Amsterdam

We landed in Amsterdam on the way to Africa and stayed four days before flying on to Nairobi. We stopped again on our return. This was the first time that we had ever been to the Netherlands. By the time we returned to the USA, we felt foolish that we had not visited there before.

A few impressions: Yes, everyone actually does speak English. Dutch women are very attractive. Amsterdam makes San Francisco seem prudish when it comes to sexual mores. Spending a few days in Europe highlights what an obesity problem the United States has. Many major restaurants are closed from July 15 to August 15. There are more excellent restaurants still open then than one can handle.

The special exhibit of Van Gogh's drawings at the Van Gogh Museum was a high point of our trip. Discovering that the Rijksmuseum is undergoing massive restoration and that only a teeny portion of its holdings are on view was a major disappointment. That disappointment was partly offset by discovering an exhibit of Venetian art at the Hermitage Museum (a branch of the Russian Hermitage Museum).