Julian and I are back on vacation in Europe. This time our itinerary included visiting his cousins outside Amsterdam. Later we flew to Italy for a week in the Dolomite Mountains and a week in Venice. We have the experience of canals in both the Netherlands and Venice and cannolis (we hope) in Italy.
Our host in the Netherlands was Kitty, who is a cousin on Julian’s paternal grandmother’s side of the family. She’s visited us a few times over the years, most recently in 2017. The highlight of our visit with her was a family reunion with Kitty’s daughters, two of her grandchildren, her sister, and one of her nieces. The dinner was held at a buffet restaurant at a hotel near Schiphol (Amsterdam) Airport. Surprisingly, it was the best restaurant meal we’d had so far. The variety of offerings was amazing, including sushi, Turkish food, and dessert tables to die for. We hadn’t seen most of these relatives since the family birthday party in Delft years ago. Julian created a Seattle-oriented trivia contest that was easy enough so everyone could win a prize. (Sample question: Which animals are not seen in the Sammamish River behind Julian and Cindy’s condo? The choices included eagles, otters, ducks, and crocodiles.)
We went to Rotterdam yesterday for the first time. Rotterdam was bombed to smithereens by the Nazis during World War II and was nearly entirely rebuilt. Many of the new buildings are of the architect’s dream and engineer’s nightmare genre. For example, the Cube Building. This building resembles a child’s block structure at a 54.7° angle, which results in very weird apartments with wasted space due to angled ceilings. Fortunately, the Hostel underneath the cube apartments is a bit more conventional. We also roamed around the waterfront and saw some vintage sailboats and barges.
Stay tuned for more adventures as we explore Italy.
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