Friday, April 29, 2016 - Hoofddorp, Nederlands

It has been a fun, interesting and long day. I got up and prepared to move the distance to my final hotel.  Of course, it was raining and windy with temperature in the low 40s and wind chills in the mid 30s.  The transfer went as well as could be expected. I completed it around 11:30 in the morning. I checked in and was told I could not take my bicycle to my room. The manager set me up under the stairs in the stair well to take apart my bike and to pack it in its bike case. The hall was dim so as I took apart and cleaned the different sections of my bike I took them to my room. After a while I had every section cleaned and in my room. I then took my empty bike case by the desk for the manger to know I had of course followed her instructions. I then packed my bike being able to see were and how every piece went in the case. Following packing I took the train to Rotterdam Centraal Station to meet Margot, Lennie and Paul de Haan for dinner. They knew I had wanted to have a Rijstafel, an Indonesian speciality. So they treated me to one in a restaurant on a like with a view of the Rotterdam skyline. The setting was excellent and the food was also excellent. There was so much food that we could have fed a few more. Did I say it was good. I did not lie, it was very good. After a few hours of eating and great conversation, they dropped me off back at the Rotterdam train station. It took an hour to get back to my hotel and I arrived a few minutes past midnight, which is why this blog is a few hours late.

The rain as I am preparing to leave.

A panorama of the sky. My first time to post one of these. Let me know how it works.

The bike path, good riding against the wind.

A local greeter on the bike path. He/she/it was telling me to pedal faster. Or maybe just laughing at me.

A trio of birch trees that caught my attention so I took the picture.

I believe this picture and the next is a an artillery bunker put in by the Germans during WWII.

See above caption.

Downtown Rotterdam. I was last here in 1979 with the U.S. Army (Alabama National Guard) as a part of our training during a REFORGER exercise. We also toured the entire port facility at Rotterdam, about 21 miles long if I remember correctly.

The main Train Station at Rotterdam.

Our Rijstafel. Every dish is a different taste. As you can see there are more than 30 different dishes. Every single dish was excellent. I enjoyed it very much and i am very appreciative of my hosts the De Haans. My only regret is that I do not have a picture of the sky line and a copy of the group picture taken on Lennie's phone.  It I can get it, I will post it. I could eat this meal again, it was that good.

Lennie sent me the picture . From your left, Lennie, Bob, Margot, and Paul.Thank you so much for the picture and the wonderful hospitality and your expert guidance. She also sent the Name of the restaurant, I will try to add a picture from their website if Possible.

It was possible.  The view of the Rotterdam skyline out the window from our table.  The picture came from the restaurant website. Our view was almost identical as the sky was very similar to the picture.

Tot Ziens.