paris to amsterdam

so it's finally here - class is about to start!

from the beginning of this trip planning, i knew i didn't have a lot of time in paris. i knew i wouldn't be able to see everything - or very much - i knew this would just be a taste. i didn't realize it would be quite this fast! but i am feeling awesome for what i did get to see and do, and for what i know i want to see and do next time around :)

sunday mornings, incidentally, are not the time to try and do any last minute errands. everything is closed. even many of the tourist shops are closed. it was creepy.

so we made it to the train station with some time to spare, and i ran around getting last minute errands (stamps and ATM and such), and by the time i'd grabbed a sandwich for the train, it was 11:24 and the train ladies were rushing us into the closest carriage.

slight problem. the train would split in brussels, with one going to middle-of-belgium and the other going to amsterdam. guess which part of the train we managed to get ourselves loaded onto?

yup. we were headed to the middle of belgium. UNLESS we grabbed our stuff and hoofed it to the front part of the train that was going to amsterdam in the couple minutes' stop at brussels. thankfully, we made it. but there was some hectic excitement there for a minute or two - especially when i realized i'd fallen asleep just as they were making the announcement that we were arriving in brussels. yikes.

but we made it to the amsterdam train, and in just a couple hours found ourselves pulling into amsterdam centraal! the weather got grayer as we neared amsterdam, of course - i'd been warned already that we were returning to seattle weather (sigh). (OH - there was the biggest most awesome thunderstorm in paris the night before. i miss thunderstorms so much! it was fabulous.) but now it was getting gray and cloudy and a bit misty spitty rainy - and then i saw my first windmill :)


once we arrived at centraal, we had the fun of figuring out how to get our little orca/charlie/metro card things for the public transportation, then find the tram, then orient ourselves in the neighborhood... and eventually we made it to the bicycle hotel! hour home for the next week.



these are the stairs that met us. (well, these are looking down the first flight. they're treacherous.)

my favorite quote? "it's best if you think of them as a ladder."
i just try not to be that girl that killed herself on the dutch stairs... every time i walk downstairs. seriously.

luckily, this is the shop on the corner:

kiwis and moas and meat pies, oh my! all will be right with the world.

not long after dropping my things and starting to get settled, it was all becoming real that this is really starting - class starts in the morning, we're going to be here in amsterdam for a week, and then three weeks in rotterdam... and it's a month till i'm home. at the same time that i'm so aware that i've been gone a week already, and so much has happened, i've also a month yet to go... and i can't even anticipate what will come next.

but too much thinking about the future! clearly time for a wander. and definitely, definitely time for a beer.

welcome to amsterdam :)

(a note to the wise. when sitting in a lovely square not far from your hotel, enjoying belgian beer with friends, please oh please keep an eye on the birds above. they may decide it is time to join your party, or share with your party... unfortunately, their sharing is definitely not welcome in your beer. or your hair. or your clothing. but clothing can be cleaned, beer refilled (for free, yay!) and from now on? use those little coasters as drink toppers. just a thought.)