Woke with my own internal clock at 7 but very tired today. I
woke with a sore throat/ sinus/ sneezing and feeling very average. My sinuses
are also hating the room deodorizer they use in this hotel. I went down to breakfast
and no GF, except the eggs, oranges and the tea. Great spread for those who
aren’t gf though. Luckily I had some instant gf porridge, which helped.
After breakfast I made my way up to the tram stop and tried
to navigate the ticket machine on the platform- no hope. However you can buy a
ticket on the tram, so that problem was solved. €3 for an hour. I only needed
to get to Central Station and I planned to catch the Hop On / Off bus until I
was back.
I found my way from the Station back to the meeting place
for my first great walking tour, led by Arthur. Only 9 in the group, which was
perfect. Some tours had 20/30 in the group. Lots of history- but not an
overload. Some interesting places to visit and a coffee/ tea stop in the
middle, where three of the party had a delicious looking apple cake with a
mountain of cream. The only bad thing was the weather. The first half was in
drizzle and the second half was in serious rain. So my plastic over pants came
out of my back pack at the coffee stop and I was as dry as toast. Part of the
tour was in the Red Light district. I don’t think I have ever seen more bored
ladies. The ones we saw were usually young, gorgeous, naturally scantily
“dressed”, but some smoking and all on their mobile phones.
The city was a mix today. Public transport strike for two
days = huge queues for every bus/ tram. The weather was appalling, so everyone
wanted to minimize walking time. Umbrellas as far as you could see. This is
definitely NOT a city for a relaxing stroll. Those bike riders/ cars / buses
will get you every time. My neck was on a constant see saw trying to see what I
was about to run into/ was about to run into me.
After the tour 10 > 12:45 pm I eventually found a café
for a cuppa and some fries. Note to self: next time check the size of the fries
portion. Huge pile, but delicious and that will be my main meal of the day.
€8.50 for lunch. Of course I found a McD about five minutes after I had eaten,
but the weather was not conducive to searching for anything interesting. It was
still bucketing down. I did however find a tiny supermarket which sold rice
cakes, giving me some options re food. And I found the Dutch fabric shop-
closed on Mondays! In fact it was closed all week.
From here I walked up to the Central Station area to catch
the Hop on Hop off bus- along with the rest of the world. I had to wait in the
queue, in the rain, for 45 minutes before I reached the top of the queue.
Everyone waited patiently to progress up the queue. I was slightly cranky when
I got on the bus because it was raining so heavily and the windows were so
foggy you could barely see anything! But I had pre bought my ticket back home
and wasn’t able to change to a better day. The rain stopped for about 20
minutes halfway round the circuit. As we were nearing the end, it started
bucketing down again. I wasn’t in the mood for more rainy shots and possibly
was going to need a bathroom at some point, so got off and caught a tram back
to the hotel area.
I arrived at 5:15 which was quite enough in such bad
weather. Three cups of tea and an apple later, my diary is up to date. Now to
download and edit photos and hopefully an earlier night. My nose now running!
No comments:
Post a Comment