Murphy's Law!

For anyone following us Murphy's Law relates to those type of occasions when anything that possibly can go wrong does go wrong!


It all started last weekend, we had a lovely weekend beach walking, swimming pool as we are still having the best weather in the UK. When I say best I don't necessarily mean brilliant but it is marginally better than southern and eastern regions are getting at the moment. Then on sunday the grandson was in an inexplicable grumpy mood which we later discovered was a result of some kind of bug that had him up vomiting much of the night.


We were heading to the airport early monday and almost managed to miss the bus. Most unusually for us, we had baggage booked into the hold. We found it rather nice not having to drag our cases round the terminal, up the plane steps and into the overhead lockers and what luxury-allocated seats so none of that trying to get sufficiently near the front of the queue to ensure a window seat with a view or at the very least get seated beside each other! We usually travel cheap and cheerful with Ryanair or EasyJet and are master packers and can board the plane and get the luggage into the overhead locker faster that you can say "cheap airlines" So our flight on Monday was somewhat of a novelty, travelling with a regular airline.

Having landed safely at Schiphol after flying in over the magnificient swathes of colours in the Dutch bulb fields we found our way to the baggage tracks to collect our cases. I had the bright idea that I would go on out to the arrivals hall and collect our train tickets and top up our chipcards. Seemed like a very sensible plan at the time! Off I went got the tickets and waited and waited and ...........waited and worried. After about 45 minutes my phone rang (fortunately I had turned it on as I had no reason to suspect anyone might be phoning me). One very concerned husband on the line tells me one of the cases has not appeared on the baggage track. So there I am outside with no passport or proof I had just flown in and there he is on the inside being asked to fill in a pile of forms (he hates form filling with a passion) and I was not allowed back in. Almost 2 hours after landing we had to leave the airport minus one case, my case! all our toiletries, cameras and much of our medications. I had the clothes I was wearing and it was Queensday  in Holland and almost all the shops were closed.


Anyway we weren't for allowing a lost case to spoil our trip so off we went to enjoy the  Keukenhof spring flower show the following day after buying some essentials to keep us going. Later that evening our missing case magically arrived at our temporary home in Landsmeer and all was well again.


I had heard on previous trips to Holland about the "hidden" churches that can be found in Amsterdam in particular one known as de Papegaai (Parrot). This church is almost impossible to spot on Kalverstraat, one of the busiest shopping streets in the city. Its wooden doorway is easily missed and on my last visit I couldn't find it. This time I found it, and realised that a possble reason I missed it previously was that it is directly facing one of my favourite Dutch chain shops-Blokker so I may have been somewhat distracted. I expected to find a tiny church behind the doors instead it was a magnificient church almost cathedral size with lovely mosaics and stained glass windows. It was a lovely quiet few moments and is worth a visit if you are in Amsterdam.The name De Papegaai originates from the church having been built in the grouds of a bird merchant. The Parrot can be seen on the exterior stone facade.

Main Altar- De Papegaai-St Peter and Pauls church Amsterdam

15 minutes for God

 

 

Mosaic at De Papegaai entrance

Later on after strolling through the famous Albert Cuyp Streetmarket we left the city and took a short journey to the small town of Muiden just a few miles east of Amsterdam home of the famous Muiderslot castle.

Pampus fort island

One can almost picture Rapunzel climbing down from the tower!






From Muiden you can take a ferry across to Pampus island a Unesco world heritage site that is currently being restored by volunteers. This island is part of the wartime defences for the city of Amsterdam. It reminded me very much of Alcatraz and the boat journey out to the island was really pleasant in the warm sunshine. Unfortunately it was here that our next mishap occured when I had a really nasty fall while looking around at things instead of looking where I was going.
So since I arrived home I have had to visit the hospital, fortunately nothing broken but some serious knee damage and only 2 weeks till I start my Camino!