Burkarskis do Europe 2023 - Train back to Amsterdam & Departure
Overview
| Rating |
🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢 |
|---|---|
| Year Traveled |
2023 |
| Length of Trip |
2 Weeks |
| Locations Visited |
Netherlands, Belgium, and France |
We bought our return train tickets back at Gare du Nord when we first arrived in Paris. So we had a specific train time to make and this time we were doing public transit instead of a cab. Our navigation of transit during morning commute hours was successful and I didn’t dispose of my ticket before scanning out twice (why twice? Who did this?)
I know Michael was hoping to grab coffee and a pastry but we were too tight on time. We almost dind’t find the correct train platform because there were a lot of areas blocked off for construction and the signage wasn’t helpful on detour routes. Our train is already at the platform when we arrive so we board right away. We thought that we would be seated apart since our seat numbers were 53 and 57. We were pleasantly surprised to find out those two seats face each other and have a shared table in between.
Once the train starts moving we visit the café car for coffee and a little sandwich to split. Michael also gets an iced tea. I grabbed the Coca-Cola sans sucre from the hotel minibar before leaving so I would have that for the ride too.
We arrive in Amsterdam too early to check into our hotel, once again. Michael picked a little inn attached to a bar right next to Centraal to make our morning departure easier. We do our initial paperwork and are allowed to leave our luggage in the bar’s kitchen.
We finally get to visit the Brouwerij de Prael Proeflokaal that Michael tried to take us to on our first day. I walk in ready to use my Dutch and my new vocabulary. “Heeft u een proefplank?” “Do you have a tasting board?” The guy affirms and turns his back to me as he starts prepping it and asking follow up questions. I wasn’t ready. I saw the board had 6 slots and I had only preselected 4 beers. The other bartender tells him that I speak English and I abandon my Dutch. It is only 4 slots for beer. One gets a water glass and one gets a pubmix glass. We also order some snack plates with cheese and sausage slices.
Late enough to get into our hotel room, we return so we can move the bags out of the bar kitchen. Also it’s siesta time. It is time to mention that our bedsheets are cuckoo. It’s a “double” bed but instead of having one fitted bedsheet that matches the size of the bed, there are two smaller (single? twin?) flat bedsheets covering the bed by stretching the long sides across the head-end and the foot-end width-wise. This is what we had ended up doing with our trailer bedsheets but I thought that was out of desperation. Is this how the Dutch thinks bedsheets should work?
I watch some German bicycle race on television for a while. Then “Modern Family” and “Big Bang Theory” dubbed in German. And “Brooklyn 99” which was not dubbed but had an extra narrator like the audio track for people who have visual impairments. At one point while we were relaxing, someone tried accessing our room. We heard the card scanner fail and the locked door knob jiggle. Must have forgot their room number? Or on the wrong floor? Too many space cakes?
Ready to venture out again, we go to a little restaurant with a sizeable patio on the canal. We’re able to get a table shortly after we arrive. And we could see swans on the canal! When we had our cheese and sausage snack for lunch, I wished we had also ordered the bread plate. This time I do not hesitate to order the bread plate. I don’t even ask Michael if he wanted some first. I also got a dish with fish and a lot of roasted vegetables. Michael got something with a really nice risotto. We finish out our stay on that patio with a gin and tonic each, as the menu had a whole section dedicated to them.
It’s our last evening in Amsterdam so we spend it walking around and checking things out. I knew Michael wanted a dessert so I pick an ice cream shop that also has dessert waffles. The one Michael orders is dipped in chocolate and has two small candy bars stuck to the top. I just wanted a little ice cream for myself.
I tell Michael that I wouldn’t mind a fancy cocktail, so he leads me to a bar called Dutch Courage. They have a guest bartender from Japan in tonight with two specials. The specials are not for me. Negronis are usually too bitter for me and the mule has a pepper-infused liqueur. But they are both up Michael’s alley. Michael gets one of the specials, the Miyako Negroni, and I get one of the drinks from their regular menu, Van Gogh. We get to sit out on the patio where the heat has broken and the night is feeling cool. We’re enjoying the drinks enough to go for a second round. Michael opts for the second guest bartender special, the No-Ryo Moscow Mule and I get Appeltje van Oranje.
Megan’s etymology aside
When I took Spanish in 8th grade it bugged me that the word for orange was “naranja.” Where does that come from? The other color words seemed to align with the English word or have the same root as a word I know in English. Then in high school I take Latin and the ancient Romans didn’t have a word for orange. I wanted “naranja” and “orange” to be closer like how rojo and red both share an R. Or how “verde” is found in words like “verdant.” When I started my Duo lessons in Dutch I learned sinaassappel for the fruit pretty early on. Then I get to the section on colors and clothing I learn “oranje” which looks like our English word. But when it’s pronounced in Dutch it sounds like the Spanish word! Magic!
We don’t want to stay out too late since we have an international flight leaving in the morning. So we walk back to the inn. Even though we’ve walked a lot that evening, we could see the sign for our inn from the cocktail bar patio. Our key card unlocks the inn entrance door that’s separate from the bar. We hike up the four flights of stairs. The key card does not open door 402. While were struggling I start noticing things that are off. There are only 2 doors up here. But I remember the fire escape map in our room showing 3 rooms on our floor. And there was another flight of stairs going up to the fifth floor before but here we’re at the top. I suggest we ask downstairs at the bar but Michael laments that the bar was closed. A bar is closed at 10 PM on a Friday evening in a popular neighborhood? Back outside we scope out the “bar” and that storefront is closed but it is not a bar. We check the address for our original booking and its a block away. This inn has two locations and we were trying to get in the wrong one! That’s probably what happened to the door knob jiggler from this afternoon! I feel bad for the occupant of 402 in the other building. Hope they weren’t sleeping!
Saturday Morning
We purchased our transit tickets for the ride to the airport the night before. We picked the little inn that we stayed in because of it’s proximity to the Centraal station. Back in Paris we’d done a lot to cull our luggage of things we did not intend to bring home (like most of a box of French Malox) and in the Amsterdam inn I was careful to remove only what I needed for the night and next morning so I’d be able to get it all back together quickly. Our ride to the airport is smooth but figuring out what terminal Aer Lingus flies out of was more difficult than expected. We walked through two different terminals before asking for help. It was tucked way off to the side and deep compared to the main corridor of the terminal with no identifying signage like the other airlines had. Soon we are checked in and through our security screening. Close call: I took a menu from Dutch Courage as a little souvenir and it looks a lot like a US passport. Almost pulled the wrong booklet out of my bag at security!
Usually I am the type of traveler to walk all the way to my gate to ensure that it does in fact exist in space and time before allowing myself to find coffee or food. But I knew we were early enough and the restaurant on the opposite side of security screening looks good enough. This was the right choice because there wasn’t many food choices closer to our gate and the bathroom lines over there were way longer.
Our plane to Dublin arrived to Amsterdam late so we were off-schedule. Our connection was a very close call. We boarded from the back of the plane but were not allowed to exit out the back of the plane. And we had to take a tarmac bus to the next terminal. AND we still had to do our US security screening. I have Global Entry and Michael does not but he got through faster than me. The guy ahead of me in line had messed up the photo screening. I was asked why I had so much luggage. I have a lot of stuff!!! Boarding is on “final call” when we make it to the gate but there is still a long lineup. Just enough time to use the restroom in sight of the gate before I spend seven hours on plane.
We make it back to Boston and it’s still Saturday afternoon. The coach bus back to NH goes by without a hitch. Charlie was very excited to see us and also very demanding of attention and scritches. We power through and stay awake til 9 pm and let Sunday be a lazy day back at home. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.