As usual, I did not sleep well the night before an early flight. The wake up call came at 4:45, but I had been up for a while by then. We finished packing up and headed downstairs for our 5:15 ride to the airport. I was surprised at how crowded the airport was; ours was the only flight, but it was a big one. I waited in line for the e-Checkin (two kiosks). Most people seemed to be having trouble with them, but ours was easy. The girls had been waiting in the baggage line, so we got throughout that fast. Secuirty was fast too, but then we were in a tiny, hot, stinky, airless waiting room. I was so happy when the gate agents opened the (old and lovely doors with a “No photos” sign on them. We were herded onto buses and shuttled a short distance out to the plane. The flight was thirty minutes long – up then down.
In the Athens airport, we found a nice corner to settle in for our 4 hours until check-in wait. Rob arrived partway through. After a bit, we went to explore the little museum, then went to check-in. Once inside the control area, we went to the SkyClub and had some snacks and drinks. Chloe loved the pumpkin soup. When we got on the plane, the attendant spoke to me in Dutch, and I was quite confused at first – but we were flying KLM to Amsterdam – just felt strange after a week in Greece.
In Amsterdam, we quickly made it to arrivals. I texted Marielba, then we went to the restroom. After a bit we decided to get train tickets and head into town. At that point, we heard from Marielba and waited to meet up. We rode the train into the city center and walked to the hotel where we checked in and then headed to the Anne Frank Museum where Martin had been holding a place in line for us. We explored the museum; we all took our time walking through and learning.
We left the museum and went back to the hotel for a few things, then walked back to the station for a canal boat ride. Both girls eventually fell asleep on the trip; we had been up since forever. We dragged back to the hotel and Marielba gave some gifts to the girls. We went to our rooms; the girls and I fell asleep. Rob stayed up a bit later as he had not gotten up quite as early as we had.
