Arrival at Schiphol

Smooth landing at Schiphol. Smoothest I have ever encountered, in fact. Respect to whoever was driving/flying/landing the plane. Very impressive!

Marco, our son, was waiting for us at the airport and drove us into Amsterdam. I was impressed by his driving skills, really! Wow!
We had a late supper in a Tibetan Restaurant. Willem & Marco know this restaurant well, they go there often on Wednesday night. I, however, had never been there. It was one to remember and well worth repeating.

A young Tibetan couple with 2 very young children own this excellent little place (ah, the food! YUM!) and I was charmed by their friendliness and hospitality.
I spoke to them very briefly. I found out the young woman & her charming husband (Chef, bending while smiling broadly, hands together in *Dalai Lhama* way, very warm & touching) are very homesick for Tibet, but they cannot in any way get in touch with their family. Their parents have not EVER seen their grand children. They can't even communicate through Internet, can't exchange photos or anything, because Tibet is completely & utterly occupied by China.
They can't even send money, because the money will never arrive with their family. It just gets *lost* somewhere... Such a very sad story and unfair!

However, this beautiful young couple is working very hard, keeping up spirits and radiating kindness, in spite of a lot of sadness & struggling to get by. And all this in one of those tiny little back streets of Amsterdam, unknown to most tourists, and mainly only for those lucky Dutch people who are familiar with the little place, like my hubby.
They made an impression on me, made me count my blessings, and for some reason they are very much in my thoughts. We Europeans are a very lucky & spoiled bunch, aren't we?

We arrived safely in Amersfoort, at Marco's apartment. Wim stays there every week (Sun til Wed), but I had not had the pleasure yet, since he only moved there last Summer. What a pleasure it was, though! Proud of - and happy for our boy! :)