Amsterdam with the in-laws
Many of you will know that my in-laws (YG's parents along with her sister and her husband) came over about two months ago.
Prior to coming over, they had decided that they wanted to go to Amsterdam. I know it seems like an odd place to go with family, but lets be honest, who doesn't want to visit the red light district with their in-laws.
After minor delays, everyone arrived on Friday. After resting and seeing a bit of Nottingham and the Midlands on Saturday, we got up Sunday morning and headed to Amsterdam. We were only going to be there for a couple of days so we had to make the most of our time there. We were hoping to arrive early enough to see the Ann Frank house, but unfortunately due to flight delays we arrived behind schedule and had to settle for a late dinner at one of the many Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam. Until that day I had no idea that Indonesia was a Dutch colony until the mid 1900s (I guess you do learn something everyday). Below is a photo of us with part of the feast we had (the line of food extends out of the photos). I can't remember half of what we had, but it must have been about 25 things, most of which you couldn't identify by sight. It was good, but I am probably set with the Indonesia food for awhile.
After that we called it a night and headed back to the Hotel Fita. It was a nice little 10 or 12 room B&B right in the heart of the museum district.
The next day we got up and headed to the museums. Our first stop was the Rijksmuseum. The museum was being renovated, which was actually fortunate, because they had all of the most famous pieces housed in just a few rooms. We were able to see all the best stuff in a couple of hours. In honour of Rembrandt's 400th birthday they had a special installation of the Night Watch, where they used a special light show to illuminate the painting. It was almost like watching a movie, as the lights changed to highlight the various scenes in the painting. It was one of the cooler things that I have seen. If you go to the website, try and find the commercial for his birthday (it uses the Night Watch).
Next we set off for the Van Gogh museum. This was my kind of museum as well. You could see just about everything in an hour or two, which is more than enough time spent with people crowding you and rubbing up against you (unless of course you like strangers rubbing up against you).
After a brief stop at the hotel to regroup, we ventured out again. As we were walking down a street lined with various shops, someone claimed Mick Jagger had just gone into one of the stores (I'm guessing it was true since there were multiple guards at the door, and a few official looking cars outside, not to mention the fact that The Stones were playing a concert that night in Amsterdam). After standing there waiting for several minutes we gave up and found the local Hard Rock Cafe. 
Once we had some grub and a few drinks, we decided it was a good idea to take a canal boat ride (since it was right across the canal from the HRC). The boat ride was probably my least favorite thing, but it was good to sit down for a while.
Now that we were all rested up from our relaxing boat ride (not), we navigated our way to the Anne Frank House. Unfortunately you can't take pictures in the house, and there is not really anything to see outside, so you will have to settle for the pictures on the website. The house was pretty cool to see, but it is difficult to imagine how 8 people lived in that place for more than 2 years. After that, it was time for dinner and bed (after a brief walking tour of the city courtesy of some incorrect navigation on my part).
The next day we split up so that some of us could go to the Heineken Brewery and some of us could go to the museum showing the Anne Frank Letters (I'll let you guess which one YG and I did). I must say, prior to this trip I was never a big Heineken fan, but on tap in Amsterdam it was pretty tasty.
It was a good thing they give you three beers on the tour because we needed that slight buzz on the way back. Just a couple of minutes into our 25 minute walk to meet the other two at the museum it started to rain, and then it started to rain harder, and then it was like someone was pouring buckets of water on us. With only one umbrella between the 4 of us, we got soaked.
Once we were all back together again, we headed off in search of a pancake house that the hotel had recommended. I never knew Amsterdam was known for it pancakes either. I just assumed hookers, dope and tulips were all they had to offer (who knew there was so much more).
Fortunately we found the pancake place with no problem. The place is called Upstairs, and they are not kidding. 
You have to walk up two flights of stairs which are virtually straight up. Be careful if you go, as you might just hit your head going up the stairs, causing you to scream, thereby alerting everyone in the restaurant that you are about the enter. In the event that this does happen, don't worry because it entitles you to the first pancake. That may not seem like much, but keep in mind that there is only one guy, Louie, working there, and he serves the pancakes one at a time. The other consolation is that the maximum number of people who will hear you scream is on the order of 8, as that is about as many as it can hold. I read somewhere that it is the smallest restaurant in Europe. Oh yeah, the food is pretty good too. If you ever make it over there, tell Louie I said hi, and that I have decided not to sue.
Once we had filled up on pancakes, it was off to the red light district for a quick tour and then back to the hotel to collect our luggage.
Prior to our trip, Amsterdam was not someplace I would have picked to go, but after being there for a few days it is someplace I would definitely recommend.
Cheers,
Yankee
Scotland Day 5 - Further into the Highlands and Back
After a great day on the river, and another good evening in the pub, we left the Taynuilt Hotel and headed further North into the highlands. Our first stop was a little further upstream on the river we had fished. There were some falls, so we stopped to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures. Below are some shots of us hanging out by the river. The first one is just a picture of the river, which hasn't been tainted with any of our mugs.
Me just hanging out on the rock.
Not exactly sure what he is doing, but he is obviously having a good time doing it.
Just happy to have clean clothes, although you couldn't tell it from that face.
Me trying not to go in the drink.
From there we ventured toward Fort William via
Glen Coe.
While driving through the Glen, we pulled over to take some pictures and we found a piper (what are the chances).
After listening to the piper for a few minutes, we got back in the car and finished our journey to
Fort William. Fort William is the home of
Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to make the trek up the mountain. I hope to make it back there next spring
to actually climb the mountain (Ren, let me know if you want me to pick you up a patch).
Fort William sits on Loch Linnhe. To the right is a picture of the loch with some sail boats. After grabbing some food at the
Grog and Gruel, we turned back South toward Oban. We stopped in
Oban to pick up some souvenirs for the tourists and to see the tides.
After Oban we stopped by
Kilmartin Glen to see the stone circles (and the sheep) and the old church with
the ancient head stones. After that, we started back towards Glasgow.
On our way back we were going to have dinner at the original
Loch Fyne Seafood Restaurant, but unfortunately we decided to use the restroom prior to getting a table, and while we were doing that someone came in a took the last non-reserved table. It must be good, since it is in the middle of nowhere, and they were fully booked. Unfortunately we will probably never know. We were literally 30 seconds from having a table, but instead we were forced to find something else. The next place we tried looked good, but we were told they couldn't serve us unless we wanted to wait until after the party of 25 (which wasn't there yet) had left. Instead we ended up eating what looked like frozen appetizer food in the only pub we could find.
After all of that, we finally made it back to Glasgow for our last night in Scotland. The photo to the right is
our obligatory group photo, just after last call at the pub.
Here's looking forward to the next fishing trip.
Yankee
Day 4 - Fish Beware, and is that Ren's Luggage I see?
After a successful day traveling the Scottish countryside, and a relaxing evening in the Taynuilt Hotel Pub on Day 3, we were ready to slay the fish on Day 4.
We headed to the River Orchy bright and early to ensure we got our full day of fishing in. As you can see, the river ain't a bad place to be. As you probably guessed, Ren's fishing was limited to the bank as his gear was still somewhere trying to catch up with us. Unfortunately, most of my early moments were spent on the bank as well, since my third cast went high into a tree. I spent most of the first 30 minutes trying to cut it out (the fly, leader, and at least 5 ft. of the fly line were up there). Below are pictures of each of us fishing. The first one is Elwood, unfortunately all I have is the back of him. Remember that net as it will come into play later. 
The next one is Ren. As you can see, the lack of waders kept him confined to the bank, but it didn't discourage him from getting into the river. 
I'm not sure what he is looking at. It might be one of those flying fish.
The next one is me.
They look just like scenes from A River Runs Through It, don't they? After a few hours, Ren decided that he ought to call the hotel just to see if his luggage might have arrived.
Since the cell phone was in the car, I gave him the keys so he could go call. As we had walked down the river quite a bit I told him to drive the car down to the next pull off. Now there are several reasons not to let Ren drive your company car in a foreign country, but despite that I gave him the keys with a few instructions and he was on his way.
For those of you still thinking of all the reasons not to let Ren drive the car, I will just go ahead and give you the number one reason.
HE WILL PUT IT IN THE DITCH!!
As Ren points out in the photo below, it 
happened. These photos are after several benevolent Scottish people pushed him out. Fortunately I came up from the river just in time to catch the aftermath. All I could see were several people and cars huddled around my car. On my way to see what was going on (imagining the worst) I passed someone, who appeared to be in his work clothes, covered in mud and swearing under his breath. As I approached the crowd around my car I could see that the car was intact, albeit a little muddy. Apparently he had gotten too far over, while trying to get out of the way of the other cars, and ended up in the ditch. The muddy guy was the victim of Ren gassing the car too much while the guy was trying to push him out
In Ren's defense we hadn't seen more than 2 cars the whole day, and as soon as he pulled out cars appeared from both directions. This was exacerbated by the fact that it was only a one lane road.
After the car was rescued from the ditch, we learned that he was unable to reach the hotel. We decided that we would go down to the southern portion of the river and fish for a little while before going back to check on the luggage.
Ren wasn't the only one having problems that day. Now as you may have seen, I was wearing hip waders. For anyone who has ever worn them, you know you have to be careful or you can easily go too far into the river and then you are wet. Well I didn't go too far in, but while I was getting out (to go back to the hotel, after several hours of staying dry), I slipped on a rock and my left leg filled with water. 
You can see me checking out the water below.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We went back to the hotel, where half of Ren's luggage was waiting in the room. Fortunately for him, it was the half with his waders and other fishing gear.
After a brief celebration by Ren, and a search for plastic bags and dry socks to wrap my feet in, we headed back to the river, for another 7 hours of fishing.
