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One Amsterdam Busy Day!

Sunday, March 30, 1997 , , , , ,
Brussels, Belgium
   After going thru customs at midnight, we tried to orient ourselves. But there were no staff anywhere. At all. We went out to try and find the hostel, and after walking around for half an hour we satisfied ourselves that:

   A) there were no obvious street signs in Brussels,
   2) We might not be at the same station listed next to the hostel. Midi vs. Nord. Oops.
   III) we would be waiting for the 0443 train to Amsterdam in the station.

There were about 8 other people who did the same thing. The station opened up into the night air, and even in the warmest place, you could see your breath. It was shiveringly cold for the three and a half hours we waited for the train. We tried to sleep, but the two night cleanup people were cleaning the floors so we had to keep moving. We boarded the train at 0447, and it had heat and reclining seats. Ahhhhhh. I sat in front of a Delta Gamma from Berkley. She was studying abroad, and touring with friends. Imagine the sterotypical California Sorority girl. yep. A Russian guy was almost thrown off the train, something to do with his ticket. The conductor had the presence of a Nazi and the police to back him up.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands
We arrived in Amsterdam around 0800. We walked to McDonald's, where there were many other travelers already there. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and then we visited the Van Gogh museum. After that, we went on a canal tour by boat. It was nice and warm and sunny.

I fell asleep about half way through. I got some good pictures though. Micah says I didn't really miss too much (I was awake for the cool stuff). I had a PB&J sandwich for lunch, with groceries I had bought near Southhampton. Then we went walking around the town. If you've ever seen Pulp Fiction, the part about Amsterdam is true. We walked into a "coffeshop" which was a unique experience. I didn't smoke anything in case you were wondering. It was interesting though. Bob Marley was playing in the background.
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More walking around. We had dinner in a Pizzaria, and it wasn't half bad. Walked some more. Turns out, the Red Light District was a block from the hostel. That place is bizarre. Or a bazaar, depending on what you are there for. We came back to the hostel about 2100, and wrote postcards and made our hostel beds for the last time. Our train was scheduled to leave at 0920 on Easter morning. I went downstairs to mail the postcards around 2200. As I was walking back, I noticed a sign by the door that said "Remember to set your clocks forward at 2!". Daylight Savings time. So I set my watch. And all was cool.

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