Travel Tips

Here's the wild bunch in detail:

chauncenetta and Lynn & John and Fran
marcel4646
VincentJJ
ManOfLaMantra
themac2000 and Jason
pieter_jan_v, Swanèt and AC_spotter

It started with this travel forum posting by chauncenetta:

Amsterdam: all interested parties inquire
Sun January 9 23:33:50 2005 CET

Q: Am looking to arrange a possible VT meeting in Amsterdam the weekend of February 18th.

To give you an inside, what kind of communication goes around, here's an excerpt:

From Africa:
Please I just want to inform you that I do not have a visa to attend. Can you please send to me an invitation letter to enable me to participate to the meeting?

The two Robins cancelling:
Robin #1: I will be getting my train tickets to Switzerland tomorrow, and I think they will either be for Saturday or Sunday. I am really sorry about this - for once I would have liked to have skipped one of my business trips. Anyway, you probably know all of this anyway, and I am going to miss seeing you (and the American visitors).
I do wish you all a good time, and apologize again for having to cancel. I don't like to do that, but in this case, what must be, must be.

Robin #2: Sorry to say I'm going to miss out on the meeting Sunday.
Right now I'm still in Schiphol Oost, however will be flying out Sunday morning for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

An advanced WARNING:
I hope you have a terrific meeting, Dan is a great guy, I will try to make a good surprise!

New member:
I am too new to know what a VT meeting is - could you clue me in? P

Right from the carnival:
Wish I could come to the meeting, but I am still sick.

From Brielle:
I would like to wish all of you a great VT meeting. Have fun!

From the UK coast:
All Amsterdam postcards can be sent to me here:

From Canada (guess who):
Give Vincent a big hug from me

One day in advance:
Got room for two more at the meeting in Amsterdam on Sunday?

Voor morgen moet ik mijn vrouw afmelden. Ik kom alleen naar de meeting.

A message from the headquarters:
Sounds like great fun. I loved Amsterdam or rather, I think I do, I was only
there for a day :-) Have fun and give my regards to everyone!!!!
:-)

Regrets:
I am so very sorry I missed the meeting! I had a surprise visit by my
mother and so we ended up doing lots of other things... it was very fun
but I missed the opportunity to meet with you guys.

Thank you notes:
Thank you for adding another beautiful postcard to my expanding collection!

It was a great Amsterdam VT-Meeting last sunday! Thanks for the Hot Chocolat and VERY good program! Till next Meet!

Nice new photo on your homepage! Looks like you guys had fun!
Thanks for the postcard!!! It was waiting for me when I got home! Ahhhh... Amsterdam... think I need to pay it another visit sooooon!!
37 Iguanas?? Those beasties have been having TOO much fun!!

Thank you for the postcard!! I thought it read De goden uit Amsterdam.. .then I had a closer look... it was De groeten :) thanks thanks :)

Here's the route we walked. I just made it up and it turned out to be very interesting:

Meeting Point: Grand-Café l'Opera
Rembrandtplein
Amstelstraat
Blauwbrug over the Amstel river
Stopera
Waterlooplein (Synagogue)
Jonas Daniël Meijerplein (Jewish Historical Museum)
Weesperstraat
Nieuwe Keizersgracht
Amstel
Skinny Bridge
Nieuwe Kerkstraat
Amstelveld
Kerkstraat
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat
Prinsengracht
Leidsestraat (P-stop at McDonalds)
Leidseplein (Bulldog smoke-stop)
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen (Iguana's)
Leidsestraat
Prinsengracht
Leidsegracht (Aan de Amsterdamse grachten)
Prinsengracht
Runstraat
Huidenstraat
Herengracht
Wolvenstraat (Art Deco at #20)
Berenstraat
Johnny Jordaanplein (Johnny Jordaan, Johnny Meijer & Tante Leen statues).
Elandsgracht
Hazenstraat
Laurierdwarsstraat
Rozengracht
Dinner at "Moeders"

This was the first time I met Marcel.
He's a great help in answering travel forum posting for the Netherlands.

In fact all members coming to this meeting were newbies to be.
As usual we quickly became friends and had a great day.

Have you ever been to a meeting just sitting for an hour wondering if anyone will show up. Luckily my wife had more business that day and I prepared the postcards in advance.

Themac2000 & Jason came in a little late, 8 PM! Their opening line: Sorry, but we overslept! (haha).

Chauncenetta & Lynn came in late too. Their opening line: Sorry we took the right tram (but in the wrong direction).
I suspect the RLD visit of the night before had taken its toll.
On our way through Amsterdam we were able to retrieve some personal items.

Just pass the City Hall (Stopera) and you will find MacBike.

This is a remembrance monument for all who helped the Jewish community during World War II.

On our way to the Amstel River we had to stop and feed the pigeons.

From this famous bridge we had a good view at the Blauwbrug and the Stopera.

The weather was surprisingly good. On our way to Amsterdam we ended up in a snowshower, but after 2PM the air cleared.

Sitting on a bridge and just do some boat/people watching. What more do you want?

Rowers. Lynn almost jumped in.

Gables and "muurankers". Swanèt knows all the inns & outs.

What would Amsterdam be without trams?
Here at the Leidsestraat special small trams ruled the tracks for years. Nowadays the crosspoints are enlarged and the standard trams can pass too.

Op last van de brandweer en op grand van art. 8.1 en 10.6 A.P.V. worden alle fietsen verwijderd. Fiets weg? Bel 020-3344522 voor informatie

Translation
By order of the fire department and articles 8.1 & 10.6 of the General Police Law all bicycles are being removed. Bicycle gone? Call 020-3344522 for information.

We made a small detour to de a Iguana headcount for Mariajoy. I ended up with 37 animals, but I have to do a recount with Maria sometimes.

We visited some of the "Nine Little Streets" with special shops like the Witte Tanden winkel.
Chaencenetta was completely lost in front of "Art Deco" at Wolvenstraat 20.

The great thing about Amsterdam is the ever appearing canal views.

Our dinner destination was "Moeders" at Rozengracht 251.
The interior walls are covered with pictures of mothers.

We had a delicious 3 course dinner for Euro 25.00 per person, a special group price. There was a choice out of 4 for each course.

Ever been to a VT-meeting with no camera's??

We had to leave at 9PM. The rest just had a great time at the Melkweg.

Goto the next meeting Mini meeting at the Vondelpark