Goedemorgen (good morning) from Amsterdam. What an exciting 24 hours I have had. I barked at Dad and let him know that I wanted to share my experiences on this journey...so I will communicate with him..and let him type my experiences into this blog. After all, I don’t have fingers so typing can be a bit of a challenge.
Dad had a wonderful weekend. The Saturday night performance by the Annapolis Chorale was beautiful...he told me that it was, by far, the best the music had sounded...I think he was a little concerned after the Dress Rehearsal on Friday...but his fears were unfounded. The basses hit all of their notes and he said there were no unexpected “solos” during some of the more challenging numbers. Although he loved the beauty of the Mendelssohn, he loved the rest of the performance almost as much and realized how much Tom Butler looked forward to the Dvorak piece. He loves singing with his friends and looks forward to rejoining the Chorale and Chamber Chorus in spring. Church on Sunday was equally resplendent. The choir sang the Mendelssohn piece twice...Dad’s friend Ed was there and they cut up and laughed through the 930 service...in a very reverent way. Dad will miss Ed over the next few months. He served chalice at the 11AM service...always humbled at the opportunity to serve communion and be part of the Altar Guild.
Dad had a fabulous lunch at Osteria on Thursday with Arturo and Paul...such a spread put our by Arturo. Seafood anti pasta and Branzino with Crab meat and clams. Very rich. And wine (of course), digestif and cappuccino. And the best of conversation. So grateful for friends. Afterward, he had a wonderful chat with Jess Sexton (At Annes priest) at Starbucks...philosophy with nice remembrance of our friend Tim Mulder. On Thursday night, he was back to Osteria with Ryane and Ian for dinner. OK...so Osteria is his favorite restaurant. Lasagna and laughter. He does love his daughter and is so proud of her. And very happy for her relationship with Ian who is extremely intelligent and carries on great conversation. The perfect evening.
Dad and I had several long walks on Saturday and Sunday. He had to search our his Sunday newspapers for the puzzles...the NY Times got confused and cancelled delivery a bit early but Katherine Pascoe came through in a pinch and let dad have the Magazine section. He does get antsy without his Sunday puzzles.
I guess I knew things were happening...changes coming. Packing, repacking. Overthinking what we needed for the trip. stuffing the bags to the Max. Worrying about the weight for the airplane. In retrospect, I think he should have been more concerned about the weight of the backpack he had to lug around Amsterdam...
Lovely dinner on Sunday at Carpaccio’s. Chicken Piccata. Good rest and then the final push to departure...many errands and running final checklist before departure. Snow tires on the BMW for Ryane. Last minute this and that. A last walk. Dishes, washing sheets and sprucing up the apartment. Loading the car...and we were off. We picked Ryane up at her apartment and headed to Philadelphia. Paul will be happy to know that Dad bought me a new harness and stuck me in the backseat with a Doggie seat belt. Hate it. Im going to bite Paul when i see him in France...actually I think I’ll just jump on him and lick him instead. Traffic to the airport was abysmal. We stopped enroute for my dinner and finally made it to the Airport 21/2 hours before departure. Smooth landing. Bags were fine. And my paperwork was perfect. Dad and Ryane headed over to the Marriott for a light dinner and cocktail..of course I went with them. I layed down on the carpet and just listened as the chatted. So much love and respect between them...I know that Dad will miss her very much. I think they have both been in denial...
So, through security...no issues, no lines and to the Gate. The gate agent was so sweet to me. The plane was not full so she asked the passenger sitting next to us if he would consider changing seats so I could stretch out on the pane. He readily complied...actually he probably didn’t want to sit with a dog at his feet!!! We preboarded...boy was I excited. I have never seen anything like the inside of an Airplane! We got to our seats and Dad spread our my mat at his feet. I wasn’t really sure about takeoff...scared me a little but Dad was right there to calm me down. Oh, Dad’s friend Kecia (she is a flight attendant with American)had given him a note to the Captain and cookies for the crew. The Captain made a special trip by our seats to say hello and the flight attendants were so very sweet to me. Dad said the aircraft was old, no WiFi and the food was marginal but I thought everything was great. I went to sleep some time after takeoff...and don’t remember much from the flight. Dad ate, had a couple of glasses of whiskey and watched the Lion King before falling asleep. The next thing we knew, the lights came on and we were 45 minutes out. The view of the coastline was spectacular. Fishing boats cruising the coastline. Small land masses with the ocean surrounding them...I couldn’t help but wonder how they stayed above the water. One long island had a road from one end to the other...I guess if you fall asleep at the wheel, you are in for a big, wet surprise.
We landed at Amsterdam without issue. Dad seemed very calm...and he is not know for being particularly calm in these situations...ok, that’s an understatement. His biggest concern was find a place for me to relieve myself. We got off the plane and followed the crowds into the terminal. A wonderful couple sided up to us and pointed out customs. A lot of people congregating around the entry but the customs agent saw me and spirited us right through. No problems. We stopped at the customs station before getting in line. The agent asked to see my paperwork...Dr Longo did a perfect job and he called other agents over and used my paperwork as the example of what to look for. No issues. we spent 10 minutes in the customs line...again with a lovely older couple going on a cruise. Then baggage area where the bags were waiting for us on the carousel. Bags on the cart and away we went into the terminal. All I wanted to do was pee...so off we went to find a spot...and we did! Wow, what a relief. So goodbye Annapolis...or now...hello Amsterdam. I am grateful that Dad was so thorough with his planning...no surprises.
Ill write about Day One in Amsterdam later today...but I can only remember so much and wanted to get this posted. I trust that Dad translated my thoughts ok. We are off shortly to go to the Vet and the Bank so, ik spreek je later (Ill talk to you later).
Maggie (and Doug)
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