Tour of Amsterdam - Day 1

Filled with anxiety and excitement, we boarded Sangeeta’s car (who was going to drop us to the airport). We reached the airport very early and after check-in had to kill 2 hours. As people say, time flies…it really did and the moment to board the aircraft came. Our first holiday trip abroad, slowly sinking in, we boarded Qantas flight to Singapore.
The flight was for 7hrs and boy was the flight boring!!! We killed time watching movies like Avatar and Twilight – New Moon. We could hardly sleep, as the leg space was so cramped. However, we did not let this dampen our spirits as this was our first holiday trip abroad.
We landed in Singapore and barely had time to kill, as our connecting flight to Amsterdam was within 2hrs. Having boarded KLM flight to Amsterdam, we realized how close we were to reaching our destination, although it took 13hrs, it hardly seemed to matter. We were surprised as to how very few Indians we saw in the flight to Amsterdam, apart from Subu and Myself, I can confidently say, there were none.
Amsterdam airport is called the Schipol airport, which is located in a place called Schipol. We reached the Amsterdam airport and realized that the airport in itself was small, however as we stepped out, we were amazed at the size of plaza which is right outside the airport. Good marketing gimmick!!!
We obtained information regarding the bus that could take us to our lodging place, which is 15kms away from the Amsterdam City Centre. Little did we realize that this 15kms would mean travelling 1hr via bus.
We were provided with the information of the bus that could take us to our place of lodging. As we stepped outside the airport, we were welcome by the biting cold, 3 degress, which we were unprepared for.

As we kept walking to our bus stop, something interesting happened. An Indian, Sardarji approached us, trying to make a small talk. He then told us that he is waiting for his relative/friend to pick him up, but has not arrived until now, and was a bit worried. Subu asked him to approach the Information help desk, but the Indian said that he did and they were of not much help. We asked him to use his mobile and he said, he did not carry one. Subu then told him to use the pay phone, and guess what he only had a few euros to spare and that he did not have their address, but just a contact number. We kept clicking photos, however the Indian would not move from his place. Feeling sorry for him, we used our phone to call his relatives in Canada and get a local Amsterdam contact number, called the local contact and “All is well”….
We boarded our bus, and in our excitement, started clicking photos. The bus driver told us that we are not meant to take photos on the bus..seems weird, but we did not question his authority!!
Reached the Hotel, located in a place called Uithoorn (Pronounced Oi-Tore-En, I think, could not get it completely right). It is abour 10Kms from Apt and 15 Kms from Amsterdam City Centre. We now understand that Uithoorn is not even considered Amsterdam. It is a separate Town. Gives an idea of how small a place Netherlands is.
The hotel was cosy, the room not really great but good enough.

There was a Harley Davidson in the lobby. Plenty of photos of Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn and other old stars.

We freshened up, had breakfast and left for Amsterdam City Centre. When we asked the Hotel receptionist the best way to reach the City Centre, she asks which City Centre? Amsterdam? It began to sink in that although we were 10-15 Kms from Amsterdam, THIS WAS NOT AMSTERDAM.
Reached Amsterdam City and drove through the 100’s Meuseums and funny enough that the City was bustling with activity inspite of being Good Friday. We wanted to take photos of just about everything. The City had a cultural but modern feel. The buildings were all old architecture, typical European. Not too many modern buildings. There is a picture of myself with the Heinekan office in the background.
Another great thing about Amsterdam is the amount of ppl you see riding bicycles. Thousands of bicycles ride through the city with Buses , Cars and Trams. We saw a Bicycle park in the city with four floors (space enough to park 80 cars full of bicycles).
Took a Canal cruise through the City. Went to the Van Gogh Meusem. Had Lunch in a nice restaurant, where the Chef was happy to cook us some vegetarian dishes not in the Menu. Had a Spanish Shiraz with the lunch. Made our way back to the Hotel and slept for almost 12 hours. Its 6:00 AM on 3rd April, ready to explore Amsterdam.