The trip, of course, was to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. For an amazing $960 price tag, I got round-trip airfare, six nights in a good hotel, and travel insurance. I love that February break I get at school--it means very cheap travel at a not-busy time of year.
Obviously, I was very excited to get my adventure started, having never visited the Netherlands. I was walking into an unknown place, seen only in pictures on the Internet.
I left on Saturday, after spending the night in a hotel near San Francisco Airport to avoid a very early drive from Sacramento. The overnight flight had me landing at Amsterdam's Schipol Airport at 7:30am local time Sunday morning. To my body, this was 10:30pm, or bed time. Past bed time, actually.
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| A church next to my hotel in San Bruno. |
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| Caffeine and jet fuel |
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| We're ready! |
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| My second chariot--the first was from San Francisco to Salt Lake City. This one would take me all the way to Amsterdam. |
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| I am usually pretty anti-social in these situations, but I had to tell this dude I loved his shoes. |
I had expected it would be a while before I could get to my hotel--on my trip to London in 2016, Border Control was one long, slow-moving line and an absolute interrogation by the border control agent. I was pleasantly surprised, then, to see that the line for passport control at Schipol was only three or four people ahead of me, and moving quickly. I stepped up to the desk at my turn, said, "Good morning," as I handed over my passport, and prepared for questions.
Instead, the agent (a very handsome Dutchman, I must add) stamped my passport, handed it back with a, "Here you go," and waved me through. I was at his desk all of thirty seconds.
Wait, what?
I didn't argue. Instead, I walked through with a friendly nod to a nearby guard (who gave me a friendly nod in return), and found the baggage carousels. It took maybe 10-15 minutes for my plane's luggage to reach us, and then I walked through the rest of customs (nothing to declare) and out into Schipol at large.
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| One of the first things I saw was a shop selling tulips. |
I found an I Amsterdam information center to pick up my I Amsterdam card (if you visit Amsterdam, get this card--seriously. Free admission to many museums, free use of the public tram system, free canal cruise included, discounts, etc.), bought a ticket to take a Sprinter train to Amsterdam Centraal Station, and was on my way in minutes. From Centraal, I found my way to Tram Line 4 (my hotel had helpfully emailed me with directions on many ways to get there from Schipol) and fifteen minutes later, I was deposited at the Prinsengracht stop, on a bridge over Prinsengracht canal, staring at a sign for the ITC Hotel, about fifty yards away.
It was that easy. And it was only 9:30.
Of course, my room wasn't ready, so I deposited my suitcase and carry on with the front desk and set out to explore.
Walking along the canals of Amsterdam is amazing--the architecture of the buildings, the bridges, the canals themselves. Amsterdam has some very, very photogenic places, but also lots of interesting little details.
I stopped just down the street from the church above at a bagel shop, and had a much-needed cup of tea and a pastry, with free wifi.
The following pictures are a bit out of order, but oh well.
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| Houseboats on the canal. |
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| My hotel |
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| Amsterdam Centraal, an enormous train station. |
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| The view from Centraal. |
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| Later, on my walk from the hotel, I found this gem. |
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| Amsterdam is lovely in any weather, but the sunshine really does show it at its best. |
I made my way over to the Botanical Gardens, which were, of course, not in very high bloom, but still worth a visit, for the greenhouses.
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| The lady in this picture didn't speak English, but we kept saying "Oh!" and pointing out butterflies to each other, and grinning at each other. It was rather lovely, actually. |
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| One problem with having my glasses on in a greenhouse. |
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| Butterfly! |
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| They also had parrots! |
In my wanderings that afternoon, I also found a lovely little park that is a memorial to the Dutch Jewish people of World War II.
The Auschwitz memorial below was difficult to photograph, but I had to include it. Read the info here about the meaning behind the broken mirrors.
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| Spiegelmonument by Jan Wolkers |
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| A monument to the Jewish who were hard of hearing. |
As I paid for my entrance, the lady at the desk asked me where I was visiting from. "California," I replied (I often give my state rather than my country, just to be specific. People know California is in the United States). "I arrived this morning."
"Oh my goodness!!"
"Yes. That explains..." I gestured at my yoga pants, my disheveled hair.
"You must be so jet-lagged."
"I am. My hotel room isn't ready yet, so I'm wandering around. I'm so excited to see this museum...I just hope I remember it later!"
I do remember it--it's an excellent collection of artifacts, presented chronologically to show how Hitler rose to power as the Netherlands went about their business and remained neutral, and then how Germany forced its way in, forcing the Queen and her government to flee to England.
After this, I was able to check in to my hotel room. I was dismayed to learn the hotel had no lift, only very steep old stairs (old building problems). Still, I managed to get my suitcase up, and collapsed, exhausted, on my bed for a moment.
By this point, I needed sleep more than anything else. I had not slept in almost twenty-four hours, so I had a life-saving shower, put on my warm jammies, and tucked in under a very warm duvet. I was out in minutes, and I slept for about six hours. When I woke, it was dinner time, but I didn't want to get re-dressed. I ate some M&Ms I had with me and read for a while, then went back to sleep for the night.
I had a very important appointment on Monday at the Anne Frank House, and I didn't want to miss it.
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