By Bob Van Leer

  (AMSTERDAM, Friday, May 29. 1987) - Betty and I are now at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, waiting for the last flight that will finish our trip to Athens.

  Last night at JFK in New York we boarded a KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) Boeing 747 for a night flight to Amsterdam. The seating was much more spacious than we are accustomed to. Our stewardess, Andrea was the picture of what you would expect to find on a Dutch airline, an apple-cheeked blonde.

  Going east we pass through time zones rapidly and we are now nine hours ahead of Gold Beach time. The sun and the clocks say it is noon but the body knows it is really only 3 a.m. and why are we up?

  We're getting an education on what you can charge for a newspaper. I paid $1.75 for a copy of the London Times. The weather is hazy with scattered low clouds so we did not see much of England as we passed over.

  Security is tighter at Schiphol Airport than we are used to. The guards carry rifles. We board still one more KLM flight for Athens. There is a cloud cover so we can see little of Europe, except The Alps, as we fly to Athens.

  Here the weather is balmy, in the 70's in the evening. We are staying at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, an ageing grand hotel built in 1862 as a guest house for foreign royalty for the Greek king. It has had numerous remodeling but still has touches not ordinarily found, such as marble doors in the entrance way and bathrooms. The bathroom has an additional fixture, a bidet, whose function is impossible to describe in a family newspaper.

  We are now 10 Hours ahead of Gold Beach time. In the morning we join the rest of the group to start the tour.