What do Salt Lake City and the Netherlands have in common?

Other than salt water, pretty much nothing. Over our years in the SW we’ve explored as much of Salt Lake as possible, but somehow, we missed the Whispering Giant there. Chief Wasatch is in Murray City Park. Apparently when some locals visited Valdez Alaska and saw the Whispering Giant there (we saw it last summer), they contacted the sculptor, Peter Wolf Toth, and asked him to carve one for them, which he readily agreed to. This is our 15^th discovery in just the few years we have been aware of them.

Since I wasn’t able to blog while we were in Europe, I will hit some of the highlights as we wander north. Our trip into Amsterdam for the cruise was quite eventful. American Airlines had issues with our plane while at the jetway, and the 3 hours we had allowed for transfer in Dallas soon slipped away to where we were sure to miss out Dallas/Amsterdam connection. American couldn’t get all 6 of us on the same connections, so they booked us all into JFK, then the kids were on a direct flight to Amsterdam on KLM, while the Woman and I flew to Paris and then Amsterdam. When the kids went to board the flight American put them on, they were denied boarding, saying the flight was oversold. Actually, there was room in business class, but KLM wouldn’t seat them there, even though American had allegedly reserved them seats. Caching – first extra expense – buy 4 new business class tickets!4

The Woman and I actually were seated on our flights – well, almost. The connection in Paris took so long that we got to the gate for the flight to Amsterdam, and they had already closed the jetway door. There were actually 6 of us who arrived at the gate at almost the same time, and the two other couples began pleading with the gate attendants since the plane was still connected to the jetway. As I expected, the attendants said once the door was closed, they could not reopen it, which I knew to be true. Then I saw something I never thought I would see in my life – the attendants called the captain on the phone, and he instructed them to let the 6 of us board – unbelievable!

As you would expect, our luggage was not in Amsterdam when we arrived. After an arduous attempt to work with the very uncooperative American Airlines, the Woman’s bag finally arrived 3 days into our cruise – mine didn’t arrive until 5 days into our cruise. Caching – next extra expense – some new clothes and toiletries – thank goodness we had packed all our meds in our carry-on bag.

But despite the ordeal, Amsterdam was lovely. The people were wonderful, and the canals were everywhere. One of the most favorite places to live in Amsterdam is in a boat moored in the canal. They even run full power, water and sewer to these floating homes. Apparently, these are some of the most expensive real estate addresses in the city!

We also figured out the drug culture in Amsterdam. While drugs are legal (most of the recreational ones that is), apparently, they still don’t want it in their faces all the time. So, you just have to learn the code. If you see a business that is called a café, or a cafeteria or a grill or something like that, you can rest assured that it is a place to get a cup of coffee and maybe something to eat. If you see the words “Coffee Shop” on the window or the sign, that is where you go to get marijuana. Go figure!

Talk to you soon.