After finishing up the packing and cleaning in Utrecht, Luke and I headed our separate ways, him to Sweden, and me to Amsterdam. I took the train again, and had a very unique encounter with a professor from UW-Madison on the train. After he found out that I live in Wisconsin, he told me that he is a professor, but actually he drives through Wausau a lot to visit the universities potato plantations in Rhinelander. He then told explained to me that his area of expertise is potato growing, and he traveled to the Netherlands to present at a conference for potato growers. When I showed interest in his potato research, he really got going on explaining what he did, and explaining everything you could ever want to know about potatoes. I found everything very interesting, and it was a nice way to spend the 35 minute train ride learning marvelous things about my favorite food. Long story short, the purple and blue potatoes from Peru are really good for you.
When I arrived in Amsterdam, this time without Luke and with my traveling backpack, I attempted to find the Anne Frank house, and after only one wrong turn, made it there only about 10 minutes late to meet up with my old swim coaching friend Joe DeLuca. He has lived in Amsterdam for the past 2 years, and gave me a real locals only tour of the city. Walking around with him was a totally different experience from when I came here on last Saturday. (I am sure Amsterdam is much busier on a Saturday, but the difference was amazing.) Completely avoiding most real touristy parts of the city he gave me a whole new perspective of the city-much less busy, less of the obvious associations with Amsterdam, and more of the true city. An example would be what seemed like a random door off of a busy tourist street that led to a convent-like church area for Catholic women. It is amazing that just behind a door of a busy tourist street in Amsterdam there is a near silent area to escape everything.
The best part of our tour came later when Joe and his wife took me on the boat to tour the canals of the city. We crossed under the bridges from the Amstel light commercials, and just rode through the city. Taking a ride on the canals through Amsterdam is something I would suggest to anyone visiting the city, just watch out for the boat traffic. The view of the city is great, and the houseboats are stunning.
We completed the night with dinner at a Peruvian restaurant. I had a tasty spicy chicken dish. Tomorrow morning I will pick up Krista and Becky from the airport and the true trek involving staying in hostels, picnicking in a park when possible, and probably some sibling arguing, ganging up, and bonding with begins.
Purple potatoes were a very big hit at the cottage!
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