We have made it to the Hotel Van Walsum in Rotterdam where it is cold and rainy. We intend to soldier on and have a great time anyway.
The flight wasn't as bad as it could have been since we were in an exit row with more legroom. Only one guy got in after us, so we are glad to be here. We landed in Amsterdam at 7:30 this morning, got the car, and headed out. We drove down hwy 208 which is known as the tulip road. As tired as we were, we were still impressed with the tulip and hyacinth fields, windmills, canals, and small quaint towns. We were killing time until we could check in at the hotel.
We needed a potty break and some food, but there are not nearly the easy stops we are used to. We did come across a service plaza that served us well. The restaurant was called The Place and was a wonderful buffet. We both had a wonderful fish and tomato soup and shared a really good egg salad sandwich on a neat bun.
We arrived at the hotel with only a couple of wrong turns. The hotel is a small one made from two old buildings. It is family owned and run. Two 40ish brothers checked us in. While Bill moved the car to the hotel lot, brother Tony got me a coffee, sat across from me with a map and gave some excellent touring and eating options. They gave us a room with a balcony when they learned Bill smoked cigars. We settled in, unpacked, made sure my plug would work to charge our toys, napped.
At 6, we walked down the street to a "brown cafe" - an inexpensive cafe frequented by locals – called Ari’s. Our waiter was very friendly and helpful and we had a delightful meal. We got the bread board - brown bread and white bread with 3spreads - garlic butter, tapenade, and aioli mayo. Bill got a huge veal cutlet with a salad and fries. I got a yummy beef stroganoff that was quite red with paprika and had green beans, mushrooms, and bell pepper. It came with a baked potato and sour cream. We had the local beer - julpilner. We came back to the room and crashed.
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