Kenya Mission February 2004

We were very much looking forward to warmer weather in Kenya, and figured even Amsterdam would be warmer than Midland at the end of January.  So the Bashes and the Kirkleys met at Tri City Airport, and as you can see on the right, got right into the middle of airport security. Actually, it went very well, and Thursday morning we were in Amsterdam

Being more than a little tired from Jet Lag, we thought the right way to stay awake was to take the Amsterdam City Bus tour.  I think our conclusion was that the bus ride was a good way to take a power nap as nobody was able to stay awake very long.  But, as the picture to the left shows, the weather in front of the Rijks Museum wasn't very nice either, so maybe napping in the bus, then walking around the Diamond shop (from which this picture was taken) and walking around the Museum was the right approach for the day.

Friday was "Cruise Holland Day" (our choice of holiday).  Caught the 9:00 bus at our hotel, didn't even have to change busses at the tour's home base, and by 10:30 we were in Aalsmeer for the world's largest Flower Auction.  Personally, I thought somebody was getting carried away with the hyperbole when I read this, but as you can see from the attached pictures, they had "a ton" of flowers there.  They're all fresh, they get auctioned off at about a batch every 20 seconds (in each auction line, looked there were about 8 there, most of them shut down by 10 in the morning).

The process is they have a whole bunch of people sitting in a room (see left) looking at the auction clock and items (on the right).  When you want something, you press your button, and if you're the first person, you win the bid (and the price which is counting down as you look).  These items then get rolled out, sorted by buyer, and shipped out.

Most of the trip was looking out of the bus to see portions of Holland.  You can see on the left the famous (if you're a van Meer fan) bridge into the heart of Delft.  On the right, you can see the "Kurhouse" hotel (made famous by Kibri as a plastic model I believe) just outside of the Hague (Den Haag in Dutch). (photos courtesy D. Kirkley 1/30/2004)

Many of the pictures shown here are available on the Webshots site.