Lost in Amsterdam
It's been a crazy last couple of days. It's amazing how aggravating traveling can really get. Of course, there are the good times and the great times, and it's something you will never forget for the rest of your life, but you also fine tune exactly what your pet peeves are and what horques you off tremendously.
So we made it to Gothenburg in Sweden and had a dorm hostel room all to ourselves. We went to their World Cultures Museum and learned A LOT about Africa, the tribes around the Orinoco River in Venezuela, and trafficking. I'm really, really glad we saw that last exhibit before we hit Amsterdam.
JJ is an interesting individual. He will have lost his sunglasses, torn apart his backpack, strewn about his jackets, and turned over the bed before realizing they are on his head. Within 5 minutes of that episode, he loses his room key, which MUST be in his LEFT pocket, goes through the whole process again, only to discover it in his RIGHT pocket. This is a continuous cycle that has become quite apparent on our trip.
Now, while in Munich, I couldn't find my camera, and I consciously told myself to not freak out like JJ, that I will find it in a few minutes and breathe a sigh of relief. However, in not finding it and realizing it was stolen, I had learned my lesson and decided JJ's freak-out method is certainly better.
In Gothenburg, even though our room was empty, we wanted to put our valuables in a locker, so we got locker number 175 from the front desk, pocketed the key, and headed to the museum. Museums are very smart nowadays and offer a locker that you need to deposit a euro in that you get back when you open the locker. The day before, we had used a locker that did not include the number on the key, so we made sure this time, to get a key with the number attached so that we did not have to go searching. After wandering the museum, we were ready to go home so we headed back to the locker. JJ pulled out the key, but lo and behold, a locker was open, but still locked. We thought it a bit strange, but it couldn't possibly be our locker. We both looked at the number on the key - 175, then the locker that was locked - but open with nothing in it - number 75. As I mentioned earlier, I learned keeping calm in these situations never works out, so I immediately started searching for number 175, but the lockers did not go up that high, so we went straight to the information desk. (Of course, logic still gets the best of me, and I thought, oh of course, the museum is closing soon, they must have just removed the last items from the locker.) When I mentioned this theory to the worker however, he was quite bewildered. He headed straight over, bringing another colleague with him, both looking aghast that someone has stolen our gear. The real issue with this, is that we don't leave our valuables at home, the new camera, journals, J's travel frog, our coats, were all in that locker.
Just as I was about to puke, JJ tried his key. It was obviously too big for the lock and then it hit me. Number 175 is the key we recieved for our hostel locker. There MUST be another key for the museum. And wouldn't you know it? JJ pulled out another key, number 64 (right next to locker 75) and all of our stuff was safe and sound.
After quite the embarassment, we headed out of the museum as quickly as we could.
There is nothing like that feeling of losing everything that is important to you, I was just devastated that it had happened twice. But THANKFULLY, we just freaked out over nothing.
And now time is running out and I need to go.
I haven't been able to say anything about where we've been since then, so I'll give a short rundown. We made it Amsterdam, but only were able to stay 3 days, because Easter started and the town filled to the max with tourists. We headed to Brussels a couple days early, enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL town and architecture, visited the Museum of Modern and Ancient Art and the Comics Museum. I had no idea that The Smurfs started right there in Belgium...
And then we went to the Haague. It was also a beautiful city with a great M.C. Escher Museum, but probably the most trying city we have had all trip. That's a story for another time....
Love to all
I can't believe how time is slipping away....
Emily
So we made it to Gothenburg in Sweden and had a dorm hostel room all to ourselves. We went to their World Cultures Museum and learned A LOT about Africa, the tribes around the Orinoco River in Venezuela, and trafficking. I'm really, really glad we saw that last exhibit before we hit Amsterdam.
JJ is an interesting individual. He will have lost his sunglasses, torn apart his backpack, strewn about his jackets, and turned over the bed before realizing they are on his head. Within 5 minutes of that episode, he loses his room key, which MUST be in his LEFT pocket, goes through the whole process again, only to discover it in his RIGHT pocket. This is a continuous cycle that has become quite apparent on our trip.
Now, while in Munich, I couldn't find my camera, and I consciously told myself to not freak out like JJ, that I will find it in a few minutes and breathe a sigh of relief. However, in not finding it and realizing it was stolen, I had learned my lesson and decided JJ's freak-out method is certainly better.
In Gothenburg, even though our room was empty, we wanted to put our valuables in a locker, so we got locker number 175 from the front desk, pocketed the key, and headed to the museum. Museums are very smart nowadays and offer a locker that you need to deposit a euro in that you get back when you open the locker. The day before, we had used a locker that did not include the number on the key, so we made sure this time, to get a key with the number attached so that we did not have to go searching. After wandering the museum, we were ready to go home so we headed back to the locker. JJ pulled out the key, but lo and behold, a locker was open, but still locked. We thought it a bit strange, but it couldn't possibly be our locker. We both looked at the number on the key - 175, then the locker that was locked - but open with nothing in it - number 75. As I mentioned earlier, I learned keeping calm in these situations never works out, so I immediately started searching for number 175, but the lockers did not go up that high, so we went straight to the information desk. (Of course, logic still gets the best of me, and I thought, oh of course, the museum is closing soon, they must have just removed the last items from the locker.) When I mentioned this theory to the worker however, he was quite bewildered. He headed straight over, bringing another colleague with him, both looking aghast that someone has stolen our gear. The real issue with this, is that we don't leave our valuables at home, the new camera, journals, J's travel frog, our coats, were all in that locker.
Just as I was about to puke, JJ tried his key. It was obviously too big for the lock and then it hit me. Number 175 is the key we recieved for our hostel locker. There MUST be another key for the museum. And wouldn't you know it? JJ pulled out another key, number 64 (right next to locker 75) and all of our stuff was safe and sound.
After quite the embarassment, we headed out of the museum as quickly as we could.
There is nothing like that feeling of losing everything that is important to you, I was just devastated that it had happened twice. But THANKFULLY, we just freaked out over nothing.
And now time is running out and I need to go.
I haven't been able to say anything about where we've been since then, so I'll give a short rundown. We made it Amsterdam, but only were able to stay 3 days, because Easter started and the town filled to the max with tourists. We headed to Brussels a couple days early, enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL town and architecture, visited the Museum of Modern and Ancient Art and the Comics Museum. I had no idea that The Smurfs started right there in Belgium...
And then we went to the Haague. It was also a beautiful city with a great M.C. Escher Museum, but probably the most trying city we have had all trip. That's a story for another time....
Love to all
I can't believe how time is slipping away....
Emily