Subject: "Rainy" Amsterdam     Part 2

Hi Mele

Well. it's a rainy Sunday morning in Amsterdam, so this is an ideal time to catch up on email. I'm waiting for the weather to clear so I can take a boat tour of the canals.(See Part 1 re. England on previous cyber postcard #3)

I visited the redlight district yesterday, and it was pretty much as expected. I also walked around a lot and wandered through the streets.

The flight from LCY to Rotterdam was uneventful. We flew in VLM airlines Fokker 50 turboprop--it was a 50 minute flight. In Rotterdam, I took the bus #33 from the airport to Centraal Station. This took about 15 minutes, and gave a thumbnail tour paste canals with houseboats and barges. Unfortunately, my camera was in my backpack, so no pix of this.

Transportation here is quick and mostly east. Aside from getting on the wrong train at Rotterdam, and having to change later to the Amsterdam train (5 minutes later, the one I should have been on), it's been relatively simple to get around. I had a happy accident on my train to Amsterdam. The car I rode in was marked 1-No Smoking and 2-smoking (this is a double-decker train) and I thought this meant what it said, but it turned out that 1 was first class - NOT 1st floor!  Anyway, no one came by to check my ticket, so it was not a problem. I guess this was my first first-class upgrade...

Hostelling:   Well, that gets me to Amsterdam. I'm staying at the Vondelpark City Hostel, which is clean and spartan. Last night I was in a 4 man room with 2 others, so we split the NLG180 tab, making it about $30 US for each of us. Tonight I'm moving to another room (a dorm, I presume) which is costing me about NLG38, or $19 US. It's in a fairly quiet (at night) area and right next to Vondelpark and close to the Leidseplain (sp?)

Two words of caution:

1. Don't come to Amsterdam without reservations, or be prepared to either stand in long lines and to pay commissions or hoof it around. There are signs on the light posts here, especially around Centraal Station, and there's one for the Vondelpark City Hostel, but the signs aren't easy to follow. It's hard to see what street name signs are here, which is not a lot!

2. Call ahead and reserve, if you can. I tried this from London (if you stay in Hostelling International Hostels, most of them have a booking network and can make arrangements for you at the next stop or two. I made my NEXT reservation in Rotterdam for Monday night this way.

TIP--How to speak "Hostel": When I phoned to get a reservation in the Vondelpark Hostel, I was told it was "full up". When I arrived in Amsterdam I went to the hostel anyway and was told again, they are all booked up, and given a list of budget hotels to call. Then two other men came in looking for a twin. They were told that no twins were left, only a Quad. I then asked if they'd be interested in splitting it, and the three of us wound up with a previously unavailable room. The lesson here is: don't be too specific about what you're looking for unless you won't have it any other way.   Had I asked what was available, I could have looked around the lobby and found potential roommates.

They use a PIN-number controlled locker system here, and it costs NLG3 for all day. Very reasonable.Especially since I have to change rooms and can't move into the new room until 2pm.  (Let us know how often you need your combination lock for hostel lockers)

The 2 day bus and tram pass I bought for NLG15 (about 7.50) is a great convenience. Here, you only get this stamped the first time you use it, after that, just get on and off as you wish for the next 48 hours.  No one checks tickets here, either.

I must admit I haven't been as religious about keeping track of expenses as I expected to be. But I'm averaging about $85 a day so far. That's one B&B and four (counting tonight) nights in Hostels, plus local transportation and atttractions. Add about $20 for food - picnic style and restaurants, and it's right around what I planned. Of course, if things get much more expensive in Scandinavia, This might go up.

Amsterdam is CRAZY with bicycles. I can see why. We think we have a traffic problem in Honolulu, but it pales by comparison. Instead of road-hogs, Amsterdam has narrow streets with tram tracks and "bicycle lanes". Of course, bicyclists only use them when it's convenient seeming to prefer the walkways and pushing pedestrians around at random. Bicycles seldom stop for traffic signals or other traffic (foot or vehicular) so one must be on guard constantly. You'll get the finger from a cyclist if you get in his/her way.

Oh well, the rain promises to keep up for a while, I guess. It's 12:40 and no sign of a letup. I sent an email to my friends and relatives in Denmark this morning, to keep them up on my progress. I'm really looking forward to getting there on Tuesday. So far, the plane reservations have gone without a hitch. I hope that continues. (Oh, yes, I had to pay L10 airport tax at the counter in LCY for my flight to Rotterdam, so if you use Europe by Air, be sure to budget for airport taxes.)

That's all I can think of at the moment, so I'll catch up with you later.

Aloha,    Jim