Friday, March 19, 2010

Amsterdam-Day 1

My flight into Amsterdam by way of Houston was fairly uneventful. It was a quiet flight with horrible food which is usually on par with an international trip. I arrived at Schipol airport a little late, but was able to find Rico in the Schipol Plaza. That airport is literally a city within a city. You could spend days there shopping and eating in the Plazas. We bought train tickets at the train ticket counter and took the escalator down to the train terminal. The train from the airport takes you directly to the Amsterdam Central Train Station where you can buy tram tickets. It is fast, clean, and super efficient. I understand now why it is pointless to have a car in Amsterdam. The tram system takes you everywhere you want to go! We knew we needed Tram #2 or #5 to take us to the Van Gogh Museum area and we were there within 10 minutes. Hotel Fita is on a side street called Jan Luykanstraat in a residential neighborhood with several pre-schools. We were not thrilled with the screaming later in the afternoon! Loes, one of the owners, got us checked in without a problem and gave us such specific directions we didn't get lost once while in town.
I was so jet lagged that on the first day we walked around the different districts without an agenda or a plan. We saw the entertainment area, flower market, tons of shopping, and the red light district. And yes, there are naked ladies shaking it in the windows and smokers tokin' it in the red light district. Totally different world.
We ended up eating at a bar the first night which wasn't very good at all. We didn't find a decent dinner until our last night there.

No comments:

Post a Comment