The City by the river Maas

The flight from Houston to Amsterdam was, as expected, looooong.  I ate chicken and pasta- not exactly gourmet, but pretty good. I should have read the textbooks I brought, instead I watched "What Stays in Vegas".  It was a dumb movie.  The plane was also FREEZING and I had conveniently packed my jacket in my checked luggage, so all I had to keep warm was my flimsy airplane blanket.  Finally I fell asleep somewhere over Toronto and woke up who knows how many hours later over Ireland. 

Right before we saw the coast of the Netherlands (hereafter designated as NL), there were a bunch of wind turbines in the North Sea. What a site that was: mini modernistic windmills isolated in dark water.  My first thought when I saw the landscape of NL was: 'it looks a lot like Texas, except with little canals everywhere.' It is green, flat, and for today at least, sunny.

I remembered this afternoon why I dislike group trips.  Everywhere we went, it was hurry up and wait.  Get off the plane, wait. Go to the baggage claim, wait.  Exit the airport, wait.  It seemed to be never ending.  I think it took us 3 hours just to get out of Amsterdam's Schipol airport.