Sun-Mon, April 28-29 - to the Rijks Museum and Returning to California

Tulip B&B breakfast room

Sun, April 28 - To the Rijks Museum

We got up at 7:30 and I cooked RR some scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onions and tomato from our fridge while I had a healthy breakfast of yogurt, granola and banana.  We set out for the Central Station and after some confusion found the #5 Tram.  You can pay when you get on which was handy and we cruised south through the city and got off right at the Rijks Museum at 9:10.  We had gotten tickets from the US so we could get right in line to enter. 

 

The Rijks Museum

  

The entire museum was very crowded as it has been closed for ten years while two large atriums were cleared out and the glass ceilings restored creating a beautiful large bright area.  Long-covered original murals were restored and all the paintings must have been cleaned and restored as well as the colors were all bright and glowing. So the combination of increased tourism due to the upcoming Queen’s Day and locals wanting to see the newly-reopened museum made for quite a jam.  We rented i-pods and took a tour of the museum highlights which got us to walk through all the rooms and hear a short or longer lecture about selected pieces.   Some of the more famous paintings had such crowds in front of them that we skipped over them as it was impossible to appreciate the works while peeking through masses of people.  But the earphones did serve to isolate us from the crowds and it was wonderful to see so much wonderful Dutch art throughout the centuries.

Museum Research Library

Amazing Doll House

Delft Tulip Vase

By noon we were a little peckish, and so went into the Museum Café which was full but so efficiently run that we shortly got a table and split some great tomato and red pepper soup and a bread/pickled onion/gherkin/cheese plate.  Thus revived we started the walk home in bright sunshine.

 We walked past the I AM STERDAM sculpture with people climbing all over the letters and continued on towards some gardens where I hoped to finally see some tulips!  A man approached us and asked in Dutch where some museum was.  We tried to tell him that we were tourists and didn’t know.  After a couple of exchanges we left, and a few minutes later Bob realized his wallet was missing!!  Stunning how a pro can distract you and take advantage!  Fortunately he only got some cash and Bob’s driver's license, not his passport.  And the credit card the thief got doesn’t have a chip embedded and so is pretty useless in Europe…but still upsetting. 

We walked past some large beds of magnificent orange, yellow and white tulips in perfect bloom for the big week.  We arrived home, I called Citibank to cancel the card just in case, and we relaxed and watched some more snooker.

At six we walked a couple of blocks to a small bar café recommended by Chris, called t’Tuinfeest.  It was jammed as Hollanders seem to eat 24/7 - rather nice actually as you never feel like an unsophisticated American eating way too early.  We got some good Belgian beer and Bob had pasta with mussels and shrimp and I had a tuna steak with spicy polenta.  We split a nougat panna cotta and walked home in the sunshine as a live band played and people were riding on a small carousel.

  The B&B’s lovely cat followed us upstairs and is now curled up inside Bob’s suitcase!

Mon, April 29 - Home to California

We got up at 5:15, finished packing, and made some delicious coffee with those little capsules – Chris had kindly gone out and gotten some decafe ones for us.  We slowly got the bags down the winding staircase and David was there to greet us and print out the taxi voucher.

 The electric taxi arrived right at 6:30 and as today is a holiday with very light traffic, we got to Schiphol Airport before seven. We printed out our boarding passes and then went to the desk to hand over our three bags.  The lady was just opening up her booth and probably had partied the night before, along with the rest of the country, and let one bag go through without a tag!  Bob saw it and the belt was stopped just before the bag was about to disappear into a massive dark hole of suitcases!  This bag contained all our laundry including still-damp moldy stuff from Ghana which would have cause an international incident if it had been blown up!

We wandered around the attractive airport, resisting spending our euros – I was trying to find some Dutch chocolate, but could only find Belgian.  In this airport you go through Security at the gate which means it is quite civilized with no endless line and crush of people.   We boarded at 9 AM into our comfortable Economy Comfort seats – Bob in 14A by the window so he can watch the North Sea, Greenland, & Canada as the whole flight is during daylight, and me in 14E next to a wall separating passengers from the galley, but with a foot of storage room so I could spread out.  After we had lunch and, as it was 2 AM in LA, I took a sleeping pill and got five hours of sleep, awoke for another meal and some TV and we were in LAX at 11 AM

As Bob’s driver’s license had been stolen, I was going to drive home in our rental car…. but just then I remembered that I hadn’t taken my license with me as I figured my passport is better ID …Well, you never know when you might have to drive, so my license is now added to my travel check list.   I called the SB Airbus and fortunately they were due to pick up riders at 2 PM so we waited an hour and hopped aboard.  Actually I much prefer to ride the bus to SB after a long trip than fight the traffic in a weakened, drowsy state, so it worked out well.  We arrived in SB; the bus driver had already called a taxi for us, and we arrived home at 5PM with just enough time to dash down to the Cat House Hotel to pick up a howling Maddie who didn’t leave us alone for a couple of days!

Back home, mail sorted, stinky laundry done: great to be back in Santa Barbara!

XXX, Katy

 

Sat, April 27 - Exploring the Canals of Amsterdam

We slept in until 7:30 and went down to the first floor to the guest kitchen/dining room, clutching left-over fish and roasted veggies from last night.  I made scrambled eggs with the veggies, toast, fresh OJ, and great decaf.

We set out at nine in cool sunshine, past a carousel at the end of our street and several people crossed-dressed and/or just costumed!  Next Tuesday is Queen's Day when the whole city goes wild and parties in the street.  Also this is the last Queen’s Day for a while as Queen Beatrix is handing over the throne to her son, Willem-Alexander, so festivities will be extreme.  Already we can see ferries festooned with orange bunting and shop windows featuring everything orange! Bob is relieved that we are leaving on Monday just before things really get going.

We thought taking a city canal tour would be a good way to get an idea of Amsterdam and so walked back to the Central Station where on the large canal, there were a cluster of long boats with glass-covered seating run by different companies - rather confusing, but we got tickets for the “Lovers” boat and joined a crowd on a narrow pier with no railing which looked a little risky.  We waited for 20 minutes until a boat arrived, but it already was ¾ full so only a few people got on.    It looked like at least an hour’s wait coming up.  RRZ was irritated and tried to get a refund which wasn’t allowed so we left, with me rather upset.  We walked across the large canal where there were more boats moored one of which was also a “Lovers” boat and we were able to climb right aboard, much to RRZ' delight!  The inside seats were full but the stern area was empty and uncovered, much better for photography, so we sat there.

We took right off, circling around the harbor and under a bridge into the canal rings.  We passed many house boats, shops, beautiful buildings, churches, and Ann Frank’s house, weaving among the three canal rings that run through the city.  The tour took an hour and was really great. 

Dim Sum Sampler

 We walked to the Western Canal Ring looking for a light lunch and stopped at Nooch Café and split a dim sum sampler with couple of glasses of white wine.  Thus revived we returned to Tulip and dozed and caught up on the snooker championship.

At 5:30 we set out again for Van Kerkwijk restaurant about 20 minutes’ walk away. It is the highest rated restaurant in the Trip Advisor's Red Light District section, and is located on a quiet side street.   It looked very unimpressive from the outside, but was completely full when we entered.  We sat at the bar where I had a Campari and soda, but shortly we were seated at our table.  The restaurant is tiny, seating about 50, plus a bar, both of which are served by two incredibly competent people!  The woman came over, recited the menu, and stayed until we placed our order.  We got a bottle of red wine and split a terrific starter of bacon-wrapped dates with Stilton cheese pate and some balsamic-dressed lettuce.  Then I got a steak on goat cheese with strawberry sauce, and RR got a lamb steak with a lump of honey butter.  We were brought a dish of great French fries and a dish of house salad for the table.  Very simple, but really well prepared.

We got home at 8:30 - still light, in contrast with Ghana, on the equator,  where the sun sets at ~6 PM every day of the year.

  

Fri, April 26 - Arriving in Amsterdam

We landed at 7 AM in cold drizzle, collected our bags and descended underground and finally figured out which train to take to get us to Central Station downtown.  We arrived about 20 minutes later and emerged into beautiful Amsterdam, after pulling sweaters and rain jackets from our luggage - really strange to be cold after so much heat!  Tulip B&B is a short walk from the station and with their good directions we found the address easily.  It is located near a canal entrance right across from the Red Light District. 

We knocked on the door of this impossibly narrow, 15th century, four-story building and we were greeted by Chris, one of the owners.  Our room wasn’t ready but he let us stash our luggage.  We rested a bit and then set out to wander the neighborhood.  We crossed the canal, past several cheerful, beautiful girls sitting in their windows, just as they had 53 years ago when I last was here!

We found a café open and sat and ate delicious ham and cheese frittatas and coffee, making it last as long as possible as we can’t get into our room until 2 PM.  Bob and I then wandered through department stores and other shops until overcome with fatigue we returned to Tulip and just sat, read, and napped.  The house cat came and sat in Bob’s lap, comforting him no end!

Our room under the eaves

At 1:45 Chris took our bags up and then led us up the very narrow, winding staircase to the top floor which is ours!  We’re right under the eaves with windows on all sides, but separated from the street by a tiny courtyard so we can hear church bells and pigeons and not too much street noise.   We unpacked, double wrapped our stinky jungle  laundry, showered and relaxed.  On TV there were mostly Dutch language shows, but we also found the English snooker championship to which we had become addicted  many years ago when we traveled in Spain in April.  So that passed a few hours of rare relaxation.

At 5:30 we planned to walk a ways to a high-rated Trip Advisor restaurant, but when we stepped outside, it was drizzling again so we just stepped into Gusto, the Italian bistro next door - brilliant decision - we had a great meal of pumpkin soup - the restaurant Cat appeared and jumped on my lap (can you imagine that happening in the US??) - then RR had eggplant ravioli and I had a wonderful whole fish baked in salt.  Great!  Then to early bed and a sleep in, I hope!

The Restaurant Gusto cat!

 Yummm!

Thu, April 25 - Back to Accra, and on to Amsterdam

blurry photo of a Black-winged Bishop

Breakfast at 5 AM, and off in the van, back to Atewa Forest by 6:30.  The day started out cool and hazy and comfortable as we walked quickly past the area we had covered yesterday.  We started climbing up a rough dirt road and it started to get hotter and more miserable!  We stopped and checked out a few birds; our goal was to see the Blue-headed Bee- Eater and the Western Bluebill.   The Bluebill, a red bird with a blue bill, we saw shortly after we started up and were hopeful of a good day.  We continued to climb and were soon absolutely drenched with sweat!   The Bee- Eater is usually seen near the top of the hill, but finally at 11 half of us gave up and started down the somewhat slippery road.  We did see some spectacular butterflies, and I managed to step into an ant stream and Andrew rescued me and helped pluck off most of them, but I continued to be bitten for a while. The others caught up with us and we finally returned to the bus.  We had walked 5+ miles and climbed over 1200’.

We returned to the hotel by 1 PM and had 40 minutes to shower, pack up our sodden clothes, eat lunch and leave for the airport.  We drove for 90 minutes up onto an escarpment of 1600’.  We stopped at the top for our second cultural event of the tour: a group of craft stalls catering to Ghanaians.  I wanted to see the fabrics I have been missing and there seemed to be some Adinkra, stamped fabric, and some beaded work.  I had no Cedis left, so Andrew bought some things for me and I’ll pay him in dollars later. 

A Patch-work Sample of Ghanaian Fabrics

As we descended, we could look over the vast landscape of Accra, a city of 2.9 million and were soon at the airport.  Phil and our guides bought us cold drinks, we all took photos of each other, said our goodbyes to all these pleasant and congenial people, and then they dropped us off at the airport at 5:30 PM

The Group!

.  Getting through immigration and security was quick and easy as the airport is not busy in the late afternoon and our flight doesn’t leave until 10:10.

Bob and I went to the only food outlet after Security which was a bar selling sandwiches, etc for about $6, but they also had beef pies for only $2 which must have been locally made and turned out to be really delicious!  We ate two with shots of rum (at last!) and a couple of Cokes.   We finally got on the KLM jet at 9:30 PM and into our Economy Comfort seats with more leg room - really worth it - and slept most of the way to Amsterdam.

Wed, April 24 - Butterflies

Breakfast at 5 AM which I ate lightly, but felt much better.  We were off at 5:30 for a short drive to the Bobiri Forest Reserve which is about 5000 acres in size and contains lovely original forest of huge trees, lots of birds and especially many species of butterflies.  It has a research station surrounded by flowering plants and we were dazzled with the variety of shapes and colors. 

 We walked along the reserve road birding and saw great swarms of various butterflies clustered over bits of damp sand and also over different animal scat.  Andrew, our assistant guide, is a butterfly expert and helped identify many of the species.  I’m afraid that this park, like most others, is being nibbled away by illegal loggers but for the moment it’s a wonderful place.

 

We left at 11 and Andrew handed around a menu from a restaurant we were driving to and we initialed the dishes we wanted and he called them in.  We arrived at the Linda Dor Restaurant had a good lunch after sorting out the various errors in identifying the dishes.  Bob had garlic fish and I had chicken and veggies with two enormous heaps of rice!  

We drove on a couple more hours and entered Atewa Range Forest Preserve and walked through agricultural lands and encountered several groups of very jolly children sitting near some piles of harvested chilies.  Bob saw his 200th life bird - this was his goal for the trip, something he doesn’t often achieve – but this tour has been so grueling that I’m glad he made it.  We saw a Purple-throated Cuckoo Shrike - a lovely velvety dark bird about the size of a robin.

As we were returning to the bus, a group of rough men passed us with dogs and rifles and burlap sacks of bush meat - illegal but tolerated - even advertised on some restaurant boards. 

A Very Weary Birder!

We drove on until 6 PM, turning into quite a snazzy hotel where we have a working shower!  Yeaaah!  After five days!  Also excellent wi-fi - we’re obviously getting closer to civilization.  We had dinner at 7: fish soup, fried plantains, rice and some delicious mangos that James had purchased from a lady carrying them on top of her head a few days ago.   Tomorrow’s our last day on this birding trip - one more slog through the humid heat, clean up and off to the airport and Amsterdam!

Tue, April 23 - The Long Drive South

Breakfast at 5:30 and off at 6.  Fortunately the main north-south highway is well maintained, or just new, so we sped along, stopping for another buffet for lunch.  The food’s not bad, but it’s Always the same for lunch and dinner!  Ashanti Tours, the local agent, contacts the various restaurants along the birding route, and to avoid wasting a lot of time ordering off the menu, they must order up this buffet.  I would love to try more local foods and have, at least, gotten a few dishes, but we’re all pretty tired of two rices, one pasta, sauce, fried fish and chicken and French fries!

 I tried to photograph scenes and the people from the bus but it’s difficult at high speed.  Despite the incessant trash of plastic bags, there are lovely things to see in the towns, for instance the beautiful women in colorful long dresses with a baby on their backs carrying a large pans of bananas, water sachets, plantains, etc. on their heads!

A walled compound

At 3 PM we stopped and drove into the woods where we had birded several days ago and tried to find the elusive Blue-headed Bee-eater, but instead saw a Little Grey Flycatcher, not exciting, but a new bird, nevertheless.

Phil Gregory birding

We started into the city of Kumasi (~2 million) unfortunately at the rush hour.  Ghana is prosperous enough that there are a lot of cars in addition to buses, taxis, and large freight haulers. Trying to drive through Kumasi was insane.  Without our very experienced and authoritative driver to plow into traffic circles and weave in and out of jams, it would have taken longer than the 1.5 hours to cross the city, or whatever we did!  Whenever we stopped at a traffic light, women and some men would pass by with large pans of food and, strangely, toilet paper for sale.  They weren’t overly aggressive, but

Roasted Plantain vendor

pleasant when we smiled at them, but what a life!  A dangerous one and for only pennies!

At 7 PM we pulled into the Royal Basin Hotel where we stayed last Thursday.  I decided to skip dinner as my stomach is suddenly a little upset, so I’m writing this instead and drinking a large beer that Bob kindly brought me from the restaurant - renewing my liquids and all that - just following Alejandro’s advice!
We got a different room from last time and this one has a faulty shower - you have hold the lever up to make the water come out of the shower which means we essentially had yet another sponge bath.

Mon, April 22 - The Search for the Egyptian Plover

Up at 4:15 after a surprisingly good sleep - the music outside abated quite a bit and the A/C, while weak was good enough for us.  The motel served us omelets, toast and Dundee marmalade which was a slight improvement over the usual.  We dropped off a little laundry, took off at 5:30, and drove west for about 30 minutes to the long earthen Tono dam.  The sky was clear and we could see fishermen in long dug-out canoes taking off into the lake behind it.  We walked around the dry woodland savannah for several hours seeing several new birds among which was the Bearded Barbet, a robin-sized bird with bright red breast, black back and a large white bill with a little bristle below it. 

 The day which had started clear, suddenly grew dark and overcast which kept the temperature very pleasant.  The area was dotted with huge Baobab trees and was very lovely. We even found a little lily-filled pond in the middle of this arid land

Birding under a Baobab Tree

Birding Tono Dam

.  We returned to the Siri and as we got out of the bus, a tremendous wind picked up and buffeted us.  We went to our rooms and it started to thunder and pour!   We found the group’s laundry covering the bar with the ceiling fans rotating at top speed trying to dry it!  Very accomodating staff!!  When the rain slackened a bit we dashed to the van and took off once again to the Comme Çi, Comme Ça  where we were able to admire the decorations and originality of the place.  The lunch was the usual with pineapple and very good mango for dessert.

 

 Comme Çi, Comme Ça Restaurant

We took off from the restaurant in the slackening rain and headed east for 48 miles and, as the road was in such a badly potholed condition, it took us 2 hours to get to the village of Sapeliga where we picked up a local guide.  We continued on a mile and found ourselves on the bank of the White Volta River, winding beautifully through steep terraced banks and full of wide sand bars.  On the other side was the country of Burkina Faso.  We watched a dugout canoe ferry bring a passenger and motorcycle precariously across!  Our goal here was to see the Egyptian Plover and there they were!  Very lovely small birds with apricot breast, blue-grey back and distinctively-marked black and white head.  The bird appears to have no neck but the body and head form a teardrop shape with a beak.  We watched them and the river before getting back in the bus for the two hours back.  After the rain all the fields were partially flooded and the streams bubbling along - I guess the rainy season has finally begun. 

We passed many  adobe mosques and compounds, some with the thatch forming high peaks in the center of the roofs.  Everyone was very friendly: adults responding to our waves with two-handed waves back and the little kids jumping up and down.  Springtime is here as we also saw lots of just-born goat kids, lambs and tiny piglets, along with burros.

Dinner at Comme Çi Comme Ça.