London, England/Amsterdam, Netherlands - June 11th - 14th

The last few days has been fun, educational, and actually quite overwhelming.

Brian Phalen and I went out for dinner on Thursday night at this noodle bar and got some local London asian food (they have AWESOME international food) and a few beers at some pubs afterwards. We then headed back for a good night of sleep.

I woke up early Friday and caught the 1st train to Salisbury, which is about an 80 minute train ride from London due West. FYI, they have an awesome train/bus system in London which makes the States look pathetic with our "car" transportation system. From Salisbury I loaded the Stonehedge Tour Bus. We headed about 15 minutes around Solam (spelling? more to come later) to Stonehedge. As we arrived the large stones jutted before me.

The stones are the size of 7 elephants each, and over 2,000 years ago the ancient people floated them down the river over 200 miles to get to the Stonehedge site. There are different rumors of what they are for - burial grounds, solstice/astronomical purpose, no one know for absolutely sure. But it is amazing in size, scope and overall schematic being. How they buried them, and crossed the stones on top of each other - how they were even dragged from the river with no modern equipment - is quite remarkable.

After touring the site for 1 hour or so, I then headed back on the bus past Solam, which is about 1,000 years old. It is a levitated piece of grassy ground over a few acres in which castles and churches over 1,000 years were built. In fact they were just excavated in 1900 or so, and it is amazing that such castles and size were there in such a primitive time.

After heading back to Salisbury, I viewed their church which is famous for having the largest spire in England and the 4th largest in the world. After viewing the awesome sight, I took the train back to London and showered getting ready for a fun night on the town!

I met Brian and his friends from Ernst & Young at a local pub (note - pubs close at 11) for a few beers and then headed to a club afterwards. We partied till 3am (I have some GREAT pics!)- had a nice London street side steak sandwich at 2 am - and then headed back for some much needed sleep!

I woke up on Saturday a little tired :) but took the tube (underground London Metro) to the airport to take my 1 hour flight to Amsterdam. I have been to Amsterdam before, but I love this city! Not for the reason you might think, but for its sheer culture, beauty, and overall variety.

I got in yesterday evening and found a hostel that wasn't too expensive. I had a nice dinner streetside near a canal, and had Chicken Sate with Salad and fries. Washed it down with some good local beers. Then headed out to explore the town....walked the red light district which - if you havent been here is where the prostitutes flaunt themselves through the window to entice buyers. Uh....there are people that buy, people that look and laugh -- I was in the latter group but I have to say. OK, my mom is reading this probably but they ARE attractive!!

Oh, and I have been offered more drugs in this small red light district than anywhere in my entire life. Sorry, not for me so I ketp walking and saying no, no, no.

It's weird - the streets line up and down canals throughout the city -- and it is so easy to walk this city and the red light district goes up and down these canals
After wondering around for a few hours and having a drink or two, I headed back to bed exhausted from my London night before and the long traveling day.

I woke up today and had for breakfast some OJ and a local Dutch pancake with a cinnamon filling -- delicious!! I then had a very enriching experience -- I met Alfred Gloudemans today. He is - by his guess - a 7th generational cousin (Uncle Fred actually is what I called him) - here in Holland. My family is Dutch, and he gave me the family history and showed me around the country.

Not to bore, but he told me he is the Gloudemans Family historian and he has traced the family back to Jen Glaviman in 1315. Glaviman means roughly sword or sword maker....the family then took on different spellings of the name including Gloudeman and Gloudemans. 3 Gloudemans Brothers in 1840 moved to Wisconsin because Wisconsin reminded them of Holland and moved to America because they wanted a better way of life....Wisonsin had what Holland did - lots of grass, farmland, cows, milk, etc. They settled in Pierre, Little Chute, and Appleton. We reason I am 5th generation American Gloudemans. There are over 20,000 Gloudemans or people that he can trace to our family. Over 2,000 live in Amsterdam, the rest around the world but only about 100-150 in the U.S. I left feeling not only educated but very proud of our Dutch hertitage!

He showed me a town near a lake (Volendam) where I had raw herring (think Sushi) with salt and onions on it. Delicious actually! We then had coffee and homemade Dutch apple pie with whipped cream. Wow...we then made our way to the windmills and its amazing -- some are over 400 years old, and their purpose is varied...to pump out water from the canals so the grass doesn't flood (Holland is below sea level) to generate electricity. After the mills we visited the North Sea, which was picturesque and quite beautiful.

We culminated our journey by visiting the harbor behind Central (Train) Station, which has lots of cruise boats and people walking around.

Note - there are SO MANY bikes and bike paths here (more than I have ever seen in my life)and can't wait to bike here tomorrow!

Another note - the MOST BEAUTIFUL women I have ever seen are here. Blond, blue eyed, great shape. Alfred was affirming this for me and he made sure I appreciated with I did!!

And one final note -- there are lots of coffee houses in amsterdam. Probably 100. they don't serve coffee as most of you know...lots of marijuana and you can order it from a menu. Uh...I won't go to a coffee house but I will go to cafe's where they serve coffee only - not "magic mushrooms" as they call it and no marijuana!

Anyways, after Fred dropped me off I headed to the Rijkmuseum. Now I said I wouldn't do museums but I had to visit the artwork here. Famous for housing Rembrandt's works, it was fantastic. Visited artwork from 300-400 years ago, including the famous Night Watch painting. I am not that educated in art, but it was so visually apparent and stunning how light and dark was used in his paintings. I left from my 90 minute visit feeling like I had not seen art but really a historical tour of Holland, its artists, and a better understanding of its people -- all through the paintings and the stories they told.

After the museum I headed to the Heineken Beer Tour. While the tour itself was a bit hokey, I was able to have 2 beers at the beer hall at the end and met a really nice couple from Tennessee. After my beers I took the trolley back to the main part of town where I'm ready to head for dinner!

More to come...ready to wrap up Amsterdam tomorrow with the Anne Frank museum, take a canal ride, and rent a bike and ride through town. And then off to Germany!