June 4, 2016,      this is when I started this post (have I mentioned that I HATE Picasa?  I organized the photo album in a specific order, but when I go to post the album the photos are in a different order.  I've tried to get them back in order, but I've given up.  So this will make the rambling post even more incomprehensible.  Good luck.  June 7 update-I’m trying one more time to get the photos in the correct order-I think I got it!!!!)

Now where was I?  That’s right I screwed up the opening time of the Colmar gallery that was Wednesday June 1^st.  So on June 2^nd we were going to visit three museums in three different cities and this required riding on 6 different trains.  We left Colmar at about 9:00 and made to our first stop in Karlsruhe with a train change in Strasbourg without any problems.  This train ride took about 1.5 hrs.  We even managed to store our luggage at the station in Karlsruhe and take a tram to the Karlsruhe Staatliche Kunsthalle without any problems.  We went in and bought our tickets and then climbed up to the 1^st floor (in Europe our 1^st floor is the ground floor if you didn’t know).  After a few minutes I showed an attendant the painting we were looking for.  She didn’t speak English: I thought she said it was down stairs and Sue thought she said it wasn’t here.  It turns out we were both right.  It was downstairs in another building.  So we went next door and found our painting: “The Seven Deadly Sins” by Otto Dix.  We looked at the rest of the early 20^th century paintings and then took the tram back to the rail station.  We retrieved our luggage and got ready for our next train ride.  The train from Karlsruhe left at 13:00 and arrived in Mannheim at 13:29 and again no problems.  Stored our luggage again and walked about 10 minutes to the Mannheim Stadtische Kunsthalle.  (You are getting the boring step by step because we are on the train to Amsterdam and it is about a four hour trip and I’ve got nothing else to do).  When we approached the Kunsthalle there were big barricades and signs (German) that seemed to be describing a large museum remodeling project, Yikes!!  Now understand that I had contacted, or tried to contact every place we were going to visit.  And most including Mannheim had responded and that our painting would be on display when we planned to visit.  But when we followed the arrows to the entrance we rounded a corner three temporary trailers came into view, again not a good sign.  But amazingly our painting “The Execution of Maximilian” by Edouard Manet was on display.  So far we were two for two.  If you’ve been counting we’ve visited two museums and taken three trains, so the third museum was going to require three trains.  

You can imagine that if you take enough trains that eventually you’ll have a problem, and we did.  So here is the story.  We left Mannheim at 15:32 or about then.  The train made a couple of stops in the middle of nowhere for a few minutes each time.  We knew this was eating into our 13 minute transfer time.  Now normally that is more than enough time to go downstairs, walk over three platforms and go upstairs to wait for another train.  To spare you the suspense we had to run from our platform to the next one.  I’m running carrying our two roller bags and wearing a backpack.  Both Sue and I almost tripped on the way up the stairs.  The train doors were closed, but fortunately our door opened when I pushed the button.  I had to hold the door to let Sue and another couple in.  We thought we had it made, but life is seldom that simple.  We were supposed to arrive in Wurzberg at 17:31.  We are sitting in the train as the arrival time goes by.  I go looking for a conductor to find out what is up.  The conductor told me that because the train was late our train in Wurzberg was going to wait for us.  They made this announcement as I was trying to find a conductor.  So we made it to Wurzberg at about 18:15, a ½ hour late, but our train to Schweinfurt was there.  We got to Schweinfurt at about 18:45.  Our hotel was a 15 minute walk from the station.  More about the hotel later.  We checked in, dropped our bags and set of for the 20 minute walk to the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum.  When I selected the Museum in Google Maps to get direcctions it told me that the Museum might be closed when we get there!!!!  Had I done it again?  Schweinfurt is about 50-60,000 and as we walked through the center of town, which is a pedestrian walking area, they were rolling up the sidewalks.  I was really beginning to panic that I had screwed up the opening times again.  We got to the museum and originally there was nobody in sight.  But as we walked up the ramp to the entrance two people came out, relief, unless they locked the door once they were out.  But they didn’t.  The museum was open to 21:00 as I had thought.  This is already too long, but I’ve still got over two hours of train time.  When we asked at the ticket desk where our painting was located the attendant asked a lady walking buy to tell us.  She of course spoke perfect English and told us that our painting was on the top floor in the only red room in the museum.  She said it was too bad we weren’t there earlier because she had just given a talk in English about the artist, Carl Spitzweg whose painting we had come to see.  She pointed out another of the artist’s paintings that was equally as famous as the “The Bookworm.” and it was also in the red room.  Well it turns out the red room has about 30 plus paintings by Spitzweg, and only paintings by him.  I know you don’t care but this guy’s paintings are remarkable, very detailed and precise.

After the gallery we set off to find a place for dinner.  We stopped at the one place and I asked if we could be served at the outside table she said yes.  Now perhaps there was a bit of a language problem, because we sat there for a while and nobody came out to serve us, so we got up and left.  The same thing happened at the next place at which we stopped.  The next stop was a bar and the bar tender told us the kitchen closed at 19:00, but if we went to the next corner, turned right there was a restaurant with very good food.  She was correct.  The restaurant even had English menus.  We had the bratwurst and Munich dunkel (dark) beer.  As usual it was delicious.  Now about the hotel.  We think it was a combination hotel and short term apartment rentals.  It was an old building and our room was actually a small apartment that was larger than our condo in Chicago.  The clerk at the front desk was very friendly and helpful.  The room came with breakfast so we didn’t know what to expect, but it was quite a spread right up Sue’s alley.  Meat, cheese and bread and only a pound cake for my sweet tooth.  But I got lucky, it was a pound cake with chocolate frosting and I got the end piece!  

It is now Friday June 3^rd.  It was back to the train station to catch the 9:32 to Wurzberg where we would transfer to a train to Cologne.  I don’t know what the problem was but our train was packed, seat reservations, which we had, didn’t count.  Sue got a seat and I had to stand for most of the half hour trip.  Someone got off at the last stop before Wurzberg.  The next train was also not without difficulty, and this train ride was about 4 hrs.  Our reserved seats were in a compartment.  A couple from the first train were in our seats by the window, but there were six seats, so we didn’t care.  Well, at the next stop a family of four shows up wanting there four seats.  The conductor finally explained to the other couple that their seats were in another car.  So we got our seats.  We had an interesting conversation with the German father, who of course spoke perfect English.  His wife also spoke perfect English.  As soon as she left with the kids to get food, he asked if we wouldn’t mind talking about politics.  He said that they were very interested in our politics. He didn’t say that Trump’s foreign policy speech was scary, but that it was incoherent.  He wanted Japan to have nukes, he seemed to threaten war with Russia, etc.  We told him that we had no answer for him.  I’ll spare you the rest of the conversation, but it was enlightening to know how much he knew about Bernie and Hillary.  I know their PM is Angela Merkel, but that is it.

As soon as we walked out of the station in Cologne it started to sprinkle.  Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk, and after about two minutes the sky opened up.  We, along with most everyone else stood under awnings for about 10 minutes.  It let up a bit so we set off again for the hotel.  This hotel didn’t have wireless in the rooms, only the lobby.  This is why it was cheap.  Once again we dropped our luggage and went off to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum.  This was to see a painting on Sue’s scarf of Old Masters.  The painting was “Self-Portrait as Zeuxis” by Rembrandt.  We had seen two paintings on the 1001 list at this museum on our yearlong visit in 2012.  After the museum it was off to find the beer hall we visited in 2012.  If you haven’t been to a German beer hall it is quite an experience.  We ordered food.  Once again I got a bratwurst plate and Sue went big ordering the pork knuckle.  Both came with fried potatoes, mine also had a sweet coleslaw.  We each got a beer, and this is how that works.  You get a glass with a line marking 0.21 liter (7.1 ounces).  The waiters walk around with a tray of full glasses and when they spot an empty glass on your table the replace it with a full one, and make a mark on your cardboard coaster.  The small amount in the glass makes it easy to drink them quickly.  I think we had seven beers with dinner.  Sue was not able to finish the knuckle, she told the waiter they should have “baby knuckle” he laughed and said no baby knuckles.  We went back to our hotel and watched TV, in German.  It rained so hard that we had to close our window.  The news showed flooding damage was happening across Germany, and that the Louvre and d’Orsay galleries in Paris were closed because of the Seine was over its banks.  

Saturday June 4^th we were on another train to Amsterdam.  In our car there were two groups of fellows on bachelor trips to Amsterdam.  This is a pretty common activity for both guys and gals.  One group of “stag” guys have the groom walk around with a bucket of “gifts” to sell, because he is going to need the money now that he is getting married.  The gifts are goofy and Sue bought a purple Wonderbra for €3.  She tried to put it on (over her shirt) but it must have had a “European” clasp, so she couldn’t wear it for the rest of the trip.  (notice that today I like the quotation mark)  Our train was supposed to be without transfer, but…we did have to make one change because of work on a line.  But no problems.  So we made it to Amsterdam and checked into our hotel.  This time it is a Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is just a “bit” posher than what we’ve stayed to date.  I’ll end this mess now and perhaps get around to posting on Sunday when we get into our apartment.  So if you made it this far you may be as goofy as me.

After we checked in we went out to the Albert Heijn, a grocery store to buy a two pack of Belgian waffles that have a light sugar coating.  They are delicious, we ate them in about two minutes.  We then walked back to Amsterdam Centraal to top up our transport cards.  Then we visited one of our favorite little bars, Café Belgique and had a La Chouffe, a wonderful Belgian beer.  It is a tiny bar on a small street, think alley.  There may be a few seats inside, but they have two benches on the wall outside that each seat four people.  The alley runs between two major streets so it is a great place to people watch.  After a brief rest we went to a T-Mobile store to see about how to get rid of a voicemail notice on my phone.  I eventually had to call T-Mobile (toll free they tell me).  While I was doing this Sue was doing a little shopping on Kalverstraat, where we lived when we were in Amsterdam for that year (tears filling my eyes).  Our next stop was at Hema (another store) to buy the WORLD’S BEST BUTTER COOKIES.  I was going to post photos of the waffles and the butter cookies, but they didn’t last long enough to be photographed. Eventually I’ll get the photos into the blog.  We then went back to the hotel to rest up because it actually had been a pretty long travel day.  Plus we could watch TV in English; we had been watching TV in Italian, German and French.  For dinner we went back to another favorite place, the Pak Huis for their “Pepper Steak” and a few beers.  Then it was back to the hotel to bed.

Sunday June 5^th we were up early to have breakfast at the hotel, and that is another story, and you are going to hear it.  While we were checking into the hotel another guest, American of course, came to the front desk to complain that the view from his room was not good enough for what he was paying for his room.  We didn’t think anything of it.  But just after we got into our room I heard someone opening our door.  It was a bellman with the complainer, apparently he had been given this room just after we checked in.  I told the bellman that we had checked in and this was our room.  It was on the 1^st floor with a view out onto a busy Amsterdam street.  It was nothing to write home about.  Anyway the bellman and the complainer left.  Shortly after the front desk called to say that there had been a mistake and that she would call back to let us know what was what.  We waited a few minutes and then I called her to ask if we could unpack.  She apologized profusely and said that we didn’t have to move, and if there was anything she could do.  Sue suggested and upgrade, but then I said how about breakfast?  Breakfast was NOT included with the room and it cost €20 per person.  She said of course, so that is how we got our breakfast, you can see how easy it is to please us.  The breakfast buffet was very nice, but not chef to prepare eggs or waffles per order, but still very nice.  After breakfast we packed up to get ready to go to church.  We went back to The Parish of the Holy Family, the Ghanian, Nigerian, East Asian church with an English Mass.  At today’s Mass a little girl was baptized and the parents and God-parents were dressed in their native clothes, very colorful.  Usually the ladies at the church are dressed very colorfully with a matching scarf made into a hat I would call a hat.  Unfortunately we are going to miss the parish picnic this year.  We have been to it every other time we’ve been in Amsterdam.  After church we picked up our luggage and met our Amsterdam friends Jim and Nanny.  We were originally going to stay in their apartment when they were on a driving trip.  But Jim had surgery and so their trip was cancelled.  He is fine but we needed a place to stay.  The arranged for us to rent another apartment around the corner from their place.  They walked us over and showed us all the details.  It is another old Amsterdam house, it is nice and roomy, but the stairs are a killer, steep and twisting.  I’ll post photos.

We finally were able to unpack our suitcases, Sue has been waiting to do this for two weeks.  We also were able to watch the same BBC TV shows.  We were also serenaded by a jazz duo right outside our apartment; I took a video for the blog.  I don’t know if it’ll play, but I’ll post it anyway.  Our apartment is across the street from the building were Rembrandt painted a famous painting, “The Syndics.”  I’ll post you a photo.  We even got BBC news in English, the big story of course is the vote on BREXIT.  After we got settled we went out to dinner with Jim and Nanny, and guess what, we had a great meal, surprise surprise. 

It is Monday June 6^th and I’m caught up and all I have to do it post the few photos I’ve taken.  

Colmar-Amsterdam June 6 2016