so frequent hardly more than a five minute wait for one and they do say it is almost 50% cheaper to use than ours is, if only ours was half as good here. The amazing thing was the lack of cars on the roads it seems everyone in the Netherlands rides bikes and there are thousands of them there. People there must be a lot fitter than here as they get the exercise riding the bikes. Food was really the last thing I was thinking of as I had very little appetite so what I did have even if a bit to carby was only a very small portion. What we did find strange was if you ordered tea in a café it came without milk and if you asked for some it was more like cream so we wondered if the Dutch do not drink much tea but are more likely to drink coffee Pancakes and waffles are a big thing there my granddaughters had some but not me. Anyway I am on the mend now and glad that I did go maybe I will do another trip at some time

Antje77 said:

The winner icon for still enjoying your holiday despite feeling under the weather and dealing with grief!
And also for enjoying the city where I was born and grew up


Tea in my country is definitely as big a thing as it is in the UK, although many people drink it every day. However, almost no-one drinks it with milk around here. I do, and always get strange looks.

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Oh that is why it was served without milk they must have thought us strange asking for milk. Amsterdam is a beautiful city the buildings are amazing the ones along the canal were once I think the rich merchants houses. We were lucky that the tulip season had just started and the flower market was full of tulips every shape and colour imaginable it must be wonderful to see them growing. My granddaughter loved seeing them she is a qualified florist and at the florist wholesalers where she works all their flowers come from the Netherlands every week