Day 1 Amsterdam (March 14th, 2006)

I left my home in Connecticut at noon and 18 hours later at Noon, I was in Schipohl (skip-hole) airport. In my pocket was my passport, eurail pass, $100US, a few credit cards and my bank debit card. I did not have any hotels booked, nor any train reservations. The next date on my calendar was eleven days away, my flight from Geneva to Lisbon. The only other thing booked on my calendar was the flight home in 19 days. I wasn't worried in the least.

I had none of the normal fears like 'Where will I stay?'
Nice Hotels. Its 'off season.' This being my seventh or eighth European vacation, I knew that every price range (level of quality) would be available. And was in abundance.

but -
How will I get around? Eurail pass - 15 days contiguous - Valid for almost everywhere in Western Europe. Three of my nights were going to be spent on trains, Amsterdam to Munich, Lisbon to Madrid, and Madrid to Paris).

My only question was - What needed to be done first?
Cash - Euros, I need to start buying stuff, like right now
Then train to Amsterdam Centraal Station.

I had read a few books before packing for this trip and if you've read some of these, you know that you don't want to bring many with you. I have Lets Go, Lonely planet and a few of Rick Steves tomes (which are reasonable in size, I might add). All of these except for a couple tiny language guides were left at home, having been perused and copied down onto a few tiny font printouts. I did bring the Thomas Cook Rail Time Schedules and, as it turned out, a very useful Europe by Eurail book.

This book gave me information about each station that saved me hours at each stop. It said where the cash machine was, where the train reservation office was (to book departure train travel), by what track is the hotel reservation office and where is the tourist information office, booth, kiosk...

I did pack light. I followed Rick Steves packing light guidelines. Pack 2 pair of pants, 5 shirts (underoos, socks) and one pair of shoes. "For 20 days?" you ask. In case you didn't know (come closer) they have Laundromats there too. I had the largest rolling duffel bag allowed by airlines (without any extra fees). At any moment, I could put everything even the carry on bags and contents into it.

So I stuffed my carry on bag in the duffel and made my stops. Since it was the start of my trip, I new that I will need cash for the whole trip and I should grab my daily limit for a while. "Now, what was that exchange rate. What is my banks daily limit? Ah I don't remember." I grabbed 250 euros. Stuffed most of it in my "Neck Wallet" (Kinda hard to pickpocket me if you gotta stuff your hand under my shirt.)

I made my way down to the train station. Yes, a train station at the airport - BRILLIANT! I bought my ticket and went to the track, boarded the proper class car, sat down and thought this is too easy. This trip can't go this smoothly.

Outside of the station is VVV (fay-fay-fay). Tourist information for Amsterdam. Short line - lucky me. I booked a 3 star hotel, the Tulip Inn, just off the Dam and made my way out down the Damrak. Gorgeous day, a chill in the air but not a wintry one. The trees were just starting to bud. I'm making my way, staring at the map, realizing that its farther than I thought.

I hadn't eaten anything on my flights through Iceland and its 18 hours later and I'm lugging my butt - on an empty stomach. I get to the dam(n) square and am sweaty and feeling a little bit shaky. Its a slow day, no street performers, or peddlers...No food vendors. :(

After a few minutes of map study, I realized I was a couple alleys away from my hotel. My room was nice. The bed was spartan.

Begin Inner Voice
They learned about the usefulness of ICE in the last twenty years. If you are not going to have a box spring how about a thick mattress.
End Inner Voice

For an Amsterdam room it is very nice.

FOOD!!!! That was both my inner and outer voice.

The room was fine - head down to the alley and find FOOD! Up the second alley was my first European 'meal.' My first doner kebap (Donor Kay-BAP) of the trip. If that's too hard, to say then say Blitzen (rain-dear). With salad, white sauce and the red hot sauce. Coca-cola "light" No 'diet' coke or pepsi here. I go back to the hotel stopping at the snack store (soda, beer, water, munchies...) and crash out - for four hours.

The most important thing to consume in Amsterdam is not marijuana, or herring, or the red light district. Its water. When on vacation, drink lots of bottled water. You have no idea how much you are walking, how hard you are thinking, how much you are sweating. I drank a 1.5 liter every night and I have no idea how many I drank while walking around the cities, during the day. The second most important thing to consume - beer.

When I awoke, I took a shower and headed out into the night for fun and laughs and to see how many vampires walk the streets.

Heineken on tap is still real cheap, at the cheap and some fine establishments. Amsterdam at night is a real shocker the first time you come here. Now I giggle at my surroundings. Coffeeshops, don't sell much coffee. They sell 'the dutch flowers.' Some of these blooms are especially prized and sell for 10 euros a gram, that's right twelve dollars. "When in Rome."

The red light district is another aspect of the city that people don't talk about much. What happens in the red light district, stays in the red light district. From 18 year olds to 70 year old: white, black, yellow, red, mix, german, italian, dutch (of course), french, spanish, norwegian, swedish, croatian... If you have cash, you can have it your way. You don't need much but Visa won't get you in the door.

Did I mention that the beer was cheap - Heineken and Amstel light were for sale in the pepsi machine at my hotel. One euro gets you a soda or a beer. What a country.

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