Traveling Back to the States: Overnight in Amsterdam

July 26-27

So we had to get up at 2:15 AM to go to the Kilimanjaro airport this morning.  I posted a quick note on Facebook at the hotel and we were off for our flight.  It was really hard to leave Africa, though I will be glad to be back in the states where flush toilets are the norm.

In the gate for the plane, there was a ladies toilet, but there was no seat and no paper.  I found myself looking for a rock, but when I didn’t find one, I went back out through security to find a toilet with a seat.  Again, they looked at me funny.  Big deal.

Since our flight left just before sunrise, we got one more view of Kilimanjaro before we left and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.  She is so beautiful and will always have a space in my heart.

Nairobi was still awful, though our layover wasn’t very long.  I got into a fight in the bathroom with a woman who thought she could push in front of me because she really had to pee.  I had to do something more, so I physically took ahold of her and moved her back behind me with a few strong words.  I think I shocked her a bit, but I accomplished my business and I’ll never see her again, so Hakuna Matata!

The flight crew to Nairobi was great, though my in-seat entertainment wasn’t working, so I spent the flight sleeping and reading.  Totally a bummer.  Marc’s worked – he got to watch movies, which I was REALLY looking forward to.  The crew felt bad and they gave us two amenity kits, which are nice and I guess are supposed to make up for the boredom. 

Tram #5 got us everywhere we needed to go!

When we arrived in Amsterdam, we found out that we couldn’t check our luggage in until tomorrow, so we had to find a place to store it overnight.  After some walking around, we found large baggage lockers and got it all situated, taking with us the carryon for the night.  We bought train tickets and headed to the train, getting directions from the information booth as to how to get where we needed to go.  At the train stop, we had to switch to a tram and we ended up switching to the wrong direction tram.  A nice woman explained it to us, we got off, and got back on the correct side.

At the tram stop, we couldn’t find the hotel, so we had to ask at an ING office.  They googled it for me, gave me a map, and we found it without no problem.  Once there, we upgraded to a room with a Jacuzzi tub and free wireless, so we could call our kids.  It was a very nice hotel!!  After talking to the kids, we headed out to find some food.

Stammpott!

The desk clerk recommended a spot where the restaurants were not frequented by tourists, which is exactly what we wanted.  We ended up eating in an alleyway at a great restaurant, having Stammpott, which is a traditional Dutch dish of mashed potatoes, sausage, and meatballs.  It was SO GOOD!  I also had a martini rossa with the local gin and it was delightful.

The Cassa Rossa Theater - live shows if you wanted them!

Instead of taking the tram again, we decided to walk to the redlight district to take a look around.  It was NOT what I expected.  Anywhere there was a red lantern, there were glass doors behind which the women displayed themselves in very little clothing.  Occasionally they opened the door to proposition people that walked by.  Some of them were quite beautiful and it was actually a fun walk, past headshops and hookah bars, porn theaters, and all sorts of other things that you would expect.  And it wasn’t even dark yet!

Can you see the red lanterns?  Pictures in front of them would
have been bad form.

We mosied our way back and did some shopping for cheese and gifts, got some frozen yogurt, then rode the tram back to our hotel for a snooze.

Walking through Amsterdam

In the morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and the buffet was fantastic.  Scrambled and soft boiled eggs, fresh bread, Dutch cheese, fresh fruit and juice…so tasty.  Probably gained back all the weight I lost on the mountain in one night in Amsterdam.  After breakfast, we began making our way back to the airport.

This time, my entertainment system worked and I watched Warm Bodies, Les Miserables (all the way through this time!) and part of Skyfall before we landed in Chicago at 2 in the afternoon.  Our bodies thought it was 9 at night and we still had a five hour layover.  We got a tasty dinner at Wolfgang Pucks, then made our way slowly toward the gate where we took a nap while we waited for the plane.

The flight to Sioux Falls was quite short, we slept the whole time, and when we arrived it was 10PM.  We made our way to baggage claim and…who is that??

Dagny and Sintu were there waiting for us.  Sintu was so overcome by our return that he started to cry and it felt SO GOOD to hug them.

So I’ve made a promise.  The next big vacation will be a family vacation and it will NOT involve tents or heavy backpacking.  Sounds like Disneyland to me!!