May 9, My Birthday in Paris

I have always wanted to see Paris and I am here on my Birthday. What could be better.  We awoke this morning and planned a walking tour of the Left Bank. After a breakfast of American coffee ( can't do without that ) and Eggs Benedict we headed across the Seine to the left bank. We had a Rick Steve's walking tour in mind and we kind of stuck to that with a few exceptions. We saw some of the traditional, left bank sights and enjoyed all of the shopping venues. After a drink of wine at the "Les Deux Magots" we amended the walking tour and headed to the Right Bank where we enjoyed some time in the Tuileries gardens of the Louvre. Then back to the hotel to refresh and then off to dinner. Our friend Jim Findley recommended a restaurant in the area and so my birthday dinner was celebrated at the Bofinger restaurant in Paris. It was an exquisite meal. We are back at the hotel now ready to start planning tomorrow.  Pictures to follow. We are having uploading problems.  The rest of the photos to come later.

The start of my day crossing the bridge to the left bank. Notre Dame in the background.

The "Les Duex Mogots". Been the same for 100's of years. Hangout of well known writers and painters.

Street performers playing while we enjoyed a glass of wine.  

A Parisan wine shop. We would never drink more than a bottle if they were all like this.

Not the greatest shot but a view toward the Louvre where we sat for awhile while walking through the Tuileries.

The Bofinger restaurant

Woo Hoo Paris!! Day 6, May 8, 2015

Another busy travel day taking the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris.  We loved the Airbnb we stayed at the last 2 nights in Amsterdam. Our first experience with an airBnB, but it was perfect. More on another post. The train was easy. When we arrived in Paris we had already decided that we would take the Metro to the hotel. It was about 2.4 miles but the taxi fare was listed at +- 75 euros. Steve went to the information booth while I stood looking at the big map on the wall.  A young man came up to me and asked me if I needed help. I told him where I wanted to go on the Metro and the next thing I know a French Policeman is behind me shooing the man away and reprimanding me, "Pickpocket!"  Wow.  Welcome to Paris.  Not to be disillusioned, I understand the train station is the true lurking ground for the Parisian pickpockets. We got on the correct Metro line, the hotel is great, and we had a light dinner. Tomorrow we take on Paris.

Photos today. Walking around on the right bank. The I'le St. Louis where we are staying.

A street scene from the outdoor bistro where we drank an afternoon bottle of vino.

The Notre Dame Church behind Steve.

May 7 Thursday. My Dutch Heritage

We rented a car today to drive out to the countryside and visit some of the towns that have some ancestral meaning. My grandfather's name is Jasper Bunschoten, so we drove out to the town of Bunschoten/Spakenburg. The town is quite touristy on a picturesque old harbor that still has many of the old wooden fishing boats. It is charming. 

Me in front of the town sign.

The harbor with the fishing boats. 

A house in Bunschoten.

From there we drove to Huizen which is where Jasper (my Mother's father) was born and lived until he emigrated  to the United States when he was 16.  Again it is a beautiful little town and as we were walking around I spied a store canopy that read Bunschoten. We went in and I told the "clerk" my story. Well it turns out he is the owner of the store and his name is Pieter Bunschoten. His father was Pieter too but he had some other uncles or cousins with the name of Jasper! We promised to email when I get back to the States and it will be interesting to see if there is any connection. It was really fun. A few other pictures from the town of Huizen.

 P.S. Cousins, I have lots more pictures.

The Bunschoten Store

Steve took a picture of Peiter and me. He looks like a Bunschoten doesn't he?

The church in Huizen.

Some old pictures along the streets of Huizen. 

Our last stop of the day was in Naarden. This is a star fortress town and I will be interested to see if my Dad ever flew over it. It is said to have been a landmark during WWII for pilots flying bombing missions from England to Germany.

Our picture today. A picture from the web with an overhead view of the city.  

Wednesday May 6, day 4 in Amsterdam

Wow. Today we were locals just walking around the city having a beer in a local pub and talking to everyone.  The weather is cool and there were two major storms that passed through. Very weird summer type storms where the skies darken and then there was thunder and lightening and buckets of rain and then sunshine again.  All of which was perfect for our day of walking the streets of Amsterdam. When the sky's got dark we found a pub... Had a beer and resumed our walk after the rain passed. Some of our shots of the day.

The Prinsensluis canal with house boats. 

The canal boat cruisers.

Typical buildings  along the canals..

One of our beer stops because of rain..

The Dam Square Royal Palace. 

Tuesday May 5, day 3 in Amsterdam

Yesterday was Van Gogh in flowers at the Keukenhof Gardens and today starts with Van Gogh at the Rijksmuseum. We purchased the multimedia head set tours which gave us over 10 different tours to choose from. We could take as many or few as we wanted.  We started with the 90 minute highlights which included this Van Gogh self portrait. We also took the building highlights tour which was interesting.

On the Asian exhibit tour we see Steve admiring a medal sculpture. 

The Rijksmuseum Great Hall has a long history which was talked about in the building highlights. The stained glass windows have remained but at one point the walls were all painted white with a tile floor. During the 10 year restoration of the museum this area was restored to its original design. It was very impressive.

So after a somewhat rainy morning spent in the museum we saw clearing skies, grabbed a bite of lunch and headed to Vondelpark. This is a large green space similar to New York Central Park. We walked the paths and since it is a holiday in the Netherlands today the park was full of families. There was a outdoor theater with a children's program taking place and as we walked around there were so many different kinds of bikes. Here is the Momma version of an Amsterdam bike. 

And live chess matches in full size.  Something Steve thinks he and AJ can do in our backyard since AJ has taken a liking to chess. 

We are staying outside of the central city ( old town) and have found some great eateries. Tonight was no exception. Great food, a little wine...vacation is great. Tomorrow the old city and the RED LIGHT DISTRICT!

Monday May 4 day 2 in Amsterdam

We woke up this morning refreshed and more attuned to the local time. Breakfast was included in our hotel stay so we had a nice meal to start the day. Unfortunately when we checked with the hotel about where the Rotary dinner meeting was being held we learned it had been cancelled due to the Rememberance Day holiday in the Netherlands. So the saying goes "let no battle (travel) plan go unchanged". We will have to find a place for dinner tonight and perhaps check the Rotary International site to see if we can find another meeting to attend.

Our next adventure of the day was to get to The Keukenhof Gardens. A walk, a local bus, and the express bus to Keukenhof worked very smoothly. We got to see some of the tulip fields on the ride in and they are quite spectacular but nothing could quite prepare you for the Keukenhof. Sensory overload at its finest.  We had debated all along about bringing the Nikon and decided not to because we felt Keukenhof would be the only place it would really be an asset over a basic IPhone. Well these are some of the iPhone pictures we took so you can imagine what the Nikon might have produced. 

It is truly an amazing place and I am so happy our visit coincided with the 8 weeks it is open. Viewing the grounds both Steve and I marveled at why such a beautiful park like setting would only be open to show off the early spring flowers. The theme this year was the 125 birthday of Vincent Van Gogh and a planting of over 250,000 bulbs highlights this at the garden.

Popsicle trees.