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The skies lit up for our last day in Amsterdam…Tuesday/Dinsdag, October 30…the blog recap is HERE. We spent fleeting couple of hours in the morning walking along the brilliant canals to and from the Hermitage Museum.

Our train ride to Paris was equally beautiful. The tinted windows created some rather interesting false-color scenes.

We had dinner tonight at Lime…one of our favorite spots in SF. Tonight was notable, because we met up with some friends of Jeff–Brad and Brian–who had recently moved to SF. (We also ran into our SF friends Chris and CP while eating…small world.) The meal was extra special, because our delightful waitress Shannon was able to get us two off-the-menu items: BLTs and a prawn tempura with avocado and garlic aioli. She was bubbly and wonderful.

But the funny part of the story was when we were politely asked by the maitre de to move to a new table, because the restaurant owner was coming in, and we were at his favorite table. We moved…FYI, no free drinks or deserts offered by the maitre de to offset the disruption. Then we watched as the table sat empty for 15-20min. Finally, the owner’s three-person entourage arrived first…and then sat for 30min waiting for the owner to grace the world with his presence.

I’m sorry…that’s just not how you treat your loyal customers! I’m not even sure if that’s how you treat your DIS-loyal customers.

For the first time in a few years, we spent Thanksgiving in San Francisco. So, we took advantage of the relaxing long weekend to put up our Christmas tree and decorate the house.

We decided to move the tree into the living room this year, because we had placed a wine cabinet in the old tree spot. One very nice side effect was that the new location provides a view of the tree from the entry stairwell. Now, we have nearly 360-degree viewing of the tree…which is a good thing, because we seem to add several new ornaments each year.

Anyhow…here is the assembly…including action shots of Jeff with ornament-hanging action grip.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the new ornaments this year. We added a Virginia Tech ornament…which is extra special after the Hokies big win over UVA today. Kim sent us a beautiful glass ball made with ash from Mount St. Helens. A sample of some Dutch Royal Delft, and a German nut cracker from our trip. Our annual White House ornament…this year celebrating the White House wedding of Grover Cleveland. And a few new Christmas fairies, which have become an annual favorite for Jeff.

The result is this massive table of ornaments. Each one with a fantastic story. A flood of memories as we unwrap and hang each one.

Our last full day in Amsterdam (Monday/Maandag, October 29…text HERE) was mostly an indoor day…two museums with no photos permitted. So, when I went back to recap the day, my photos started with the single shot above from the front of the Van Gogh Museum. Then the shots immediately jumped to our foggy walk through Vondel Park at dusk. We wandered for over an hour as the light declined. A few moody pics resulted.

Hurray…we’ve made it to the halfway point on Europe photos!! This is day 7…Sunday/Zondag, October 28…a classic fall day in Amsterdam. The sun peeked in and out today…for a little photo variety. (Relive the original trip notes HERE.)

Our wandering for the day took us past the Anne Frank House…again…with extra long lines. (We made it inside later in the afternoon…but no pics allowed.) But you will see the gray Dam Square again, contrasted with the beautiful Flower Market. And don’t overlook the whimsical view of the two-level restaurant window.

Midway through our day, we visited the Willet-Holthuysen Museum…a historic 17th century Amsterdam canal house. This one did allow for a few interior shots.

Afterwards, we would our way back through Dam Square to the train station, and its jam-packed bicycle parking deck. A truly amazing sight…especially for us car-hungry Americans. (Although, to be fair…how could we do our post-Thanksgiving shopping with only a bicycle!! MUST… FIND… DOORBUSTER… SALES!!)

Here is a window-sample of the Royal Delft style I mentioned in my original entry. This classic look is ubiquitous in Amsterdam’s shops.