First post-retirement trip, in the bag
We’re back from our first trip without work to come back to. We went to Amsterdam, Belgium (Brussels, Bruges), and Germany (Hilden, Hombug, Achen, Frankfurt). Leaving town 3 days after retiring was a great break between work and the new world. Brr... Bruges! I found that I expectations that were upset (some good, some bad): Americans are not as relatively tall as I thought. On average folks in Amsterdam are so much taller! I’ve never seen so many 6’ + women and even taller men. Smoking is not as rare as I expected. So many cigarette butts and clouds of smoke. I am not good at ordering coffees. In Europe, one should sit first, not go to the counter, and I should order a doppio cappuccino, not a latte macchiato. As I anticipated, the most recent history was the hardest. We visited the Anne Frank museum (at the Secret annex) and the Dutch resistance museum on our second day, knowing we would want time to reflect. I was impressed both by the content and the presentation at...