Yesterday we flew to Amsterdam and then took the train to Leiden. We're at a slight language loss here as opposed to Germany as neither of us speak Dutch, but I spoke some German. In fact, if you ask someone if they speak English, they almost seem offended as they say "Naturally."
After landing and hauling our luggage through the airport to the train station, we went to buy tickets. Unfortunately our credit cards don't work here like they did in Berlin. Here they require some kind of chip in their cards. Crap. That means we have to pay in cash for everything. Our first task was to buy train tickets. It was only a 15 minute train ride to Leiden, a fact we forgot when we went to buy tickets. A second class ticket is only 5 euros and a first class ticket is 9 euros. So we decided to buy first class tickets because of our baggage. Stupid us. First, you can't find first class on the trains. There's no separate train or even a place on the trains that looked any different from the other areas. So we got suckered. And again, it was only a 15 minute ride!! What were we thinking? We weren't. Our credit cards has just been rejected, I had just gotten robbed converting dollars to euros at the ANB in the station, and we were sort of tired. If that's the worst thing to happen to us on the trip, we'll be lucky!
We passed some tulip fields which were really pretty, but a picture would have been hard as the train moved pretty quickly and the fields are somewhat narrow and long.
Once in Leiden, we took a cab to the hotel and found out there is a quick bus ride we can take for 1.60 euros each way. Nice. It runs about every 30 minutes though, which is not as nice. A bit of shocker after being in Berlin and never having to wait more than 2 minutes for a train.
Our first impression: SOOOOOO many freaking bikes!!! Everywhere!!! And they are worse than cabbies in Chicago as far as driving recklessly goes. Then you throw in pedestrians and cars and it's mayhem. You don't know if you're walking on the sidewalk, bike path or street half the time!! We actually walked down one street just because cars weren't allowed down it just to take one variable out of the equation!
Then my internet on my phone didn't work. I had cell coverage and could call and text, but no internet. Fortunately I fixed that this morning over a breakfast call with ATT International. I'm good to go.
We sat outside at a corner cafe near the train station and on a canal and had a beer, french onion soup (with cheese stalk) and a club sandwich. We got the soup just because we wanted to see what a cheese stalk was. Turns out it's a bread stick with cheese flavoring. It was sunny, but sneaky cool. A little breeze was blowing so it was warm if you were walking around and in the sun, but sitting made it cooler. Not far away was a windmill that garnered the attention of many a tourist, almost all of whom happened to be Japanese while we were sitting there. It's fun when people live the stereotype.
Speaking of which, we're staying at a Holiday Inn here in Leiden! The bed is softer, but not super soft, there are wash cloths, and it's a hotel that could be anywhere in the US. I like it!!
Because I have to use Laura's computer here (internet is not free anywhere in the hotel and she can expense it), I can't upload pictures. Maybe in Amsterdam.
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2 comments:
Joe! Surprised at so many bikes and unreliable public transit?? Have you not been reading the blog all these years?
PS - the best bet for telling if you are on the walking path. For whatever reason, pedestrian way is generally the most elevated pathway. Also bike paths are often in red.
Yes. I know you've been reading Alexis' blog - how could this shock you? I suppose it is the difference between the experience as opposed to the imagined.
You got to eat fries! Do it!
Even with me now somewhat expecting it, I still am almost always being run over by bikes when I visit.
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