I never thought I’d have anything good to say about jetlag, but it sure helped us stay up late on New Year’s Eve! Midnight arrived in Amsterdam at 6 p.m. Michigan time, so we were wide awake and hungry. Our hotel hosts, Rachel and Pepijn, prepared traditional Dutch treats-mostly fried balls of assorted tasty concoctions-and treated us to a small bottle of champagne. Perfect! Situated a few steps from the festivities at Neuimarkt Square, our tiny lobby provided a safe and entertaining vantage point. Tony and I braved the rain for the countdown, shared a toast and a smooch, and then popped back inside. Locals said the fireworks were tame compared to past years, but they still worried about their tinder-box canal houses while impaired revelers launched heavy artillery “probably purchased in Belgium” (a country with loose laws regarding such things, we were told). We hung out with the hotel crowd until nearly 2 a.m. – surely a record for us! (The bad side of jetlag? I was still reading in bed when the church bells rang at 4 a.m.)