Amsterdam Layover

We got up very early so we could finalize everything at the condo with our host…then headed off to the airport for our flight.  Thankfully, it was only a 3-ish hour flight to Amsterdam because I was itchin’ to get some of that Dutch chocolate I mapped out.  We left Cyprus where it was 80+* and flew in to Schipol Airport were it was pouring down rain, maybe 50* and about 30 mph wind!  Good thing I told everyone to dress in layers…and warmly!  We landed after a good 20 minutes of circling in the air due to delays in landings on the ground, got off the plane and headed to the train station within the airport.  We got everyone loaded up and rode 15 minutes to our stop. Once there, it was hard to see where our hotel was (even though it was supposed to be right next to the train station), so Keith and I told the group to stay put in the warm while we went out to find it.  Sure enough, it was just a little ways down the sidewalk, but far enough that we had to fight the elements.  Brrr!     We got checked in and I was quite impressed for the price we paid.  The staff were very nice, our rooms were right next door to each other, and the beds were quite comfortable.  I like it!

Now it was decision time…did we want to brave the elements to go to the city center, or stay at the hotel.  Alex & Brittany really wanted to see it and I was wanting chocolate, so the 3 of us headed out.  As soon as we got out of Centraal Station, I made sure they both took the time to look around at the architecture and take it all in.  Brittany’s response was, ‘It looks like Harry Potter land!’  🙂

The map I made up for all of the chocolate shops were useless because what I had to do was take a picture of it really quick so we could get there before they closed.  What I didn’t realize at the time was there were no street names on my map…nor the chocolate shop’s name!  We walked around blindly, hoping to come across one.  We asked 3 different people and no one seemed to know of any chocolate shops except for one….Leonidas….which I can actually get here at home (one of the 2 chocolate shops from Belgium in the USA).  I bought some chocolate for the family there, and kept trying to find the other shops I wanted to find….to no avail.  I gave up after wandering the streets for over an hour so we concentrated on things Alex & Brit wanted to do.  We were limited on time, and cold…and wet.  But exploring the city was nice with them.  This type of city was nothing they had ever seen and really were in awe by it all.

Here is Alex and Brittany in the town square.  They bought hats to help keep warm with ‘AMSTERDAM’ emblazoned on the front.  Totally looked like tourists!  But they were definitely warm.

Here is one quick pic of us in the pouring rain in the town square. From here we were heading back towards Centraal Station.  I wanted to find a shop that had some hot tea, but we couldn’t find one.  We did find some Dutch Frites (fries) and got some of those.  Mmmm!  Then, I had one last ditch effort and found a candy shop that had all kinds of candy.  They did have a couple of brands of actual Dutch chocolate, so I settled and bought some of that.  It was actually good!  Finally got to Centraal Station:

We got on our train and headed back to the hotel:

We were packed in there, but it was only a 5 minute train ride, so not bad.  After all of that exploring, we were tired, so we cleaned up and went to bed.  Tomorrow is a long travel day for us all.