Americans Abroad
I'm currently in Amsterdam, at the Moevenpick Hotel not too far from the central station. It's a cool place (that I managed to find a discount on). Lots of glass and polished metal, and interesting touches. One of the things I find kind of neat is that the electricity in the room (lights and AC anyway, is controlled by your card key. You insert it into a box on the wall and everything comes on. It is a potentially good way to keep things running in rooms that aren't occupied. I also like how one knob in the shower controls temperature and the other controls water pressure -- no separate taps for hot and cold.
I could digress into my philosophy on hotels, but that'll keep.
I want to talk about this couple at breakfast. I was sitting there with my coffee, continuing to try to troubleshoot my phone which is staunchly refusing to access any carrier (which makes using my GPS difficult, since it requires a data connection), and I hear the guy at the next table mutter something about gearheads. Shrug, whatever. Then he starts talking about the dog.
Now, he and the woman with him (who I soon determine is his wife) are talking about me and the dog in tones that are clearly not addressed TO me, but are definitely loud enough for me to hear, even though their table is not right next to mine.
I'm debating whether to say something to them, when the woman says loudly to someone, "Good morning! Where's your lovely wife!!!??"
A soft-spoken man says, laughing "We're just friends," but the woman still continues talking about his travel companion as though the two are romantically involved. When she finally is made to understand that he and his travel companion are in no way involved with each other she starts prattling about his single status.
Then the woman asks what he does and he says he's a dentist.
She spends the next TEN MINUTES going on and on about her teeth. How she loves to floss, how she's got good strong, thick teeth, how her husband has terrible teeth, how he has always had cavities, how she is taking calcium supplements to protect her teeth and bones, how she's got a gap in her teeth.
And I'm doing everything I can to keep from laughing. I want so badly to shoot a sympathetic look to quiet-dentist-guy (who is in no way actively participating in this discourse), or to do something to rescue him from these people, or to just say, "For god's sake! He's on VACATION! What's wrong with you?!"
I hope he managed to escape.
Now then, I have a city to explore.
I could digress into my philosophy on hotels, but that'll keep.
I want to talk about this couple at breakfast. I was sitting there with my coffee, continuing to try to troubleshoot my phone which is staunchly refusing to access any carrier (which makes using my GPS difficult, since it requires a data connection), and I hear the guy at the next table mutter something about gearheads. Shrug, whatever. Then he starts talking about the dog.
Now, he and the woman with him (who I soon determine is his wife) are talking about me and the dog in tones that are clearly not addressed TO me, but are definitely loud enough for me to hear, even though their table is not right next to mine.
I'm debating whether to say something to them, when the woman says loudly to someone, "Good morning! Where's your lovely wife!!!??"
A soft-spoken man says, laughing "We're just friends," but the woman still continues talking about his travel companion as though the two are romantically involved. When she finally is made to understand that he and his travel companion are in no way involved with each other she starts prattling about his single status.
Then the woman asks what he does and he says he's a dentist.
She spends the next TEN MINUTES going on and on about her teeth. How she loves to floss, how she's got good strong, thick teeth, how her husband has terrible teeth, how he has always had cavities, how she is taking calcium supplements to protect her teeth and bones, how she's got a gap in her teeth.
And I'm doing everything I can to keep from laughing. I want so badly to shoot a sympathetic look to quiet-dentist-guy (who is in no way actively participating in this discourse), or to do something to rescue him from these people, or to just say, "For god's sake! He's on VACATION! What's wrong with you?!"
I hope he managed to escape.
Now then, I have a city to explore.