Thursday July 15, 2010
We got up early (5:00 AM), which was hard to do since we had gotten in very late after the fireworks. A quick pack and down to the Metro stop on the way to Garde d’ Norde was the order of the business. One change of lines, and we arrived exactly as expected—we had a cup of coffee and checked in at the ticket kiosk. Then we waited for the train. We had a bit of a fright as Nancy and Jess were delayed at the restroom, when Pete found them, we had 10 minutes to make the train—way too close. Still we made it to our first class seats on the Thales High Speed Train. The train left right on time, and we moved quickly through the city of Paris and quickly into the countryside. They came by with our breakfasts—included in first class. We ate and talked and enjoyed the trip as we sped through northern France to Belgium and to our first stop at Brussels. From there it was a short time to Amsterdam. It really was a fast train. It was less than 3 hours from Paris to Amsterdam.
We reached Central Station in Amsterdam and worked our way out of the station. Following instructions that Pete and Jess had, we figured out that we needed to take tram 13 or 17 to Westermarkt. This was a plaza near our hotel—about 4 blocks. This is in the Jordaan neighborhood. This is a desirable neighborhood that is undergoing a bit of revitalization with very desirable addresses. It is also the sight of one of the four really old churches in Amsterdam. There is actually one in the east, north, south, and west of Amsterdam. We walked the four blocks crossing two canals and reached the Hotel VanOnna. This is a smaller hotel located in one of the old buildings of Amsterdam. We had room 43 and Pete and Jess were in 44. The hotel was a stripped down version of a room you might find in the states. The beds were military metal cots---black, not green with sheets and blanket. The mattresses were much like you would find on a cot. The pillows, I think, were filled with barley…hard and firm. The drapes were two different colors of red; however, the white sheers were the same. There was no air conditioning. There were two chairs and a very short and small coffee table. The bathroom was my favorite….the shower had no door, nor did it have a curtain, but it did come with its own squeegee to mop down the floor after your shower. You had to provide your own soap and shampoo. The room was extremely clean and a great breakfast of sliced cold ham, a slice of cheese, bread, butter, a hard boiled egg, and a Dutch rusk that could be buttered and coated with sugar and chocolate sprinkles. It was a great hotel.
After checking in, we went out for a walk. We toured a canal boat museum, really the history of the one canal boat, but interesting none the less. We stopped in at a Delft Porcelain shop---I felt like the bull from the story and chose my steps carefully. We walked to the square by the palace and passed a fabric store and a quilt store that were closed, but noted the location. We spent time looking at buildings. It seems many of the old buildings in the area we were staying were built on wooden pilings, but as the water level fluctuated some of the piles were exposed to air and began to rot—hence the houses are not straight. The settling combined with a tendency to build the fronts of buildings that slant toward the street or canal leads to some weird buildings.
After a break in our rooms, we set out looking for dinner. We had no real idea except we didn’t want to spend way too much. We checked menus and moved on. We found a hole in the wall Chinese place which had seating for four. Actually, the whole place only had seating for 14. The result was wonderful—the Chinese food we have had in Europe is more delicately seasoned than what we have enjoyed in the states. After dinner we stopped for a pint in a local bar. We sat upstairs on a floor so crooked that a pencil dropped on the floor would roll all the way across the room to the other side. It was very nice and then we headed home to plan the next day.
14, 362 steps and three countries not a bad day.
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