Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Thursday July 14, 2005
After staying out so late the night before, it was nice to sleep in. I met Danni and Mike from the night before at the hostel. We went to an internet cafe to check on the tickets for The Killers. Unfortunately, they were sold out! Man! That was two sold out concerts in a row. That rots. So, I decided that I would stick with my original plans and head to Amsterdam after all. So I said good bye and went to the train station. While I was walking to the hostel, a pigeon pooped on my backpack! Yuck!
The ride to Amsterdam is only three hours on the ICE train from Cologne. When we crossed the border into The Netherlands, they actually checked everyone's papers! It was the first time I had to show my passport at a border crossing since I landed in Amsterdam almost two weeks before... What's up with that?
So, when I got to the train station in Amsterdam I headed to my chosen hotel.. the Amstel Botel. It's a hotel on a boat... get it? BOTEL! Ha ha. They were booked up solid on Saturday night, so I was only able to stay there for two out of the four nights that I wanted to stay in Amsterdam. So I booked a room for two nights and would figure out where to stay on Saturday night later.
The Botel wasn't really that good. The boat was right beside the train tracks. From my room, you could hear the train's braking and squealing and screeching around the last bend in the tracks before the train station twenty-four hours a day! It sucked! It was also next to a construction zone and there was heavy equipment making lots of noise, too. And the place was expensive. And breakfast wasn't included in the price! I was actually kind of glad that I would be able to leave after only two days.
"View" from my botel room:
Oh well, as usual, I was in a new city, so I started my walkaround!
The centre of Amsterdam is pretty small and it's pretty easy to walk everywhere. Just like Venice, Amsterdam is a city of canals... there are canals EVERYWHERE! Most canals are filled with canal cruise boats and private boats filled with people who are partying and/or drinking.
It didn't take me very long to learn that Amsterdam was definitely the most expensive city that I've been in this trip, and the most touristy. There were huge heaping piles of tourists everywhere. Anyways... it was soon getting late and it was time to go back to the hotel and sleep!
The ride to Amsterdam is only three hours on the ICE train from Cologne. When we crossed the border into The Netherlands, they actually checked everyone's papers! It was the first time I had to show my passport at a border crossing since I landed in Amsterdam almost two weeks before... What's up with that?
So, when I got to the train station in Amsterdam I headed to my chosen hotel.. the Amstel Botel. It's a hotel on a boat... get it? BOTEL! Ha ha. They were booked up solid on Saturday night, so I was only able to stay there for two out of the four nights that I wanted to stay in Amsterdam. So I booked a room for two nights and would figure out where to stay on Saturday night later.
The Botel wasn't really that good. The boat was right beside the train tracks. From my room, you could hear the train's braking and squealing and screeching around the last bend in the tracks before the train station twenty-four hours a day! It sucked! It was also next to a construction zone and there was heavy equipment making lots of noise, too. And the place was expensive. And breakfast wasn't included in the price! I was actually kind of glad that I would be able to leave after only two days.
"View" from my botel room:
Oh well, as usual, I was in a new city, so I started my walkaround!
The centre of Amsterdam is pretty small and it's pretty easy to walk everywhere. Just like Venice, Amsterdam is a city of canals... there are canals EVERYWHERE! Most canals are filled with canal cruise boats and private boats filled with people who are partying and/or drinking.
It didn't take me very long to learn that Amsterdam was definitely the most expensive city that I've been in this trip, and the most touristy. There were huge heaping piles of tourists everywhere. Anyways... it was soon getting late and it was time to go back to the hotel and sleep!
# posted by Rob Szumlakowski @ 5:00 a.m. 
