DAY 3

le Hôtel Ritz

Not much happened to day. I was pretty much hung around the apartment all day, sleeping, playing with the cats, etc... Other than hanging out I took the metro into the 1éme to go to the Ritz Hotel. Since I had left my house before all the documents, recipes, etc... arrived I had to go pick them up before my class on Monday. I get to the metro stop, but when I get up to the surface I turn and walk down the street in the direction that I thought the hotel was in. Well I didn't go the right direction, but not in the wrong direction either; I basically went the wrong way around a square. After getting all my business done at the Ritz I took the metro home. While walking back to the apartment I remeber that I have to get some food for the fridge. So i'm in the grocery store getting some food and I had to go back in time to my 4 years of French class. I eventually get all the stuff I needed, I even found some grapefruit yogurt, that normally I would never go for that before, but I was in a wierd sort of mood, so I desided to give it a try, it was only a couple €'s so I desided to give it a try. Well I put my food away and went back to being lazy ( the best way to go).

DAY 2

I arrived in Amsterdam and decided to go into the city since it was just after 8am and my plane to Paris wasn't until 1:30pm. I get through customs very quickly, actually I think it should be a record, there were only 8 people in front of me and two were couples so that meant they could go up as one person. After changing some money, i realize that the $ sucks, i gave the lady $140 and even with the $3.50 fee she still only gave me €98 back :( I didn't want to go into the city with all my carry-on so I go on a search for the cubbies that you can rent for the €5/day. This, of course is easier said than done. I had found some in the terminal that I had arrived in? but I was having a hard time finding any in my new terminal. By the time I did find them (tucked away, sort of behind the restrooms. Not the most convenient) I had walked down the same corridor about 5x. I pass through baggage claim and stand in line for the kiosk for train tickets. I spent about 3-5min; trying to navigate through the pages, when feeling like an idiot, found the Union Jack flag in the lower corner for English. Though I didn't feel to bad as the symbol was quite small. After now being able to read everything I quickly go through the next couple pages until it asked me were I wanted to go, well there was about 5 different Amsterdam's, so i picked the Amsterdam/Centraal (yes, i did put in to A's, that's how you spell central in Dutch). Everything went smoothly from then on, well unless you count the end when I was having trouble paying (maybe it's just me but that might be a slight problem, lol) The machine didn't accept cash so I was trying to pay with my debit card. So I put in the card and pressed the debit button, well I tried these about 3x, when I was about to give up and just stay at the airport, when I had the genius (like I know I am, lol) and tried doing the transaction but pushing the credit button instead. Well my genius brain (lol) was right, it worked and the next thing I knew the machine was spitting out my tickets and receipt. I have know idea how I got to the city, since there was no kind of sign saying which train was which, so I just guessed. The train took about 20min, going though beautiful Dutch country side/suburbs, to get to the station, were I got off and realized I have no idea were I am going. So I just picked and went right, well actually I did pick it on purpose, it looked more restaurant-y. If anyone doesn't know Amsterdam, this city is made up of rivers and canals, so naturally, it is filled with little, sometimes extremely old, bridges. The city is actually in my top 5 European cities, I went through Amsterdam all the time when I was younger, going to visit Ryan in Israel, and I always seemed to have a large enough layover to go into the city. While walking around, trying to find a place to eat breakfast, I saw a parking lot (your probably asking, W.T.F. there are parking lots all over the world) I at first didn't think much about it, passed it, then stopped and thought "there's something wrong with that parking lot, W.T.F." so I back up and stare at it. After looking at it for a minute I realize that the reason it looked weird is that there are only bicycles; no cars, mopeds, or motorcycles, just bicycles. It was a 4 story, gigantic bicycle parking garage. I laugh at that for a second, then continue on my little scavenger hunt for breakfast. I first stop at this place that look really good, but after I read the menu I only see lunch type food, so I continue on. I cross the street, well actually cross the street, walk across the river, then finish crossing the street, to were I find a little café looking place called "Village Bagels," well I also guessed from the name, but you know that's just me. I go order my food and some kind of fruit drink (I don't know how to pronounce it since it was in Dutch) and go outside to one of the patio tables. While waiting for my food I look around and take in everything, and of course read some of my book, The Ugly American, which my dad said I should read since you know I would't want to draw any attention to the fact that i'm an American (not that peopcouldn'td't guess already, lol) I finish my breakfast and head back to the train station, but since I have time, do so with out rushing. I some how get back to the airport, the reason why I say this is because when I went to buy my ticket back this machine was an old one and only had Dutch ( and yes I did try looking for any kind of symbol that would turn everything into english). I have a quick panic attack when I go through security at the airport and momentarly think, oh shit I put my bags in the wrong terminal, that is until I recognize the Duty Free shop that's near the cubbies. As always my adventure doesn't stop. I go into my bag to find the ticket to get my bags back, but of course I can't find it and start O.M.G.ing, though I of course was doing it for nothing, since I soon found it. I get to my gate and find these chairs that recline, so I decide to wait for my plane there, since it was around 2 o'clock in the morning for me and even though the seats reclined, everyone knows how comfortable airline seats are. Well anless your traveling with somone or your at least on the same time zone, because these chairs were like Laz-y-Boy, I fell right to sleep and woke up right in time to get on my plane. But of course, being me I'm not suprised, they said that they gate had closed, even though it said that the boarding time was not for another 5min. Well even though they were so bull-shiting me, because the plane was sitting there and both doors were still wide open, but what ever. The lady told me to go the hall to this special ticket counter for problems like this. I go get a number and sit down to wait. Thankfully I did't have to wait long and the lady who called my number was realy nice and helpful, but she said that she was not able to get me a new ticket but if I went to this other line, while she pointed to it, they would be able to get me my new ticket. Well I have been in some lines that took forever, but this one is was probably in the top 5 of longest lines. It was one of those I will get to the front of the line by the time I finish college, have five kids and maybe even blow out 95 candles (if you know what I mean). Buy the time I got through the line and got my new ticket there was only about 30min. so I didn't fall asleep and didn't I actually got on this plane. I didn't get into Paris until 7ish. My day should of finished there, but no, the next thing I knew, that is after waiting forever at baggage claim, I couldn't find my bags, so I went to file a lost baggage report. I get to the apartment, with a little getting lost in the metro, and say hi to my roomates go to my bed and fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

DAY 1

AMSTERDAM

Ok, so here's the first day of my newest adventure. Never failing, my trips always start off with something happening. Not always bad, but always something. Well this something started even before I started my trip. Well I had to go copy my passport before my trip and was walking up the path to the printers shop in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard ( I was staying at my summer house for a little bit before I left). I was not watching were I was going, though I was distracted by Raviv, so it's all his fault :) I walked right into part of the fence the was sticking out and gave my self a big black bruise about the size of a golf ball. The rest of my day went well, catching the ferry, the bus, etc... until I went to check in at the airport. I'm flying Northwest/KLM to Amsterdam, Netherlands, so I ask an airport person were their ticket counter was and I go to the line were they told me. After being in my line for a little while, I find out that the guy who had helped me told me were the domestic line was not international. It didn't get any better after switching to the international line. After the line not moving for about 15-20min. the tell us the the conveyor belt is not working and that we all have to wait till they had fixed it. :( Which of course was followed by a sea of moans and other profainities. Shortly afterwards I was standing at my gate with no real hassels, other then the ticket agent getting really confused when she pulled up my file and saw a huge list of cites ( my entire year plane travel is on 1 ticket), and minus $25 for a heavy bag. The plane ride was actually quite smooth and didn't feel like 7 hrs. Though that's probably due to the fact that i watched 4 movies and then played some PacMan, you know just a thought. After flying over the Maritimes in Canada, Iceland, and then the U.K. I arrived in Amsterdam.