Our first day!

Hi everyone,

After a 10-hour flight with six huge bags, two road bikes and our cat Fishstick at our feet, we finally made it to the Amsterdam airport and to our temporary apartment in the city. Our place is very comfortable and has a view of the Amstel River and plenty of light inside. It's beautiful here - there are canals everywhere, old interesting buildings, hundreds of restaurants, and so much people watching! The weather hasn't been as nice as Portland so far, but I'm sure we'll get plenty of nice days this summer.

It's definitely going to take a bit to get completely situated here - we were shocked at how different things are from the U.S. There are so many little things - like a complete lack of convenience stores (Target, Radioshack, Fred Meyer, Petsmart - it took us half a day to find a litter box for Fishstick!), everyone paying in cash instead of credit cards, everything being in Dutch (to be fair, just about everyone speaks English), no one signaling when on bikes (there are bikes everywhere, if you don't pay attention you'll get hit!), and much more that I'm sure we'll find out soon...

Here are a few of our favorite photos from day one:

Brian on one of the hundreds of bridges

A view of one of the many canals

Standing in front of a canal

Mulligans' Irish Pub - I went there with my parents to listen to some great Irish music when I was 19 and living in Brighton, England. I had no idea I'd be back so soon!

Smiling for the camera

Our intention is to write often - check back soon for updates! We hope everyone is doing well in the states, and send our love.

- Krista