Achy legs? Hop-On-Hop-Off

Flat photos are in Smugmug.com (taken with my Sony QX-100).
360-degree photos are in Flickr.com (taken with my LG 360).


I needed to give my body a chance to recover, and the weather forecast was less cloudy in the afternoon, so today was an easy decision.

I had breakfast at Wonder's which was next to the train station. €9.50 included two eggs (I asked for sunny side up) each on top of its own thick slices of hard crusted bread whose middle was like a moist dense cake. There was a small salad the side with arugula, lettuce, cucumber, and pine nuts. It had no dressing, but the greens were so delicious because they were so fresh. The tea was high quality and the orange juice was fresh-squeezed.

The friendly waitress/cashier (who could have passed as a young Shania Twain) said that the croissant was coming after she delivered my food. At first, I thought that that was just too many carbs. The freshly baked large croissant came with butter and jam on the side, but my surprise came when I tore it apart and it was so fluffy and light. And it was so delicious, I wouldn't have minded if that was all I had.

I bought City Sightseeing Amsterdam's 24-hour bus-and-boat pass for €28. I started with the bus loop, followed by the long boat loop, followed by the short boat loop, which I did twice. We passed by many of the same sites but from a different side.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. (The bus and the first boat were not open-air, so the photos were taken through the glass with glare and reflections. Sorry about that.)

This vehicle is actually a moving restaurant of sorts. The diners were pedaling while they were enjoying their food. :)

Sea Palace Chin Restaurant. The biggest Chinese restaurant in the country is on its own island.

A boat apartment complex?

After the long boat loop and before the short boat loops, I stopped at the Van Gogh Cafe by the dock and had a slice of a very thick apple pie, which wasn't too sweet, served with a large dollop of whipped cream sprinkled with ground cinnamon. Accompanied with sparkling iced tea. I didn't know there was such a thing until the bartender gave me the option.

Dinner was from Febo, a burger place in Zaandam, on the walk from the train station.

Observations

Both the waitress at Wonder's and the bartender at Van Gogh Cafe were very beautiful that they could be models but were still very friendly. It feels like a disconnect. Is my world view wrong? Is it the Dutch culture?

Drizzly? A great day for museums

Flat photos are in Smugmug.com (taken with my Sony QX-100).
360-degree photos are in Flickr.com (taken with my LG 360).


I was planning to take a boat to see the windmills at Zaanse Schans then figure out what to do. I already started out late because I was getting organized and trying to figure out what to take along with me.

Getting a sim

Along the way, I found a farmer's market but I didn't want to carry purchases with me all day. But one if the stalls sold phone sims and I chatted with the merchant who was talking with a friend on a wheelchair. Their language sounded Arabic. The merchant showed me the different options and he answered my questions about data allowances and whether it would also work in Belgium. For some reason, as I was removing the back panel of my phone, he said it might be better if I went to a phone shop, where they can help me better. That was surprising, but appreciated.

As I headed towards the ZansHopper dock, I found a TMobile store, whose rep recommended a Lebara sim, which was one of the options at the farmer's market.

Further down towards the dock, I found a phone repair shop, and they had Lebara and Lycamobile. The rep recommended the Lycamobile.

Anyway, I got a sim with both data (1GB) and voice (€20 worth for €10). And if I went.

Tasty brunch

Somewhere between the farmers market and TMobile, I had brunch at a little sandwich place at the avenue on either side of the nearby canal. I ordered the "hot chicken" and asked what went with it. The clerk was nice but she didn't speak English so she was mostly gesturing while speaking in Dutch. But I figured that "brod" meant "bread".

The chicken tasted somewhat like curried chicken and it was surprisingly very good! With a bottle of water, it was only €6.

The weather decided

Anyway, I couldn't find where the boats docked. There was a sign but it pointed to a dead end. It was drizzly anyway, so I decided it was a good day to hit the museums.

I took the train to Amsterdam Centraal, then a tram to Van Gogh Museum.

The ticket cashier dissuaded me from getting the pass for all museums for €60 because it wasn't worth it if I would only see a few museums. It amazes me that people look out for you.

If it weren't for the crowds, it would have been an absolutely great experience. And my legs were hurting too, so I think I sat at every bench I could find.

There was a section that showed pictures of Van Gogh's brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo, and a realization gave me a shiver. I thought they resembled Jon and me when we were younger. More the combination of flavors, if you can call it that.

Anyway, it took me at least three hours through the crowds. I listened to the multimedia tour for the spots I missed before returning the player.

I decided to have something to eat at the museum's cafe since it was already the middle of the afternoon. I had yogurt with pureed raspberry and granola, a very delicious flaky rectangular pastry stuffed with ground meat (sausage), and a little brownie (sans marijuana).

It was raining when I crossed the Museumplein for the Rijksmuseum. I still stopped to take pictures of people taking pictures at the I amsterdam sculpture.

The Rijksmuseum was closing in half an hour (17:00), so I decided to come back another time.

There was a brick road that ran under the gorgeous castle-like building, where the entrances were. When I came out, I heard classical music being played at the opposite sidewalk., So I walked over. There was a quartet of musicians. Long story short, I was sold three CDs.

Dinner was from easie back at Zaandam. Thai green curry noodles, mango smoothie, and a bottle of water. The noodles were too spicy and had too little meat. The mango smoothie was good though. A nice reward for what I put my legs through.

A very long day

360-degree photos are in Flickr.com (taken with my LG 360).


I woke up at 3:30am Pacific Time on 9/27.

I couldn't sleep the night before, which was unusual because I usually can't sleep the night before the trip, but this was two nights before. So I actually had seven hours of sleep on the eve of my trip, and that probably helped.

I finished packing and headed to work around 5am.

The journey

Around 2pm, I was trying to summon Uber. For some reason, it now says that my Google number is invalid. It was fine before. And it doesn't warn you until you're hurrying to get to the airport.

After unsuccessfully trying to remember my password to change the phone number on record, I gave up and installed the Lyft app.

The airport security line wasn't long. So I had a relaxing wait at the gate.

In the way to Dublin, I had a window seat on a two-seater row, and the guy next to me moved to a different seat, so I was lucky.

The 8-hour flight didn't seem so long. I watched "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" after dinner, then slept for 3 hours. Only ate half of breakfast because I couldn't scrape the cream cheese off the bagel entirely.

It was cloudy, but Dublin looked like a pretty town from the air. Lots of green, which I didn't expect in a major city. Maybe it was just the side of the city where we approached it.

It looked like they were doing renovations at the airport, so it was a long maze-like walk to the main section of the terminal. There was a quick passport check, then I headed to the gate for my connecting flight.

I saw a sign for a fresh salmon breakfast for less than €9 in the main shopping section. I should have gone for that, but I kept going, thinking there'd be other restaurants near my gate. I was wrong, so I settled for a cold sandwich and coconut water from a store near my gate. It was supposed to be €6 total, but the clerk gave me less than €3 in change. Is that because of the VAT? Or was I duped? She wasn't friendly to me (she was to the next customer), so I assumed she was prejudiced and decided to dupe me. I just got off a long flight, I had no patience for that BS.

On the shorter flight from Dublin to Amsterdam, I was nodding off even before we took off. But I wasn't really planning to sleep because I was in an aisle seat.

And I was very surprised that a small can of (fake) orange juice on the flight wasn't free. It cost €1.5. I guess European airlines are also cutting costs.

Amsterdam!

Anyway, the immigration line wasn't that short. After a seemingly strange question about my final destination, the agent asked if I was planning to live in Amsterdam. I said, "I wish!" And he laughed and let me go.

I spent extra time at the airport to take cash out. (I exchanged some cash at SFO, just so I wouldn't be euro-strapped and I'm glad I did so I was able to pay cash for my lunch in Dublin.)

I also bought an Amsterdam train+bus pass for 3 days for €25. (Rick Steves recommended it, but I only took a few rides in those three days so I didn't recoup the cost.) And a one-way ticket to my lodging. (The pass didn't cover the rides to and from my lodging.) I didn't want to waste one of the days for just one train ride.

The ticket counter agent also insisted that I didn't need seat reservations for domestic trips, contrary to what raileurope.com said. So hopefully, everything works out fine.

My first Airbnb experience

The walk from the train station took longer because I started out going in the wrong direction.

I went back to the train station to buy another cold sandwich and to ask for directions.

My Airbnb host Ken had posted a video of how to get there from the train station but I watched it a couple of months ago and didn't have time to watch it again. So I ended taking a different route. But the street looked familiar when I finally got there.

But my door code didn't work. I rang the bell, but no response. A black cat with brown spots snuck between me and the door and meowed to be let in too.

I was trying to connect my Bluetooth headset to use Skype when the door opened. And both Ken and I were surprised. He was about to go outside for a smoke.

The cat slid in meanwhile. It looked like it was actually their cat.

So, Ken postponed his smoke to give me a tour of the 100-plus-year-old house he was born in. Then he gave me info about sightseeing locally. Then, I asked him about the power plugs because they looked like big round holes and my adapter only had pins. (The two round pins plugged in at the bottom of the big holes.)

After checking my code (I had the wrong one), Ken finally headed outside again for his smoke.

I got organized a bit and had my cold sandwich dinner on the patio, while I went over the sightseeing materials he gave me.

On Ken's patio. Two more photos in Flickr.

It's a very nice quiet neighborhood. The clouds were rolling in and the wind was blowing but it was still very pleasant.

I even startled Ken, inadvertently, when he came out to collect the laundry that was hanging to dry nearby.

I headed back in when it got too dark to read. Unpacked. Took a shower. Went to bed at 9pm local time.

Woke up at almost 1am to use the bathroom. Was wide awake, so writing this blog post. It's 3am now (local time on Thursday morning), so going back to sleep.

Will try to post a few pictures tomorrow.

Observations

I didn't have problems with my blonde hair not matching my passport picture. But two Filipinas at SFO (an airline ticket agent and a TSA agent) were surprised that I'm from the Philippines, which they saw in my passport. I didn't even know it said that.

People were either unusually friendly or wary. But I was definitely not ignored.

I was probably one of the few non-Caucasians on the leg from SFO to Dublin. But I was very surprised to see a lot of Asians going from Dublin to Amsterdam.