..."Surfing" on THE Houseboat

Well, I am WAYYYY behind on this blog!! I have been back in the US since May 20th, and the re-entry tasks have overcome the priority of finishing this blog....But there are still some "chapters" about my ten months in Europe I want to share....

Lovely floral displays all over Amsterdam!

At the end of January I had emailed some couch-surfers about my May visit to Amsterdam. One of them was Jo, who lives on a houseboat. At the time she told me I was on her Maybe list.  She gets 15-20 requests a day to couch surf with her. I was SO hopeful, as it sounded like GREAT fun!! Luckily about two weeks before I was due in Amsterdam, she emailed me to say it looked like I was going to be able to stay there!

May 12th I was due at the houseboat, and Jo would be returning from Athens. On May, when I was going to stay at Jo's and time-plenty of it-to spare, so I opted to drag my still filling bags what my phone said was 1.5 miles. Jo originally was due to be at the boat by 6, but then she emailed me saying she would not arrive until 8, so I could walk very slowly!

I got to the boat, took some pictures, and went around the corner to Torino's, a neighborhood Italian restaurant. She emailed to say her flight was further delayed. So I dallied over a nothing special, but filling spaghetti Bolognese. I went and sat on a chair in front of the houseboat and waited for her. She and her partner Hans arrived about 9:15.

The spacious boat, owned by a young Dutch couple who've bought a farm in Hungary, was totally renovated. It had a bedroom in the bow (front of the boat), and all the amenities(dishwasher included!) of a flat.
From Jo's I visited the Resistance Museum, the Rembrandt house (huis), the Portuguese Synagogue.

I left Jo and the delightful houseboat to go to my final stop in Amsterdam in Jordan. 

Thanks again for coming along!! ...I am optimistic that the next post will be done within the next few days!!