Amsterdam: days 8-10
UK/Netherlands Trip Status: days eight through ten, plus part of eleven
Hmm. I promised an update back on Saturday, didn't I? Oh well, obviously that didn't happen - I guess when you leave the hotel at nine and don't get back until ten thirty at night, you're really not in the mood to do any serious typing-type stuff. Um... There was a bunny right outside our patio door!! *distracts with cute!* :D
After determining on Thursday that not only was the hotel not "right next to Schipol airport" (there's a fifteen minute drive between hotel and airport, luckily this can be done by means of the free hotel shuttle), we learned that the wireless available at the hotel wasn't free for guests as the AP had assumed (she finally broke down and paid for a week's worth of internet with the available hot-spot company-thing), and that "laundry services" does not mean a laundry room where you can wash your clothes, it means that you can put clothes into a bag and have the hotel staff wash it for you, charging you exorbitant prices for each item. This caused the AP to be Most Unpleased. Yikes.
Friday we took the shuttle to the airport and then the train into Amsterdam. As I told the AP, Amsterdam reminds me more of Venice, California, than Venezia, Italy, does. More buildings, more land, fewer canals. Still. More canals in Amsterdam than in Venice. Helps that they're not only a foot or two deep, probably. From Centraal Station in Amsterdam we took the tram to the Museumplein and went to what was open of the Rijksmuseum and also the the Van Gogh museum. Both were interesting, and I would've liked to spend more time in the Rijksmuseum, but the AP was rushing us out to make sure we'd be able to go to the Van Gogh museum before they stopped admitting for the day. The Van Gogh was also interesting, but not as much as the Rijksmuseum (nineteenth century - pthbbb). I drew a picture of a statue! It is awesomely shaded, but not yet on Gregory, so... no picture to see >.>
Before we left home, the AP bought a special travel package online. For a certain amount she got three all-day passes for the Canalbus, and also 24-hour passes for the bus-tram-metro, good from the time stamped. On Saturday, after much searching (which actually was continuing from searching on Friday, since no one seemed to know where the office for changing in the voucher for the tickets was), we took the Canalbus around the city (which basically meant that we could hop on and off the boats for one of the tour-boat companies that goes around the city), first going to the Museumplein again so that I could draw a pretty picture of the architecture. The AP enjoyed the boats muchly, taking many photos and frequently changing seats in her unending quest to Get A Better View. After I drew my picture, we had a good time traveling around the city on the boats, walking between stops here and there. We eventually ended up stuck at the Museumplein again at the end of the day, because we misinterpreted the boat schedule and ended up having to get off one of the last boats of the day there. That was okay, as we still had tram tickets and were able to make it back to Centraal that way, catching the hotel shuttle about five minutes before it left to return to the hotel (yes, we rock). We watched fun programs about ancient Egypt on the BBC as we unwound and ate sandwiches in our room, with Mandy pointing out the inaccuracies and lies in the programs :D
Sunday we thought about using our 24-hour bus passes, but in the end decided against it, as we had no specific sights we wanted to see around different parts of the city, and the passes are good for anyone until January, so the AP figures she'll mail them to her sister who lives in the Netherlands, and she (or one of my cousins here, or someone else here) can use them. A sort-of thank you for my aunt picking us up from the airport on Wednesday, I guess. Instead we used our tram tickets and went to the Hortus Botanicus, which is this very cool-awesome-old botanical garden. There were greenhouses (one with a tropical jungle, even!) and beehives and a butterfly house. Many photos were taken, and I had a good time with the macroview on the camera I'm borrowing from the AP on this trip (since she still hasn't found a new memory card for my camera). The AP tends to start to drift off around one or two in the afternoon (even when standing up), so when she began to do that in the desert greenhouse, I found a nice corner to sit down and do a watercolor. It is pretty, though small, and I like it (even if it is only of buildings and not of plants). At the end of the day we decided to walk back to Centraal (trying to obtain drop along the way - the AP was not pleased with our findings D: ). Back at the room we packed, ate vla, drank beer (I finished off two pint cans! Go me!), and watched Return to Me, since it was being aired (it is oh so hokey and over-the-top, right down to the nuns).
Today we got up at seven (well, the AP got up earlier, I got up around 6:45, and the brother got up at seven when the TV alarm went off), dressed, ate, dealt with the AP freaking out about the shuttle being late, or our missing it because it was too full, caught the shuttle, dealt with the AP freaking out over the shuttle being late getting to Schiphol, arrived at Schiphol, dealt with the AP freaking out over the train being late, caught the train, dealt with more freaking out on the train, because she wasn't entirely sure how we were going to get from Brussels to Charleroi in time to catch our flight at 13:15, had the nice ticket guy on the train tell us what train to switch to in Brussels, had her freak out while waiting for the train in Charleroi because we were reading the chart with the weekend trains instead of the weekday ones... It was very nice when, having arrived in Charleroi disembarked in order to wait for the bus to the airport, she looked at her printout again and saw that Oh, Gee. Our flight was at 15:15, not 13:15. INSANITY, OMG o.O She is much calmer now (yay).
Salisbury, Stonehenge, and northern Cornwall when I find the energy >.>
Hmm. I promised an update back on Saturday, didn't I? Oh well, obviously that didn't happen - I guess when you leave the hotel at nine and don't get back until ten thirty at night, you're really not in the mood to do any serious typing-type stuff. Um... There was a bunny right outside our patio door!! *distracts with cute!* :D
After determining on Thursday that not only was the hotel not "right next to Schipol airport" (there's a fifteen minute drive between hotel and airport, luckily this can be done by means of the free hotel shuttle), we learned that the wireless available at the hotel wasn't free for guests as the AP had assumed (she finally broke down and paid for a week's worth of internet with the available hot-spot company-thing), and that "laundry services" does not mean a laundry room where you can wash your clothes, it means that you can put clothes into a bag and have the hotel staff wash it for you, charging you exorbitant prices for each item. This caused the AP to be Most Unpleased. Yikes.
Friday we took the shuttle to the airport and then the train into Amsterdam. As I told the AP, Amsterdam reminds me more of Venice, California, than Venezia, Italy, does. More buildings, more land, fewer canals. Still. More canals in Amsterdam than in Venice. Helps that they're not only a foot or two deep, probably. From Centraal Station in Amsterdam we took the tram to the Museumplein and went to what was open of the Rijksmuseum and also the the Van Gogh museum. Both were interesting, and I would've liked to spend more time in the Rijksmuseum, but the AP was rushing us out to make sure we'd be able to go to the Van Gogh museum before they stopped admitting for the day. The Van Gogh was also interesting, but not as much as the Rijksmuseum (nineteenth century - pthbbb). I drew a picture of a statue! It is awesomely shaded, but not yet on Gregory, so... no picture to see >.>
Before we left home, the AP bought a special travel package online. For a certain amount she got three all-day passes for the Canalbus, and also 24-hour passes for the bus-tram-metro, good from the time stamped. On Saturday, after much searching (which actually was continuing from searching on Friday, since no one seemed to know where the office for changing in the voucher for the tickets was), we took the Canalbus around the city (which basically meant that we could hop on and off the boats for one of the tour-boat companies that goes around the city), first going to the Museumplein again so that I could draw a pretty picture of the architecture. The AP enjoyed the boats muchly, taking many photos and frequently changing seats in her unending quest to Get A Better View. After I drew my picture, we had a good time traveling around the city on the boats, walking between stops here and there. We eventually ended up stuck at the Museumplein again at the end of the day, because we misinterpreted the boat schedule and ended up having to get off one of the last boats of the day there. That was okay, as we still had tram tickets and were able to make it back to Centraal that way, catching the hotel shuttle about five minutes before it left to return to the hotel (yes, we rock). We watched fun programs about ancient Egypt on the BBC as we unwound and ate sandwiches in our room, with Mandy pointing out the inaccuracies and lies in the programs :D
Sunday we thought about using our 24-hour bus passes, but in the end decided against it, as we had no specific sights we wanted to see around different parts of the city, and the passes are good for anyone until January, so the AP figures she'll mail them to her sister who lives in the Netherlands, and she (or one of my cousins here, or someone else here) can use them. A sort-of thank you for my aunt picking us up from the airport on Wednesday, I guess. Instead we used our tram tickets and went to the Hortus Botanicus, which is this very cool-awesome-old botanical garden. There were greenhouses (one with a tropical jungle, even!) and beehives and a butterfly house. Many photos were taken, and I had a good time with the macroview on the camera I'm borrowing from the AP on this trip (since she still hasn't found a new memory card for my camera). The AP tends to start to drift off around one or two in the afternoon (even when standing up), so when she began to do that in the desert greenhouse, I found a nice corner to sit down and do a watercolor. It is pretty, though small, and I like it (even if it is only of buildings and not of plants). At the end of the day we decided to walk back to Centraal (trying to obtain drop along the way - the AP was not pleased with our findings D: ). Back at the room we packed, ate vla, drank beer (I finished off two pint cans! Go me!), and watched Return to Me, since it was being aired (it is oh so hokey and over-the-top, right down to the nuns).
Today we got up at seven (well, the AP got up earlier, I got up around 6:45, and the brother got up at seven when the TV alarm went off), dressed, ate, dealt with the AP freaking out about the shuttle being late, or our missing it because it was too full, caught the shuttle, dealt with the AP freaking out over the shuttle being late getting to Schiphol, arrived at Schiphol, dealt with the AP freaking out over the train being late, caught the train, dealt with more freaking out on the train, because she wasn't entirely sure how we were going to get from Brussels to Charleroi in time to catch our flight at 13:15, had the nice ticket guy on the train tell us what train to switch to in Brussels, had her freak out while waiting for the train in Charleroi because we were reading the chart with the weekend trains instead of the weekday ones... It was very nice when, having arrived in Charleroi disembarked in order to wait for the bus to the airport, she looked at her printout again and saw that Oh, Gee. Our flight was at 15:15, not 13:15. INSANITY, OMG o.O She is much calmer now (yay).
Salisbury, Stonehenge, and northern Cornwall when I find the energy >.>