Before arriving, I did not actually know much about the city but I was aware of its... reputation. So I was entirely taken by surprise with the city's beauty.
I mean, you know it's going to be awesome when the train station that you arrive in looks like this:
There wasn't enough time for us to do too much in Amsterdam as our hotel was fairly far out of the city and we were flying back home the following morning.
But I did make sure we stopped at the Van Gogh museum.
Although the museum was very nice I was a bit disappointed that they had neither Starry Night (I've been informed it's currently housed at the Met in NY) nor Cafe Terrace at Night. I might have been alright with that if there had been at least some mention about them somewhere, but there was not a single word regarding either painting.
I then took myself for a little walkabout through the city before meeting up with my mom and taking a boat tour through the canals. By that point there was barely enough time for a quick dinner and then a late check in at the hotel.
However, because we were so late and the hotel was overbooked (we reserved our room the previous day however), we received a free upgrade to the executive suite.
Bath robes. An espresso machine. Live orchids. And a top floor view of, well, the neighboring industrial building. But it was certainly a change from the 1 and 2 star places we were stringing through in Venezia.
Unfortunately, on the train we took to the hotel, we witnessed a theft in action (not of our belongings, just to clarify).
An elderly Chinese couple were sitting in the same train car as us, a few rows up. At one of the stops two young guys came and stood in the doorway as if trying to decide where to sit. The moment the departure whistle blew one of them ran over, grabbed the lady's purse which was sitting on the empty seat next to her, then they darted out the train doors literally as they were closing. Neither her nor her husband, who was sitting directly across and facing her, had not even noticed what happened until others starting asking if that was her bag that just got snatched.
The moral of the story, friends, is this: when traveling, always be alert. Of course, additional precautions like hidden pockets, money belts, using travellers cheques, and having photocopies of important documents are helpful, but the best way of ensuring that you don't lose something that you want to keep is to be as attentive as possible. If you want to take a nap in an area where there are people constantly coming and going, keep a physical connection to your possessions (at minimum, an arm through a purse strap or using a suitcase for a footrest) to help make them that much less tempting to potential thieves.
Ok, lecture over now.
Mom and I finally made it back to Seattle this morning.
Getting off the plane, I first thought we had ended up in Florida by mistake. When did the air in this city get so hot and muggy?! Seattle sure is beautiful in the sunshine though.
It's good to be home.
Going to attempt to get some sleep now to kick the jet lag. It's 2am but still feels like the middle of the afternoon.
Back to real life tomorrow. And maybe some blog layout revisions soon as well.
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