We had a very nice check-in agent with Delta Airlines in Bloomington, and he troubleshot a glitch we have never encountered before. The check-in process could not be completed because my first name and middle name were all in the "first name" field on the airline database system, but that did not agree with the US Customs and Boarder Patrol system (i.e., my passport record), which has my first name as my first name and my middle name as my middle name. It's always something.

One would think that this is just a minor discrepancy and the agent could easiliy override it, but that it not the case. He was unable to proceed with checking me in and issuing a boarding pass and luggage tag until the matter was resolved. And the resolution required someone else at a different location, but thankfully, that person answered the phone at 5 am, and we were able to move on.

Except there was one little problem - the weight of the bike bag for Steve's bike was 1 lb overweight. That's over the 2-lb "grace allowance," but the agent was able to use discretion in this case and did not charge us the additional fee for an overweight bag. But he did tell us about it, and we have to think about how we will resolve it so that it hopefully does not become an issue on the return flight.

After we arrived at the airport, we had a long wait for our bags but then managed to portage them to the Amsterdam Airport Sheraton where we are staying tonight. We were able to get an early check-in and promptly went to our room and began assembling the bikes. This took us a few hours, and we paused for a nap around 2:30. We reserved a bus trip to the Keukenhof Gardens and needed to be at the bus boarding point by 4 pm.

Today's weather is cool, breezy and sunny. The forecast is not so favorable for the rest of the week, but we had a fabulous afternoon at the showcase gardens. We paused for some coffee and apple pie with whipped cream (I'm thinking this is perhaps a daily requirement) and then walked around the gardens for a couple of hours.

No description of Keukenhof Gardens can do it justice, and photographs are a poor attempt, too, but I'll share a few of the more than 125 pictures I took there. It is a paradise for anyone who loves flowering springtime bulb plants. The variety and quanity of the flowers is matched only by the creative uses of them in beds which are replanted each year for an amazing array of tulips, daffodils, crocus, hiacynth, narcissus and other blooms. The garden is open for only about six weeks each year, and then the beds are dug up and prepared anew the following year.

After the bus dropped us off at the airport on our return, we found a nearby Italian restaurant and had pizza and some pasta for our dinner and then went back to our rooms to reorganize our bags so we will be ready to pedal away in the morning. We hope we will be able to rely on a bike-GPS system pre-loaded with our route for each day (though it was not clear until we got to the Netherlands that the devices would actually work in this location. We had prepared by updating the software and downloading the required maps for the Netherlands, but when we turned them on, they just said "acquiring satellites" and showed a blank screen. We let them sit for a couple of hours to do their acquiring, but still no map appeared on the screens. Finally, we took them outside and turned them on, and - halleluia! - up popped a map of the streets around us, showing our exact location. We hope that means they'll give us good directions tomorrow.

Our plan is to navigate south to Scheveningen (a town on the outskirts of The Hague). We may ride by some tulip fields and will certainly ride along the coast for a short ways from Katwijk to Scheveningen. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day in the Netherlands - a somber day of honoring and remembering the dead from WWII, particularly members of the Dutch Resistance and Jews who were murdered by the Nazis.

The weather forecast is for a high temperature around 67 degrees though it will be only in the low-50's at the start of our day. The wind is expected to be out of the northeast around 15 mph, which will mostly be a help to us tomorrow.

Arriving at the Amsterdam airport

---

Assembling the bikes

---

Assembling the bikes

---

At Keukenhof Gardens

---

At Keukenhof Gardens

---

At Keukenhof Gardens

---

At Keukenhof Gardens

---

At Keukenhof Gardens

---

At Keukenhof Gardens

---

Here is your Amsterdam sunset.

---

NEXT - Day 2