It’s been a whole two days since we wrote something, but we are alive. Just had problems with our electricity situation. Essentially, the only working power socket in our room at the hostel is too deep for the adapter I brought, so I had to pick something up before I could write.

Yesterday we left Scotland. We said our goodbyes to Kaija and took a cab to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 1:30, but we got their early to be safe. We hung out in the airport for a while, having some time to catch up with the Game of Thrones finale. We volunteered to put our baggage into the plane’s hold, and got on the plane.

I get nervous about flying, which I know is obviously silly. It’s probably a healthy reaction for a land-based mammal to have, but it’s less than desirable. This was exacerbated by the flight staff telling us that one of the engines was not working. He explained that the rear engine, which powers the air conditioning was not starting on its own, and that the delay we were encountering was because they had to start it from the ground using a large block vehicle.

The flight itself ended up being unremarkable, and arguably the most comfortable. Apparently easyJet had better leg room than our other planes thus far. I used the flight to finish up Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle (a good read, that I’m not sure I yet understand).

We made it to the airport, took a train into town, and stowed our luggage in a locker at the central station. It wasn’t until the evening that we were ready to explore the city. After acquainting ourselves with the layout and wandered around the canals a bit. We found a frites (fries) vendor and ordered a bag of frites with curry sauce and one which I can’t spell. Knoopflok…. something like that.

 

We ended the evening by buying sandwich ingredients, some wine, and making our way back to our hostel by taking a train to a shuttle service offered by the hostel.

We had been looking forward to this hostel the most out of any of our stays. It’s essentially a trailer park with small camper trailers. The grounds are very green, and there is a fun and friendly atmosphere. All of the campers are painted in vibrant colors with lawn ornaments and paintings. Because of limited internet, I can’t post any photos right now, but I will soon. The last hours of the day were spent eating sandwiches and reading.

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Day 2 started with breakfast at the Breakfast bus, which is an old school bus that they use for serving breakfast. There are picnic tables on an astroturf rug outside.

We were scheduled for the 12:30 shuttle to the train station, so between breakfast and the train ride, we had a few hours to relax at the nearby hammocks and read, taking in the beautiful blue skies that were soon to give way to rain clouds.

Buying our tickets for the train was the first train-related challenge of the day. We were going to meet our friends, Matt and Kate, for a walking tour at 1:30, so we wanted to get on the next train to the city center, which was apparently a Metro, their light-rail system, and not a Train. It was a minor mix-up which was made worse by the station gates shouting at us in Dutch. Arriving at the station only got us mildly chastised by the agent at the station gates.

 

With only a few minutes to make it to the National Monument, we speed-walked and arrived just in time. The tour took us around the city center, through the red light district, around south, and ending up by the Ann Frank museum, walking near and across canals and tipping buildings.

We found food at the end of the tour at a little diner. I had a stamppot with sausage, where Jessie had pea soup with bitterballen, which are little fried balls of meat, broth, and flour.

 

The evening found us walking about the canals again, finding pastries near Jordaan, a strikingly beautiful neighborhood. I ended up finding the correct adapter to my laptop charger, which in turn lets me charge our e-readers and phones.

The second trouble for the day came with our return train ride. The doors shut on Jessie just after I got off the train, splitting the two of us up. We signaled to each other to meet back at our platform. As I was holding Jessie’s ID, and the money, I got a little nervous. It all ended well, as she made it back to the station after only 12 minutes.

We ended the evening by retreating to our little white camper trailer, drinking warm drinks, and planning for tomorrow.