NFE Germany

I spent the week before last working in our office in Bonn, Germany.  It was hard to be away from the kids for so long, especially Amelia.  She doesn't really understand that Mommy is gone, but is coming back soon.  I had almost no contact with them at all for the entire week.  I never did get Peyton on the phone.  I spoke to the girls only once on Thursday afternoon.  I left Atlanta on June 4 at 1535 to fly to Amsterdam.  I made it to Amsterdam at 0600 on Sunday morning.  I was on the 0715 train to Central Station to see the city.  The temperature was mild, but it did start to rain mid morning.  I have to say that my first impression of Amsterdam was probably not the best...in fact, it might have been the worst.  I stepped off of the train just before 0800 and the city was still littered with trash from Saturday night.  It was really impressive to see how quickly they cleaned up the streets.  I saw that the Anne Frank House was about 15 blocks from where I was, so I headed off in the right direction.  I lost my map somewhere along the way, but thanks to a good sense of direction, I was finally able to find it.  I had done my research and knew that there would be a long line.  I also knew it was going to rain, so I brought my umbrella and my poncho with me.  I was on antibiotics and steroids for a horrible case of bronchitis.  My coughing was just beginning to clear up.  I reached into my bag and realized that I had left the umbrella in my luggage in a locker at the airport.  Rather than run away, I stuck it out in line.  For another 30 minutes or so, I stood in the rain in the middle of Amsterdam waiting to see the Anne Frank House. I am so glad I waited.  It was worth every minute.  I bought the girls a copy of the book after my tour. I hope they will always cherish it.  I can't imagine the level of bravery that it took for Anne and her family to remain in hiding for so long.  I did have my moment with the redlight district.  The rain began to pickup when I was running back to the train station.  I ran for a nearby ledge with a jacket over my head.  When I made it under the overhang, I tossed off my jacket and I was face to face with a half naked lady dancing in her red light window.  It was pretty funny.  She realized I wasn't expecting to see her and we both laughed.  I just said, "Good Morning" and walked away.  I wouldn't trade that moment for anything. It was truly one of those things you just always laugh about. I spent the rest of the day in Amsterdam and then headed off to the airport for a 5pm flight to Koin.  I was exhaughsted when I arrived at the hotel around 7:30 Sunday night.  I had to be at the office at noon on Monday so I did have lots of time to sleep.  It wasn't as hard to get over my jet lag as it could have been.  Staying up for 36 hours made me go to bed really early Sunday.  The rest of the week was very busy.  We got on the bus to the office at 0730 every morning and got back off at 7:00 every night.