302

That is currently the number of photos I have taken in the Netherlands.  Tomorrow, I will have some more to add from the train stations and the airports, and hopefully the views from the planes after takeoff and before landing.

Today, I didn't leave the hostel until the "walking tour" started around eight p.m.  One of the hostel staff showed us the river and one of the bridges, and we walked over the "Walk of Fame."  I took a few pictures of the Walk, including Ray Charles's panel, as well as Johnny Cash's and someone else's--I can't remember whose though.

Around ten, I went back to the hostel and tried to call the states using Euro coins in the pay phone, but it wouldn't let me.  So I went and got my computer and called Anna via Skype before uploading the pictures from the "tour" onto Facebook.  I'll put them on my portable harddrive later--I didn't feel like bringing that downstairs again too.

Tomorrow after breakfast, I will pack up and check out of the hostel.  They store luggage for you if you ask, so before I head to the train station, I will have them store my luggage long enough for me to get some treats for everyone back home at the market on the corner.  Then, I will put that in whichever bag it will fit before heading to Rotterdam Centraal.

From there, it'll be about an hour's train ride to Shiphol, where I will check in, check my suitcase, and go.  Though I think I'll have at least a couple of hours before the flight even boards, so I will take a better look around the airport than I had on the way in.  I'll also have a better look at the Keflavik airport too.  I wonder if they take Euros, or some other form of currency?

. . . Nope, not Euros, Krona.  If I want food or something in the airport, I'll have to go somewhere that takes American Express then.  No big deal.

From there, it's just another six-hour flight back to Dulles, where I will have to go through Customs before I can get out of there.  I anticipate getting home around 10 p.m.

Thank goodness I have Friday off work too.

Ooh, purdy flowers . . .

After checking the weather, and the hours and entrance fees, I went to the Trompenburg Gardens and Arboretum.  Of course, there was a lot of going up and down the stairs--for breakfast, to get my computer, to put the computer away and have a shower, etc.  Plus, every time I go upstairs, I have to lay down for a bit, because I'm so winded.  But the sinus infection seems to be going away at last, even though the effects still linger.  Right now, it's bark is worse than its bite.  I still have a nasty cough, but I don't have to blow my nose nearly as often as I did even just yesterday.

It took about 45 minutes to get to the arboretum, then I paid my 6 Euros.  I walked to the tea house straight away, because I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and was practically starving by then.  I had a sandwich with salmon and cheese spread, which I think was sort of like a bagel with lox--only the bread wasn't a bagel.  I also had some coffee, which was very tasty.  I think they had real cream or something.

After lunch, I wandered around some more before heading back to the entry building.  There, I bought yet another umbrella (this time, one with a plaid pattern and a slip-on cover which cost 14,95 Euros, so it had better not break in a strong wind) and a small hardcover notebook with a small "map" of Rotterdam on the cover.  There are 54 pictures in the "Vacation in Holland" album on my Facebook profile from the arboretum alone.

Both on the way there and on the way back (as well as during some other walks I'd taken this week) I kept seeing posters for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers LIVE.  These puzzled me, because that particular movie came out ten years ago, so why even try to have a live version so late?  Plus, why only do the second movie in the trilogy?  And how is it live, anyway, when the posters have pictures of the same actors as in the films?  Too bad I couldn't understand all the Dutch on the posters--at least I got a picture of it, so someone might be able to figure it out and tell me eventually.

That was a lot of walking, so I went straight back to my room for a while and just listened to my iPod before coming down to eat something for dinner and posting all the photos and an account of my day.

I don't know whether or not I actually will go to either Arnhem or Volendam tomorrow.  The way I figure it, I believe I have just enough for train fare back to the airport on Thursday morning, plus a bit more to buy gifts for everyone.  I can easily get what almost everyone requested (stroopwafels, cheese and chocolate sprinkles) at the market on the corner after I check out of the hostel.  Besides, I think I've thoroughly enjoyed myself, and every time I add new pictures to the Facebook album dedicated to this vacation, the upload slows down exponentially further than the last time.  There are 273 photos in there, after all.

I almost bought some slippers shaped like wooden shoes for Dylan on Saturday while I was at Madurodam, but he already has slippers, so I decided against it.  Maybe I'll find something at the airport that he'll like, or on the way to Rotterdam Central train station.  I also contemplated the slippers as gag gifts for some of the adults, but also decided not to do that.

15,840

. . . That's how many words my story has gotten to so far.  I just typed up the bits that I'd written most recently, and it's now 54 pages (typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font) and 15,840 words.  I think I'll save writing anymore of it for after I get back home.

It's raining again!

I got up this morning, saw it was raining, had my breakfast downstairs, and went back to bed.

Why sleep more, you ask?  Well, because I'm pretty sure my rampant allergies have now become a full-on sinus infection.  I can hardly breath for the coughs choking me, and getting all the way upstairs to my room takes the wind out of me.

I was planning on going either to the Open Air Museum in Arnhem or to Volendam today, but it's raining in both places, as well as here in Rotterdam.  The Open Air museum will cost me 14,95 Euros, along with the more than thirty-eight Euros for train fair.

Turns out, I'd have to take a train to Purmerend Overwhere, and then a taxi (yikes!) to Volendam.  The train ride alone (both directions, total) will take 35,40 Euros, and I have no idea how much the taxi would cost both ways.

So, I could pretty much go to one or the other--not both--since I have only about 100 Euros left.  Tomorrow, I'm definitely going to the Arboretum Trompenberg and having lunch, even if I have to slog through the rain with that silly umbrella.  Today, I might walk up to the market on the corner for some cough syrup or some Dutch equivalent of DayQuil.  Don't really need Sudafed, because the moisture in the air is doing a good job of draining my sinuses as it is.  Too bad it's not this wet and rainy in Maryland.  (Just kidding!)

Checking something. . . . Perhaps if I bike the last leg to Volendam?

. . . It would take 34 minutes, one way, by bicycle.  But both trips together would still cost me nearly 80 Euros.  Bah.

Arnhem or Volendam?  Volendam or Arnhem?  I can't decide.  And it will have to be either tomorrow after lunch or I'd have to get back before the walking tour of Rotterdam on Wednesday.

I'll decide later.

Vacation Update

I just talked to Susanne over Skype.  For some reason, no matter whether I'm calling home or somewhere in Holland, the connection is always bad.  There's a lag, and also both parties in the call get cut off mid-word often.

It was a ten-and-a-half-minute phone call, and we managed to sort out the confusion about church.  Apparently, her daughter is in the Rotterdam First ward, but she goes to Spijkenisse.  *shrug*  The people in the ward here were nice enough anyway.  One girl translated for me in Relief Society, and then they had someone translating over headphones during Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting.

Susanne asked about my plans for the rest of my vacation, and I told her I didn't really have any, that I've been kind of making them up as I go along--which is true.  Pretty much every morning, I get on my computer here and go through the (short) list of places Grandma recommended to me to see where I want to go that day.  Then I look up and write down directions from either the hostel or the nearest train station to that particular place.

Since the connection was so bad, and we'd been talking for more than ten minutes, we both hung up after saying goodbye.  She said to have fun and be careful, and that if I need help I can call her.

Now, I think I'll go upstairs and get my blanket--it's chilly down here, and I can work on my story without needing wireless internet access.

Okay, so that wasn't her ward.

Those of you not religiously inclined, please feel free to skip over the next five paragraphs.

I called Grandma last night, and she said that Susanne actually goes to church in Spijkenisse, even though the Meetinghouse Locator at LDS.org says that she's assigned to the Rotterdam First Ward.  Whenever I search anything in Hellevoetsluis, it always comes up as Rotterdam First Ward--doesn't say a single thing about the Spijkenisse Ward, even though there is definitely a meetinghouse there, and it's about halfway between here and Hellevoetsluis.  Weird.

Yet, the people at the church today knew her name when I said it, so they've probably at least met her, which is even more puzzling.  Grandma thinks that the building I went to today is the Stake building, but it's so tiny, how could it be?  Sure, the Stake President was there today, but that could have just been because that ward was getting a whole new bishopric.

Oh, well.  At least I packed my Kindle (which I have copies of the scriptures and the hymns on)--not even my mini-quad and my mini hymnals would have fit in either bag I packed for this trip.

Anyway, I got up and got dressed, surprisingly, at 8 a.m.  One of the other people in my room snores, so I figured it would be easier just to get up, especially since I had a long walk ahead of me.

After breakfast, I headed out, and it was pouring down rain.  I had that umbrella I bought at Madurodam yesterday, but the wind blew so hard that the umbrella turned inside out, and half of the extender arms broke!  Both my jacket and the bottom half of my dress were soaking wet by the time I got there.  The rain stopped long enough for me to get back after church though.  Oddly enough, their meetings are in reverse order of the ones back home.  We had Relief Society first, then Sunday School, and then Sacrament Meeting.

So now I'm back, and I'm hoping to do some laundry later, because I didn't pack nearly as many t-shirts as I thought I had, and I've run out of clean, full-length pants.  In other words, all I'm left with are warm-weather clothes, and it's pretty chilly here right now.

Or maybe I'll try calling Susanne in a little while, and do laundry tomorrow.  Though that might not be a good idea, for the same reason I just said above.

I didn't take any pictures while I was either walking or at the church, since I was just trying to stay warm, and my camera was inside the jacket.  Opening the jacket to get the camera would have been dumb--not to mention, my hands were already pretty frozen as it was, carrying the umbrella and the Kindle.

That's about it for now.  Maybe I can get some more of my story typed up or something.

Good thing I got new shoes . . .

Right after I posted last night, I decided to take a walk.  This time, I went west, instead of east like I'd mostly done the day before.  This was around 7:30 p.m, I believe.  I took 61 pictures before I got back to the room, including some pictures of the hostel.  I discovered that, if I leave the camera on/open while I walk to the next place I want to take a picture, the next photo will not save, and I'll end up with a blank file on the SD card.  So I've gotten into the habit of closing it after each picture--or group of pictures.

Anyway, I got back around 9:30 or 10 p.m.  Wasn't it dark by then, you ask?  Not even close.  The sun sets very late here.  I think around 10:30.  It's certainly starting to get dark now, and it's just past 10:15, so I guess that's it.

Why did I walk so long?  Why, to see the windmill, of course.

Yes, I know that is the first picture I've posted on this blog, and I've been in this country four days already.  However, I've taken at least two hundred pictures already, and I'm posting them on Facebook as I go.  Before I even think about posting anymore here, I want to make sure that 1) they're all turned right-side-up, and 2) I can get them on PhotoBucket and into their own slideshows, so I'm not cluttering up blog posts with just pictures, pictures, pictures.  Make sense?  I thought so.

Anyway, on to today's adventures.

I think I got a sunburn with all the walking I did in the sun today.  I haven't passed a mirror yet, so I can't check though.

I got up and had the free breakfast here at the hostel, and then brought my computer down so that I could get directions to the various places I planned to go today.  After that, I walked to Rotterdam Centraal train station.  It didn't take long, and I was able to board a train for Den Haag.  You know, those train schedules are a lot easier to understand when you're not sleep deprived and jet lagged.

Got there around 1 p.m, and then walked to Madurodam, which is this theme park-type place.  It's a city, but the entire thing is built in miniature scale.  There are also educational videos (I only saw a couple of these) and some interactive bits, like "How many cheeses do you weigh?"  I weigh five cheeses. :)

I thought about getting the stroopwafels, chocolates and cheese that everyone wants back home in the Madurodam gift shop, but then I remembered that it would all have to stay in the guest kitchen until I'm ready to leave, so I figured it would be better to wait until probably Wednesday afternoon, just so I don't forget it on Thursday morning.  Instead, I bought an umbrella (so I wouldn't be caught without one here when it rains) in a pattern of Delft blue, and a set of three souvenir pens.  I almost bought a deck of souvenir playing cards (I like decks with different backs) but I couldn't decide which design I liked better, and I couldn't afford them all.

After having walked 30-45 minutes from the train station to Madurodam, and then all around Madurodam itself, I decided to take the tram back to the station.  I needed to sit down for at least a few minutes.

From Den Haag Centraal, I then traveled to Amsterdam Centraal for even more walking.  I walked to the Anne Frank house, but the line to get in was so long I decided not to wait.  I did take pictures of the outside though.

Next stop, Dam Square.  I had hoped to find a hot stroopwafel vendor here, but no dice.  I did, however, finally get some poffertjes!  I was so excited, I even took a picture before I started eating it.  Silly, huh?

I also so a lot of herring carts, but there's no way I was going to have some of that.  I can probably stand the saltiness, but I just wasn't in the mood for it.  Besides, before the poffertjes, I'd already stopped at a hot dog stand, so I was pretty full anyway.

From Dam Square, I headed to the Rembrandt House Museum, but it was closed when I got there.  Looks like it closed even before I left the Anne Frank house.  Took pictures of the outside there too, and then headed back to the station.

I hopped on a train back to Rotterdam Centraal, and got there about twenty-six minutes too late to catch the tram back to Vasteland, which is the tram stop closest to the hostel where I'm staying.  So, I walked.  I got back a little after 9 p.m, and called Grandma over Skype before uploading pictures to Facebook and typing up this post.

Tomorrow, I think I'll see if I can catch the Peppels at church--if I've got the right building.  I just hope I wake up in time, since I was hoping to use my phone as an alarm clock on this trip, but it won't even tell time here since it's outside its service area!

Ah, well.  I've at least been getting up on time for the free breakfast, which is between 8 and 10 a.m. every morning.  I think their ward meets at either 9:30 or 11:30, so if I get up for the earliest part of breakfast I will hopefully make it.

So . . . many . . . STAIRS!

I didn't go to Amsterdam today.

Tell the truth, I didn't even leave the hostel.

I'd done so much biking yesterday, that this morning, I had trouble getting back up to my room after breakfast--I was that sore, and it wasn't just my legs.  Besides, it rained right after breakfast, and I'd forgotten to grab my umbrella while I was getting my suitcase out of the Bug.  I'm not sure I could afford to buy one here, but I'd do it if I was caught out in the rain--and could find a place nearby to buy one.

So, what did I do instead?  I caught up on some reading, of course.  That seems to be the default Darcy relaxation technique, after all.

Anna had told me about the two Sookie Stackhouse novels I hadn't read yet a couple of weeks ago, and I had my Kindle with me, so I downloaded them both.  I just finished the latest one a few minutes ago.  I can't decide whether to a) lament the apparent death of the Sookie/Eric thing (he was sooo much cooler than Bill), or b) cheer on the Sookie/Sam thing Harris has pretty much been setting up since book one.

Talked to Anna on the phone last night, and tried to call Grandma, but I guess she was out or something, since I only got the answering machine.

I'm kind of on the fence about calling Grandma's friend in Hellevoetsluis, even though she's pretty much the only person I actually know in this country.  I mean, it'd be kind of wierd, if she doesn't even know I'm here, to just all of a sudden call up a friend of my grandma's I'd only met once or twice, right?

Tomorrow though, I'll definitely go into Amsterdam, no matter how hard it is to climb the stairs back to my room.  Maybe I'll walk to the train station (it's only about five blocks or so, straight north from here anyway) instead of biking there.  Perhaps, if I feel the need, I can rent a bicycle when I get there--and get a map of the city, since the one I have is only for Rotterdam.

Other places to see this trip include:

• In Amsterdam
• The Dam
• The Anne Frank House
• The Rembrandt Museum
• A Canal Tour
• In the Hague - Maybe I'll just stop here on my way to Amsterdam tomorrow, get two cities done in one go.
• Madurodam
• The Arnhem Open Air Museum
• The Keukenhof
• The Delta Works in Spijkenisse - would take about an hour by bicycle, and Spijkenisse looks like it's on the way to Hellevoetsluis.  I'm still not sure I'd want to bike that far though.  I still can't find any information about public transportation to either of those places.
• The Arboretum Trompenburg, which is here in Rotterdam somewhere - Looks like about a 15-minute bike ride, but I think I'll wait until Tuesday, and have lunch in the tea house.
• Kinderdijk, which would take about an hour and a half, even with public transport.

I still have yet to have a stroopwafel, hot off the press too, so that's still on the list.  There are also walking tours of Rotterdam from the hostel every Wednesday night, so I'm going to try and get to the one next Wednesday, which is the night before I leave.  I have to make sure I have enough time to pack everything back up either before I go to sleep or before I check out.  The IcelandAir website says that particular flight doesn't leave until 2 p.m, and checkout has to be before 11 a.m, so I'll be all right, I guess.