5:00 am came very quickly this morning. That was the time we all had to get up to check out of our hotel in London and take the subway to catch the train to Brussels. Our route took us under the Chunnel, but unfortunately, I fell asleep for that part of the trip. I woke up and could immediately tell we were in a different country because all of the cars were driving on the right side of the road. The train transfer in Brussels was a little hectic. Since no one knew where we were going (and no one spoke the language) everyone just started following the first person who moved in any direction. Because of that, we missed the soonest train. (Not that it mattered…our tickets were valid for any train to any station in The Netherlands). We had to wait an hour in the station, but it really was not too bad. The second train was not as nice as the first one but it got us safely to the Airport in Amsterdam. From the Airport we had to take a third train to the Amsterdam Central Station. Each leg of the journey took longer than we were originally anticipating and we did not make it to Amsterdam until after 5:00 pm. No one had eaten since breakfast; understandably, everyone was starving.
In Amsterdam, we picked up our tour guide, Patrick. He will be driving our bus until we finish the trip in Rome. He is a native of Holland and a lot of fun. We went out walking with him after we checked into the hotel. Amsterdam is an interesting place. I feel like I need to be a lot more on guard than I was in London. Maybe part of that is due to the negative reputation Amsterdam has for things like drugs and prostitution. As I found out, that is a reputation they rightly reserve. When some guys from the group asked the hotel attendant what she recommended that we do she suggested the beer festival and the red light district. Hence the reason we went out walking with Patrick. He was planning on taking us to Dam Square for dinner but he got lost. We ended up walking about a mile or more in the wrong direction. Other than the fact that we were starving it was not too bad. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. There are canals that crisscross their way all throughout town, and flowers everywhere. The city itself is built on stilts and is slowly sinking. For that reason, the building are all leaning different directions. The other thing I immediately noticed about Amsterdam was all of the bicycles. You can't hardly walk anywhere without having to worry about getting run over by a bike. The bike lane looks like the sidewalk and therefore is very deceiving. We spent the first half a mile walking in the road and wondering why all the cyclists were whizzing past us. London has me all screwed up as far as navigation goes. It took me until yesterday to start looking the right way for cars in London, and now I'm looking the wrong way all over again. Thankfully, the rest of Europe will be similar to Amsterdam.
After boarding a tram, we finally made it to the square. Everyone dispersed to go get dinner. Jared and I ate some sort of chicken kebob that was really delicious. While we were walking around we also noticed that everyone had french fries. Apparently, Amsterdam (or maybe Holland in general) is known for their french fries (called "Frites"). Basically, my visit to Amsterdam consisted of walking and eating. I can't say that I mind either one. After the hectic days in London it was nice to have a bit of a break. Another early morning tomorrow. Here we go!
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