Uneventful flight from Atlanta to AMS. If you don't follow my twitterfeed you missed a treat…my incessant raving about how nice the new International Terminal is at Atlanta.
Let me back up- Shout out to Christi for the trip to ATL and the mandatory CFA stop. Time in the car flew by. And then we got to the airport and it was nice and fast and so happy that I didn't have to deal with all the traffic at the main airport. Now if only I could get a little free internet! But one thing at a time I guess as Scott Fillmer (village IT guy says).
Got to AMS 30 minutes early- shout out to KLM for their amazingness again. I checked into my Yotel (yes, I am spelling that right) Dropped my bag and headed out to get on the train. Had some issues with getting a ticket. Evidently I have to have a pin for my credit card. No clue on that. Thankfully got some Euros out of the ATM and bought my ticket. Only thing on my agenda was to go to one of AMS oldest church- Oude Kerk. I went by Westerkerk by Anne Frank's house last time but couldn't go in. 5 euros got me a few pages that explained things in the church.
Built in 1300's as a Catholic Church it is now a protestant church. Many relics were removed in what they call (I can't remember what it said and I am too tired to look it up). Like they had the twelve apostles on columns in the choir loft that were removed. And they have paintings on the wood ceiling. And tons of people buried in the floor. I think Rembrandt's wife is in there.
On the way down to the church I of course ended up walking through pieces of the red light district. Thank goodness it was daytime and most of them were not in their windows. It broke my heart as I literally walked around the backside of the church around to the front and thought about how this church building is sitting here and all the brokenness that surrounds it. And then when I walk into the church they are having a Pride Photo exhibit inside and have a few speakers in a little center part. Between passing the guys smoking weed, the gay pride exhibit, and the ladies in their window I decided that it would be something special for God to call me to Amsterdam. There is just so much brokenness in that neighborhood I couldn't handle it. This is the back of the church on the right and the ladies windows. well doors in the background on the left.
Funny thing I found out as I almost walked up on a guy going to the bathroom, they have special outside stalls for guys to go in…who ever knew. Note the metal round looking stall in the right of this pic:
Front of the Church-
Then I walked up past all the bars and what have you to the main street and decided after much debate to get on a boat and do the canal tour. Took an hour. Learned some cool stuff- Like they literally have pulleys on the front of their homes to get stuff in because they are built so narrow you have to get it in the front. And they have an underground tunnel that is 2 km long. And a relic ship that the unemployed worked on for 3-5 years to restore after it was shipwrecked and sunk back in the day. And so much more. But I am tired and literally falling asleep. Shower and my yotel bed is calling.I made it out for about 6 hours today but it was getting cold so I headed back.
I will get up and board my plane in the morning. If you haven't been praying, tomorrow would be where to start! Well today. But prayers for me would be great starting tomorrow. Well Tuesday. And Im 7 hrs ahead in AMS just as a point of reference. Love ya'll. God is good. His world is amazing. And there's a lotta folks in it that need His lovin and truth. Let's get on it.
The organ-
Second smallest home- under 2 meters. Smallest is a meter but I didn't get a good shot.
One of the choir loft seats. When flipped up you see a different "proverb" (not from the bible proverb). This one was I am not made of money so I don't poop money basically. Can't I just have a cross or something? laaawdy be.
I bout tripped so many times on these floor graves.
Amsterdam Central Train Station
Hook on the front
me. airport. 🙂
Leave a Reply