Day 36: Wed 31/01/2007
We fly to Amsterdam, and put our baggage into lockers as we really won't be needing it (as we are flying out of here tomorrow).
We get on a train that I think is going to Amsterdam centraal. I read it wrong. It said Rotterdam Centraal. Whoops (But you could understand how I could make that mistake? NO). I realise my error halfway through the trip and walk up to Scruff (while holding in my hysterics):
Me: So like, I think we're going in the wrong direction.
Scruff: Next station is centraal, we'll just get off there.
Me: (Thinks: Yes, next station is Centraal, ROTTERDAM centraal.) Sure.
So by the time we get to Rotterdam I am rolling on the floor in laughter. Scruff was a little bit annoyed that I got us on a train to Belgium (the next stop after Rotterdam!) but he seemed to find it pretty funny also. So we hung out in Rotterdam for a while (where the architecture is incredible), had our first steak away from home, then got lost for hours. We wander back and forth, up and down, in the rain until 8 or so, when we eventually stumble into Centraal station (at this point in time it proceeds to stop raining, of course). We get the next train to Amsterdam, which leaves on time, everything is looking up, it looks like the adventure is over.
Half an hour out of the station the train stops, and sits for some time, before starting to return to Rotterdam. WTF. They're announcing things in Dutch so we have no idea what is going on. Right before we arrive in Amsterdam a lady informs us that someone committed suicide using the train and we are returning to Rotterdam and the next train will leave from platform 9.
Thankfully, after an hour on this train we make it to Amsterdam. Of course, by this time it is 10:30pm and our hostel's curfew is 11pm. We run for our tram which of course leaves without us. We wait a couple of minutes and catch one that is going close to our hotel. We make it to the hotel in time, and thus far, everything seems fine.
Or so I think? 11:58pm. I think I am safe.
We get on a train that I think is going to Amsterdam centraal. I read it wrong. It said Rotterdam Centraal. Whoops (But you could understand how I could make that mistake? NO). I realise my error halfway through the trip and walk up to Scruff (while holding in my hysterics):
Me: So like, I think we're going in the wrong direction.
Scruff: Next station is centraal, we'll just get off there.
Me: (Thinks: Yes, next station is Centraal, ROTTERDAM centraal.) Sure.
So by the time we get to Rotterdam I am rolling on the floor in laughter. Scruff was a little bit annoyed that I got us on a train to Belgium (the next stop after Rotterdam!) but he seemed to find it pretty funny also. So we hung out in Rotterdam for a while (where the architecture is incredible), had our first steak away from home, then got lost for hours. We wander back and forth, up and down, in the rain until 8 or so, when we eventually stumble into Centraal station (at this point in time it proceeds to stop raining, of course). We get the next train to Amsterdam, which leaves on time, everything is looking up, it looks like the adventure is over.
Half an hour out of the station the train stops, and sits for some time, before starting to return to Rotterdam. WTF. They're announcing things in Dutch so we have no idea what is going on. Right before we arrive in Amsterdam a lady informs us that someone committed suicide using the train and we are returning to Rotterdam and the next train will leave from platform 9.
Thankfully, after an hour on this train we make it to Amsterdam. Of course, by this time it is 10:30pm and our hostel's curfew is 11pm. We run for our tram which of course leaves without us. We wait a couple of minutes and catch one that is going close to our hotel. We make it to the hotel in time, and thus far, everything seems fine.
Or so I think? 11:58pm. I think I am safe.