Update from The Netherlands

Well, I am smack dab in the middle of my Christmas trip around Europe. Leigh and I flew to Geneva last Friday (12/18) then immediately took a train to Gryon where we slept in, threw snowballs at one another, poked around tiny villages and spent an awful lot of time drinking Swiss wine and eating smelly cheeses. It was fantastic and the perfect way for me to totally unwind before starting the more active portion of the holiday.

We spent a day in Geneva and slept at the airport the night before our flight to Amsterdam. I slept about 2 hours total and Leigh didn't sleep at all. We were pretty well prepared, though, with snacks and a sleeping bag to get us through the night.

After our flight to Amsterdam we somehow rallied enough to make it through a whole day of getting acquainted with the city. We even had enough energy to visit the Anne Frank House before dinner that evening. The next day was rainy and gross, so we visited the Van Gogh Museum and sampled the local street food (fried spongey donut, anyone? Hot dog? How about the best french fries you've ever tasted?), which was yummy. Today we took it easy and relaxed until about noon and then we went on a Free Tour, which lasted until nearly 17:00!

So far we're having a lot of fun discovering this old and interesting city. There's a nice vibe here where people are just friendly and logical without any attitude or false pretenses. It's kind of like a Euro version of Seattle. Leigh says she could live here, so could I, unfortunately I doubt either of us will have any job opportunities here.

Tomorrow we're going to Haarlem for the day, which I'm pretty excited about. We were planning to visit The Hague and Delft, but the train tickets were really starting to add up so we decided to go with a much closer community to visit for our day trip. Tomorrow we're also leaving for Paris at 19:00, so there's still more for us to do!

It doesn't feel much like Christmas right now, aside from the decorations everywhere in the cities we're visiting. I guess it feels a little more like late November when the decorations are out but your life is still so busy and ordinary that you haven't let yourself start getting excited about the holiday yet. Anyway, it's just strange being away from home this time of year so it doesn't really register. I'm still glad I decided to travel instead of going back the US. I keep reminding myself (and Leigh) that I have my whole life to do the traditional Christmas of visiting family, exchanging gifts, cooking, etc. This year I'm doing something different but starting next year most of the holidays for the rest of my life will the traditional and comfortable, so it's really not a big deal.

OK, rambling done, must go to bed or I'll never get up tomorrow.