We have arrived!

We have arrived safely in Amsterdam, surviving the god-knows-how-many hours in transit. With our flight getting in at 6:30am, we gave ourselves a few hours of grace before heading into town to explore.


At our comfy pad, Sam immediately made friends with the resident kitties (three of them! and all so sweet) and the one resident pup, Kiya.


Millions and millions of beautiful tulips and tulip bulbs for sale. Oh, the pain of living in a country that won't let you bring plant matter through customs!


Instead of forcing our jet-lagged minds through a museum or palace on day one, we opted for something a little less mentally strenuous - a visit to the Hortis, Amsterdam's botanical gardens. In the butterfly house, one tried to hitch a ride with Sam.


Giant lilypads at the Hortis. This is ONE PLANT in the pond, with all the pads extending from stems leading to the main plant in the centre. Very cool.

We found ourselves a neat little tapas restaurant for dinner, and despite a lack of English menus (or perhaps more notably, our lack of Dutch language ability) we ordered ourselves a little feast based on our excellent grasp of Spanish words such as 'chorizo' and 'jamon'. Mutli-lingualism at its best.