Happy to be in Amsterdam

Here we are in Amsterdam with Heather and Ewan having a very pleasant time! Heather, Ewan and I set off separately from James, who was working in Birmingham today. Our journey involved changing planes at Heathrow and although all went smoothly the last couple of hours from Schipol Airport to our hotel seemed to take a long time - our luggage was about the last off the plane and we had to wait for a train that was delayed to get into the centre of Amsterdam. However after a brisk walk from the station (extremely well navigated by Ewan) we were glad to arrive at the Toren Hotel. I'm glad to say that it is a lovely hotel, very traditional in a  couple of 17th century buildings on the Keizersgracht. The hotel owners had very kindly arranged for champagne, chocolates and strawberries to be put in our room because I had mentioned to them that we are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary.

Meanwhile James was having a hair-raising day which involved falling down the steps of his plane in the morning, nearly missing his flight to Amsterdam because his meeting ran late, and then being delayed as the plane sat on the tarmac. He arrived at last and met up with us at a really nice café called Spanier & Van Twist at Leliegracht situated just round the corner from the hotel. We all sat outside and had a tasty dinner in the beautiful evening sunshine beside the canal. Let the weekend commence!