Arrival at Schipol Airport. Train to Central Station. Successfully deciphered how the ticket dispenser works! I had to ask my seat neighbor where to get off.
Sandwich dinner (with chips and chocolates! Yummy!) inside my room. Doors were being opened and closed noisily. Giggles and babbles of girls permeated the walls. Someone was definitely breaking the no-smoking rule.
Checked out the 7:30pm Bible study at the cafeteria. Hmmm… people were just eating so availed of the free internet. Spent some quiet time in my room and prepared for the early day tomorrow. I planned to beat the long lines to the museums.
I hit the showers at 5:45 am. To be way ahead of the other girls. Great shower and toilet room. All in red, clean, spacious, and perfumed.
Breakfast at 8am was free. People seem to move slowly in this place. Burnt pancakes with jam, butter and syrup. I ordered eggs but they came with toasted bread. I packed them for lunch instead.
I went out and discovered it was drizzling and foggy. And definitely cold. Good thing I love the rain. Hmmm… except when I don’t know where I am!
Off to my first destination. Museum of Anne Franck’s Diary. Teary-eyed when I visited their secret hiding place. Imagine not seeing the outside world for more than two years and to live in fear and isolation. She was one great young writer.
The next one in my itinerary (I only had two!) was Van Gogh Museum, my fave painter. The walk was long and it was not easy to find. People (male or female) were not very good in giving directions. The last one who offered to help gave the right instructions! Talk about falling in line ( a long one!) un
der the rain. And just behind a couple smoking. After an hour of waiting, I finally made it in! And enjoyed the special exhibition of Colours of the Night (special feature : Starry Night). Off to the permanent collection. I just wish he didn’t shoot himself.
My feet were killing me so I sat for awhile. Calculated the time I need to make it to the Central Station. Decided to take the tram since it would save me time. Got a bit lost. A tram driver gave me a wrong direction.
Checked out from the hostel. And readily forgot the Van Gogh painting I bought. And rode the tram to the wrong direction. The challenge? Rain, heavy suitcase and backpack, wrong tram while trying to make the ride within the allocated 1 hour time of the ticket.
At the Central Station, I needed to buy a train ticket to the Hague. Guess what? It was being sold in another ticketing office. Talk about complicated. The ticketing person couldn’t speak in English so I had to double check the number of the train platform from other people. I went up and down and up again. And discovered the escalator too late. Inside the train, I was back to being uncertain. There was no announcement where it was heading. I missed the Paris metro system. People were asking back and forth where the train was stopping.
I was just happy to leave Amsterdam because in the Hague, I would see a friend waiting.
Note: Pictures from the internet. It was raining and thus not advisable to take pictures. Cameras not allowed at the museums.
2 comments:
You are so brave to travel alone in unfamiliar territory. I admire you.
Hey Melb! Thanks. It can be frightening. But it has it's nice parts. The downside is... there's no one to take my picture!
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