Europe, Part One.

After much thought, I've decided not to hang up my cape and retire the blog. I'm back from Europe and can not wait for my next visit! To catch you up, here is an email I sent to family and friends while there. I will follow with other email instalments made during my visit.

Hello!
I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm doing quite well with my trip. The jet lag was horrible due to not one, not two but THREE babies crying the entire flight over. I felt badly for the babies, and quite frankly, having taken an Ambien with a glass of wine made me loopy. With the racket, drugs and wine I may or may not have been a disaster upon arrival. My schedule is still a bit wonky, but I'm working it out.
Wednesday I wandered around the city a bit and visited a couple of churches. The first church was your typical gaudy monstrosity that leaves you wondering just what to gawk at next. The second church I visited was a very neat 'hidden' Catholic church. It was built inside the attics of three houses during the prosecution of the Catholics. From the outside, it looks like a normal row of houses, but inside and up a windy staircase there is a large church. There were even two balconies and an organ! The organ was very cool as it was quite small; only 4 1/2 octaves and the keys and pipes were tiny.
Here I was going to try to find a clever way to segue into "The Miracle of Amsterdam", but really, it's too strange. Regardless, I want to tell the story because it's all over here. I'm going to get this wrong, but here goes anyhow... Waaaaaaaay back when, there was a man on his deathbed who a priest visited to administer the sacrament. The man vomited up the sacrament into a chamber pot. When the contents of the pot were dumped into the garbage and incinerated, everything was burned except the pristine sacrament. My reaction is along the lines of "Yuck.", but the people here think it's a pretty great miracle.
Yesterday, I spent the day at the Van Gogh museum and if I get the chance, I want to re-visit before I leave here! The museum was phenomenal and seeing so many impressionist works was beautiful! I truly love Van Gogh and it was the best collection I could have hoped for. After the museum closed, I met up with my friend, Arrogant Dutchman, and four of his (whom I now consider MY friends, as well!) friends for dinner and drinking. It was a lot of fun and they were all great people. One girl, Suzanne, was particularly nice and we compared our political party systems. Quite interesting; The Netherlands has many parties and smart voters have to think more strategically rather than just voting their heart, so to speak. Otherwise, the Parliament can end up with a very divided vote and nothing will get accomplished.
Today I am going to the Rijksmuseum and will have more to report after that!
Much love,
Super