On Wednesday I wanted to go and actually climb the Eiffel tower. When I woke up I went down for breakfast and had my 2 croissants and Orange Juice. I went back upstairs and researched tours. The only one I could find that was available and at a good rate started at 2:00 PM. I also, however needed to catch up on the blog as I would fall too far behind. I started writing and before I knew it it was 1:00 PM and I was only half way through the stories. I had 2 choices, try and make the tour or finish what I started. I opted to finish writing after going to get some beers.
I saw the Eiffel tower from a distance. It is not going anywhere and I will most likely be in Paris again at some point, so I will climb it then. I drank a few beers and wrote some more. At about 4:00 PM, I was hungry. I went to see if Benoit and Marie were open but they told me thay had to clean the oven and wouldn't open until later. I remembered seeing a shop around the opposite corner from the hotel and decided to check it out.
I entered the shop and said "Bonjour, do you speak English?". The guy at the counter replied "A little bit". I said "Great". A little bit I can work with. The guy then went on to explain in fluent English what was on each pizza. The thing about Europe is a lot of people say they only speak a little bit of English, but they tend to speak it very well. Some on the other hand do only know 'A little bit'.
On Thursday, I woke up at 6:00 AM. I showered and packed my bags. I was downstairs ordering a taxi by about 7:15 AM. My train was at 8:25 AM. The train left from Paris Nord station which is a very nice station. I entered and found the departure board. It was an old style board with the writing that rolled. It was pretty cool. I watched and waited as the flicking sound indicated that the board was being updated. It was almost constant.
I was surprised to see so many people at the station at this hour of the morning but I guess some people commute to work. The most surprising thing of all was the groups of armed soldiers patrolling the train station. I hadn't seen this anywhere else in Europe. I thought "What goes on here that is so bad they require a Steyr to maintain order". My second thought was "French women are very hot."
My train came and I boarded. I was sitting next to a man in a suit. I was in the window seat. The train was completely full. I pulled out my laptop and started to watch 'Drive Angry' with Nicolas Cage. After about 15 minutes I was sleepy so I decided to go to sleep. It was a 3 and a half hour journey.
I must have been asleep for at least 45 minutes when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I thought maybe the guy next to me was waking me for some reason. I opened my eyes and looked to my right. All I could see was a police badge. My first thought was "What the fuck... what do they think I have done now?". Waking up to a police badge shoved in your face is a really strange experience. I looked further to my right and saw 2 men dressed in jeans and hoodies standing beside our seats. The man next to our seat said something to me in French or Dutch or Belgian. I don't know what language it was or what he was saying. I just put train and police together and asked "Passport?". He said "Yes, passport".
I got out my passport and he looked at it, asked me a bunch of questions. Seemed to be focusing on the drug side of things. Maybe it was because I was wearing a Black Flag T-shirt or because I was not an EU citizen, but he asked me where my bag was and if I had cigarettes or alcohol. I told him it was in the end of the carriage with all the other bags. I don't think he believed me when I said I worked for a bank. He asked me twice more. He finally gave me back my passport and they continued through the train looking at passports. They stopped in the luggage compartment and I could see them opening peoples bags. Mine was locked so they couldn't open it anyway.
Two things, I think it would be better if they sent uniformed officers to do the passport checking. How do I know that badge is even real. I almost asked the question but thought that may just make me a target for further harassment. They could be just people looking to steal things from baggage. Secondly, where the hell was I. I guess it must have been the Belgian border patrol because we soon arrived at Brussells station and the man next to me got off the train.
It was about 1 hour 45 minutes left to Amsterdam. I listened to my Ipod for awhile. after we stopped at Rotterdam it was about an hour until we arrived at Amsterdam. I hadn't eaten anything so I went to the restaurant car and got a ham sandwich and a bottle of coke. After stopping at Schiphol, it was about 15 minutes to Amsterdam. I got up and went to the end of the carriage and checked my bag. The locks were intact so they didn't open it. I put my backpack on and before I knew it we were stopping at Amsterdam. I headed toward the exit and had a cigarette, then got a taxi to my hotel.
The first thing you notice in Amsterdam is that bikes are the priority on the road. There a thousands of them. Cars, trams and pedestrians all give way to cyclists. I have never seen anything like it. The second thing you notice is there are a lot of buildings built with a lean. I'm not sure if this serves some engineering purpose or whether it was 'Ahh, that's straight enough' on the part of the builders. I got a good vibe from Amsterdam. For a city it seemed very relaxed and casual. I got to my hotel at about noon and checked in. It was a fairly nice hotel and close to restaurants and pubs.
I went upstairs to my room and and got set up. I had 2 cans of Carlsberg in my bag from the night before so I started drinking one and played around on the internet for awhile. I chatted with Miss C for awhile on Skype. At about 4:00 PM I started to get hungry and went downstairs to see if there was a restaurant at the hotel. They only had a bar which sold some snacks. I ordered a Heinekken and sat down. I asked for some nacho chips. I assumed it would be Nachos... No, it was Nacho flavoured corn chips. They were nice but didn't fill me up.
I got another Heinekken from the bar and went back upstairs to google nearby food places. I wasn't satisfied with the results so I went down to reception and asked them if there were restaurants or take aways nearby. The girl gave me directions and off I went.
There was a bridge over the canal about 500 metres from the hotel, which led to a lot of bars and restaurants. Amsterdam is full of canals, like Venice but maybe not as classy. Walking around Amsterdam, I just felt like this was a really cool city. It's not just the fact that drugs and prostitution are legal, it's just very relaxed and nobody cares what you do as long as you don't get in the way of their bicycle.
Bicycles are apparently the main form of transport in Amsterdam. It's like a Critical Mass 24 hours a day here. I saw women dressed up for a night on the town, riding their bicycle in high heels. If Romanian women are the most beautiful, then Dutch women are definitely the fittest.
I found an ATM and tried to withdraw some money. It told me I had insufficient funds. "What the fuck?" I thought. I had money, but I can only withdraw as a cash advance on the credit card in Europe. The Euro chews through the Australian dollar like a chainsaw through butter. I had no WiFi to transfer money across so I tried for a lesser amount. It let me have it. Now I needed to be careful until I got WiFi. I needed food and cigarettes. I was slightly drunk too, probably because I hadn't eaten all day.
I found an Argentinian Steakhouse and went in. I sat down and the bar tender brought me a menu. I ordered some meatballs in tomato sauce as a starter and a 350g Rib Eye steak as the main course. The meatballs were good but I have had better. The steak however was probably one of the best steaks I had ever eaten. It came with mash potato and mixed lettuce. It cost 40,00 Euro, but it was a fantastic steak.
I walked around the corner and found a news agency that sold cigarettes. Cigarettes are hard to find in Amsterdam for some reason. I bought 2 packets and headed back to the hotel. Steaua Bucuresti were playing Chelsea FC in the Europa league and I wanted to watch the game. I got back to the hotel and put the game on. At half time I went down and bought 3 beers. Steaua were 1 - 0 up and I sent a message to Miss C. If you remember from an earlier post, Miss C loves Steaua and i knew she was watching the game.
I watched the rest of the game and then watched Tottenham Hotspur demolish Inter in the game afterwards, before going to sleep. I was hoping for a good night sleep, but that wasn't to be.... To be continued.
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