Day 19 - Amsterdam to Home

We were able to sleep in a bit today since our flight was not until 12:00pm. We woke at 7:00 and were having our last breakfast in Europe by 7:30. We finished breakfast, checked out of the hotel and were on our way to the airport by 8am. 

We needed to top off the car with fuel so we stopped by the Gulf station that we tried yesterday and today it was open. When we pulled in, the owner was there and pumped the diesel for us. We paid our last fill up and made the short trip to the airport. 

The signage for the airport was good to find the airport but not on where to return the rental cars. After a few failed attempts we came from a direction that included rental car signage and dropped off the car with no issue.

We printed out our boarding passes and found the United check in counter to check our bags. That took about 30 minutes. We then found the VAT refund location and got the refund on one of Michele's purchases at Pompeii. There was no line so that was quick and easy.

Next we went through customs which was pretty quick. We made it to our gate by 10:00am. The plane boarding went smoothly where we yet again went through a security check.

The flight was about 8 hours long and uneventful. We landed in Dulles on time, collected our bags, and made our way through customs. The automated passport machines at Dulles were not as intuitive as the ones in Europe.

Rob's parents picked us up from the airport and we were home by 4:00pm.

This was an amazing trip. Going through 5 different countries in only 2 weeks was disorienting at times (wait which country are we in again?) but we were saw and experienced so much. 

Our cruise stopped at 5 different ports in 3 different countries.

And saw many amazing sites.

 

 

 

We drove about 1,600 miles across Europe visiting 4 different countries and countless toll booths.

We visited 3 different MotoGP race tracks.

We explored the beaches of Normandy.

 

Were reminded of and humbled by the sacrifice of those that fought to free Europe during WWII.

Entertained for 3 days by the most elite motorcycle road racers in the world.

And got to spend 10 days with our family.

Day 17 - Dutch GP Race Day

We started today’s blog while sitting in our seats at the track before the stands filled, with the sun already shining and a crisp breeze. Today’s temps were expected to be about 78 later in the day. The wind was about 15 mph and steady all day so we were quite cool despite the sun. Excuse Michele’s sour lemon face, Rob did not tell her he was taking pics, and she really was happy to be there despite the expression. 

We checked out of the hotel with a slight credit card glitch. They promised to refund our pre-payment since their authorization code was not working. We hope so! 

An orange cat we had not seen before now greeted us at our car with meows. We think it wanted tuna for breakfast. We had to skip our own delicious hotel breakfast since we wanted to get to the track early. We were on the road at 6:41. 

Our commute to the track was smooth and traffic moved slowly into the track area. The stewards parked us in a horse grazing field in a different area than the past two days. Rob later called this “the suckers’ lot”. It was just past the rowdy camping site.

We got to the gates around 7:20 and had a short line for bag inspections. We were happy that our arrival was easy with no long lines. We expected that our departure would not be so quick. 

Many people had lawn chairs to get their seats in the grassy areas. We got muffins at the concession for breakfast. They had two types, blueberry and chocolate. Michele got the blueberry and Rob the chocolate. Rob said his was a brownie in a muffin shape, yummy. As we walked to our stands, a lot of people were getting Rossi gear as the retailers were opening up. Most people were already wearing Rossi gear. 

We made our way to our seats and could hear the safety cars beginning their track rounds. First, event management drove around the track while the medical corner staff stood at the side of the track on each of their corners. This is an easy way to confirm each corner has the required number of crews. Then it was the technical corner workers turn (they are responsible for clearing crashed bikes and dealing with any fires). There were four cars that slowly drove around to inspect them.

At 8:20 the stunt pilot was out doing air tricks.

All three classes of riders had 20 minute warm up sessions. Our seats gave us a view of part of the back straight, the front straight and a turn opposite us. We were close to the track and could feel our seats vibrate as they zoomed past us. After warm up we waited about an hour until the Moto3 race started at 11 am. It was an exciting race and Jorge Martin won. In his interview he said he wanted to win this 88th Assen race since his number is 88. We are happy for him, especially since he was riding hurt from his crash in practice and was limping. 

After the Moto3 race we went to the concession area and got lunch within 20 minutes despite how crowded it was. The Moto2 race started at 12:20 just a bit after we got back to our seats. The stands and grassy berms were full by this time. Italian racer Bagnia was out front and led the entire race. 

Afterwards, the charity two-seat riders did a few laps. Rob has always wanted to do this, but we hear it is a several thousand dollar donation that is an auction event so the sky is the limit on what it might actually cost. Randy Mamola is the legendary rider who does this. 

A stunt rider on a trials bike also also entertained us doing wheelies, stoppies, and jumping over a volunteer. 

A former racer also did a few laps on a new electric bike. The announcers joked that we could not hear him coming around the track. It sounded like a high pitched whine. 

The MotoGP race started at 2pm. It was very exciting with many top riders changing positions and passing each other. The website said there were 100+ overtakes. The Rossi fan club across the track from us had their smoke sticks out in full force. Unfortunately he did not get on the podium today yet you wouldn’t know it by the crowd’s reaction. 

We slowly made our way out with the other 100k people. It took us 30 minutes to reach our car around 3:45. There was a parked line of cars waiting to get out, all turned off. Not a good sign! So we just sat in our car, enjoyed the weather and waited. And waited...for two hours!  

At 5:25 we saw progress, left the field and got on the highway with ease. We thought we were home free, but traffic was very heavy all the way to Amsterdam.

Amazingly, people had lawn chairs parked on the side of the highway and at overpasses for well over 140 km. Apparently they just wanted to watch the traffic, and it was crazy. Michele said watching traffic go by is not her choice of entertainment, but people seemed to be enjoying it, especially those in the rural parts.

We even saw a gold version of Michele’s NT. She had been watching the thousands of bikes pass us hoping to see one. 

Traffic continued to be heavy all the way to Amsterdam, and a 2 hour trip took much longer. We had to eat Michele’s emergency peanut butter crackers for sustenance. 

We liked the decoration on this camper, clearly they are Rossi fans. 

When we got close to our hotel we tried to find a gas station. Two were already closed, as it was 8:45 by this point. The one that was open refused our credit card. So we will have to try tomorrow morning when the attendants are there.

We checked in to our hotel, Hotel Herbergh Amsterdam airport, and went to dinner next door for pizza. We were so weary from our nearly 6 hours wait/drive to Amsterdam. After dinner we watched the ending of the World Cup Croatia and Denmark match with penalty kicks. Tomorrow we leave for home!