This is a long one so get snacks and get comfortable ;)
Friday January 30, 2009
Well, Holland is fabulous with a capital ‘F’- I love it.
There is much to love about this small country so you just have to hear about my 48 hours in the Netherlands.
I leave my house in Roma at 7:30am so as to have enough time to be at the airport by 9:30. I arrive at Rome’s Ciampino airport on time. I sneakily cheat the baggage rules and pass through security. I figure its probably a good idea to check my email in case Meagan (my friend who I am visiting in Holland) has emailed me with any changes to the plan. Sure enough she has asked me to meet her in Utrecht instead of the previously arranged Eindhoven (where my flight lands, they are about an hour apart by train). So I email her back saying this is fine and I will meet her in front of the store she suggested in Utrecht. Unfortunately, I knew she was going to Den Hague that day and I wasn’t sure if she would get this email before she left. So I arrive at Eindhoven airport and take the bus to Eindhoven Centraal (train station). I wander around looking for a ticket booth and maybe Meagan- perhaps she didn’t get my email. I eventually find the ticket booth but no Meagan so I decide to get on a train to Utrecht.
The train ride is lovely… the Dutch countryside is beautiful. I arrive in Utrecht at 3:20 and go to the store we discussed meeting at at 4. So I wait, then I wait, then I wait some more. It’s 4:30 and there is no Meagan in sight. At this point I am thinking she is probably just running late, even though Meagan is never more than ten minutes late. Do do do do I think to myself as I twiddle my thumbs. The minutes tick by and eventually it is 5:30. I decide I have to find a phone. The uber unhelpful woman at the info booth doesn’t know where one is located (isn’t that the first thing they teach you along with location of bathrooms??). Eventually I find one and call the number Meagan has given me. It doesn’t ring… just makes a strange beeping noise. Later I find out that this is the norm in Holland. On the way back to the meeting place after calling her about 8 times I start to panic a little because I don’t have her address or anything. But as I scan the crowd I spot her purple peacoat and distressed face. Relief.
After ironing out the whole situation of what happened we walk back to her place. She was a little late getting to Eindhoven and I was a little early which explains why I didn’t see her when I was there. And she never got my email about meeting in Utrecht.
So we head back to the residence she lives in with other international students. We start to get ready for the evenings “Red Carpet Party”- glamming ourselves up. Meagan is much more glam than me with her sequined gloves and gemmed dress. We head to the bar around 11:30 on the backs of bikes. Apparently bike riding after a couple drinks is ok in Holland. So Linda from Australia “dinks” me. This is when a person sits on the flat metal part above the back wheel. Now this is a means of transportation to get used to!! I hop on, unsure of how to do it. Apparently I did it wrong. So the whole ride I had my abs clenched cause I was trying to keep my weight distributed evenly… oh man. I got off 10-15 minutes later and was permanently bent over my abs were so tight. I promise myself I will get better at this. The party was ok but I was feeling rather claustrophobic so it wasn’t amazing. On the way home with stopped for fries with mayo- a typical Dutch snack. Then onto bed.
The next day we woke up and headed to Amsterdam. Another beautiful city. Canals, old buildings (not quite as old as Rome but as a result a little nicer), Dutch signs and Dutch men (very good looking). We started with the Van Gogh museum which was lovely and made me realize that Van Gogh was all over the place. He has a lot more styles than we give him credit for: along with pointillism and impressionism he painted in the traditional Japanese style (but with oil on canvas). He definitely has some fabulous pieces that I have never seen. Unfortunately “Starry Night” is in Paris and the “Outdoor Café” (my favorite) was nowhere to be seen. A good show nonetheless. We went to the shopping district and looked at some shops before having some lunch at bagels and beans. We tried to find the red light district but got lost. Megs asked someone where it was and then we found our way but alas turns out we were a little too grossed out so we didn’t stay long. On our way back to the train station we passed the wax museum. WOW!! Amazing. I want to go back and actually go in. The line was pretty long but if the Johnny Depp in the window was anything to go by this museum is not one to miss. So realistic it scared me- right down to the bitten nails. Eerie. So we headed back to the train station freezing our butts off in the 0 degree weather (or so it seemed). We took the half hour train ride back to Utrecht and relaxed before heading out to “the boat” which is a ‘coffee’ shop on one of the canals. Great ambience and people were just hanging out. They had games like chess and backgammon and Linda and Meagan had a truly epic game of chess before I taught Meagan how to play backgammon and then we had to leave. One bike injury later we made it back to Meagan’s. We watched a little ‘Anchorman’ before retiring.
In the morning Linda and Meagan and I went for breakfast at bagels and beans (again) before I had to get on a train to Eindhoven once again. Overall the trip was a success but another day would’ve been nice. Meagan definitely showed me as much as she could in 48 hours and it was much appreciated. So I headed back to Rome and it felt good to be back. For the first time since I arrived in Rome I slept all through the night and it was glorious.
Sorry for the overwhelming length of this entry but there was lots to tell!! Hope all is well In Canada, Holland, America, Mexico or wherever you might be reading this!! Keep those emails coming and oh!! SEND ME MAIL!! If you send some to me you will definitely get something back!! Address is:
Famiglia D’Amelio
Via Ugo Balzani 12
00162 Roma
Italia
Grazie e ciao!!
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