Thank you American Airlines and British Airways for getting us AND all our checked bags safely to Amsterdam. The flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam was only an hour but the two first class F/A's on British Air served us a light lunch consisting of a cold blackened chicken plate. Very nice. We landed here late at 2:40pm (7:40am Dallas) Now 7 hour time difference. Like at Heathrow we had a long walk in Amsterdam terminal to get down to baggage claim. This was the easiest airport I have ever been to to clear immigration and customs. No line at passport check and no one at customs so just walked out after collecting our checked luggage. Grabbed a taxi to take us to Hilton. It was a Mercedes and very nice. Only about $40 to get to hotel.
Front desk folks at Hilton were very nice and because of my "diamond" status upgraded us to a executive king room on upper floor with view of canal passing by. Rebecca was too pooped to go with me but I made a trip to a wine shop I had located on the internet several months ago. I took a "tram" (electric bus like thing) to it. Told the tram driver to let me know when I was to get off. He spoke perfect English and was super nice to me. Was less than 10 minutes away.
The wine shop was very nice and young owner was very helpful. I do not like French wines BUT he opened a bottle of French chardonnay for me to try. Bought 8 bottles of it plus 2 bottles from Australia. So now back to the tram stop and once again told driver to let me know when to get off. Worked great. A one hour pass cost me $4.
Bicycles everywhere here. Seems to be the favorite mode of transportation. Even girls/women in short skirts were on them. Not that I noticed!! So all our good friends will not be too surprised that my first stop in Amsterdam was at a wine shop!!! We will drink this wine in the evenings (pre-dinner) on the river boat.
Ok, time to shower, change, and head up to the Hilton executive lounge for a cocktail before dinner. We will be going to Bella Vista, an Italian restaurant, just a couple blocks from the hotel tonight. Hope we can stay awake that long! Two tired puppies for sure. Weather is very nice with mostly sunny skies and 80F.
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/iTadYpeBK4WcQ1N48
Front desk folks at Hilton were very nice and because of my "diamond" status upgraded us to a executive king room on upper floor with view of canal passing by. Rebecca was too pooped to go with me but I made a trip to a wine shop I had located on the internet several months ago. I took a "tram" (electric bus like thing) to it. Told the tram driver to let me know when I was to get off. He spoke perfect English and was super nice to me. Was less than 10 minutes away.
The wine shop was very nice and young owner was very helpful. I do not like French wines BUT he opened a bottle of French chardonnay for me to try. Bought 8 bottles of it plus 2 bottles from Australia. So now back to the tram stop and once again told driver to let me know when to get off. Worked great. A one hour pass cost me $4.
Bicycles everywhere here. Seems to be the favorite mode of transportation. Even girls/women in short skirts were on them. Not that I noticed!! So all our good friends will not be too surprised that my first stop in Amsterdam was at a wine shop!!! We will drink this wine in the evenings (pre-dinner) on the river boat.
Ok, time to shower, change, and head up to the Hilton executive lounge for a cocktail before dinner. We will be going to Bella Vista, an Italian restaurant, just a couple blocks from the hotel tonight. Hope we can stay awake that long! Two tired puppies for sure. Weather is very nice with mostly sunny skies and 80F.
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/iTadYpeBK4WcQ1N48
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