We made it to Europe!

I hope my radio silence made it obvious - we arrived in England last week with no problems. It appeared that our flight was one of the first out of the U.S.; it was filled with people who were beyond grateful to make it back home. The airline offered free cocktails on the international flight, to help all the stranded passengers forget their woes, but I needed no alcohol to celebrate. The completion of my dissertation filled me with sufficient joy.

We spent our week in England taking day trips with Andrew's family. His family often visits Wales, which is the western part of the United Kingdom. I am realizing that Andrew's family has a theme to their excursions, just as my family does, but the themes are quite different. When my family takes trips, it always centers around machinery. For example, if we were to visit a historical village, my father would spend most of his time looking at the old mining machinery or explaining how the farming equipment works. In the same way, Andrew's family focuses their attention on animals. We visited an alternative technologies center, a sort of outdoor showcase of alternative energies, conservation, etc. What I remember most about the visit, though, is how much time we spent looking at the birds that were flying around and admiring the sheep and goats grazing nearby.

Our next destination was Amsterdam. The plan was to take the train to Hull, a port on the East coast of the U.K., where we would catch an overnight ferry to the Netherlands. The train trip was uneventful right up to the point where (an hour from our destination) the train conductor announced that the power cable on the next stretch of train track had been stolen. I do not know why one steals a train cable, but it was rather inconvenient for us. We had to get off at the next station and take a bus the rest of the way. As we waited for the bus ("Sorry, there's traffic, we're not quite sure when the buses will arrive.") and the drove through a series of small towns, I worried continuously about whether we'd make the ferry. While we had left lots of extra time, I hadn't allowed time for a leisurely bus tour through rural England. In the end we made it, and the ferry was every thing I hoped it would be.

I wanted to take an overnight ferry because Andrew and I spend too much time watching old black and white movies where the stars cruise across the Atlantic, taking plenty of time to dance in their evening dress and exchange witty reparte over drinks. I'm sad to report that our fellow passengers did not include Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although there were some Hell's Angels. I lived the old movie fantasy as much as possible by having a meal, sharing a drink at the bar, and then retiring to our cabin, which was larger than most New York hotel rooms.

The next day we arrived in Rotterdam, a port south of Amsterdam, and took a bus to Amsterdam. April 30th is Queen's Day, a national holiday seemingly devoted to wearing orange, holding city-wide yard sales, drinking, and blowing airhorns. I'm not precisely clear on how these activities became tradition, but it makes for a rollicking city-wide party. We joined in the yard sale browsing and drinking, but couldn't keep up with the hardiest of partiers.

We're here to visit my cousin, the redoubtable Alexis in Amsterdam, with whom I share a love of good food and drink. We took a day trip to Delft, the city famous for blue ceramics and the burial place of the royal family of the Netherlands. We toured churches, drank coffee at cafe tables next to canals, and generally lived a picture postcard of European travel. I have also rediscovered some dishes that I love - my cousin makes a mean green pea and mint risottos, and we had some excellent pumpkin soup. One of the things I love about travel is that it always re-ignites my desire to cook.

Tomorrow we're off to Munich. I don't know when I'll next get to a computer, but I'll update as soon as I can.