Send a postcard from Sequim

On March 20th I left Sequim for a 3 week holiday trip to see family and friends in the Netherlands - a renewal of last March's connections. Port Angeles, 17 miles west of Sequim, was the initial departure point.

It was a long jump from the little Dash-8 airplane to a MD-80 to a 747 with lots of waiting time inbetween: The final leg of this departure was a 10 hour 747 trip... from a 78 degree (F.) San Francisco, the airport air-conditioning turned off due to their power crisis. -

As a study in contrasts, upon the arrival in Amsterdam the next morning - the pilot announced that it was currently 1 degree (C.), and that snow was expected. It materialized.

Off to the Hotel Trianon and a trek plowing through the slush and the maze of umbrellas to the magnificent Concertgebouw next door for a ticket to that night's performance - a Brahms' double delight performed to a full house (in midweek!)
The next week the Orchestra and soloists began a brief tour of Canada and the eastern USA.

Amsterdam is a delightful city - even in the snow, which melted by the next day. It has narrow streets and teeny cars, and lots of bicyclists... and little parking available for even those teeny cars.

Street construction and the repair and replacement of in-street utilities, seems easy there- just pick up the bricks, stack them on the sidewalk, make the repair and replace the bricks. But it seems to take just as long...

Cyclists will have the right of way, as of May 1st, adding to vehicle drivers' woes, along with difficulties in finding parking places, one-way streets, pedestrians, etc.

Here are photos of Amersfoort, Netherlands. It is a delightful, off the beaten path old city in the Utrecht district of the Netherlands. And more photos, of Mardurodam, a child's heaven in Holland. It is a miniature park depicting Holland itself.

© Helen Hille and deebrrs, 2001