A Very Long Post, Part III: Jakki's Here!
I woke up (on my own, mind you) at 530, 630, and 730 am. crazy what the time difference is doing to me. I listened to a podcast episode that i hadn't listened to yet (Cardplayer.com's the Circuit, if you must know) while laying in bed, trying to weigh out the benefits of another hour of sleep vs. getting up. I decided to get up, make some toast and have a mango. those produce stands are the best, but i really do need to remember to start asking for a receipt.
the plan for the day was to take a nice walk up to Centraal Station, catch a train to Schiphol Airport, meet up with Jakki who was en route, come back, and hang out until she could get into her apartment. oh yeah - and try to find a power transformer! (see my comment a few posts back) they're impossible to find everywhere, but they'd have to have them at the airport, right?
I started my walk around noon, figuring that i'd get to the station around 1. the walk was great - started going through the Vondelpark, past the Rijksmuseum, up through the center of the city, and finally to the train station. By the way, the weather's been perfect here: mid-60s, not too humid, nice breeze, no rain. It was quiet, as Atty tells me Sunday mornings are. Very few people out, even at noon. There was a group of old men hunkered over a giant chess game -- i stopped and watched a bit. It was amazing how these teams of 4 could openly discuss moves and several options 4 or 5 turns down the road with the other team listening in. The one team looked like they'd have mate in about 5 moves or so, but they made a mistake, leaving their queen side wide open for attack... the other team swooped in and had mate about 3 turns later.
anyway... the architecture and canals near the city's center are simply amazing, especially on a quiet Sunday morning (keep an eye out for Saturday night's vomit, though) 17th- and early 18th-century buildings one after another create giant walls with slightly different decorative motifs as you go - just looking at the gables, the brickwork, the carved door decorations, the shutters... it's a history lesson in itself. very sweet.
getting closer to the station, there was a notable buzz in the air-tons of people were flocking to the station to go see a football match leading up to the world cup: Netherlands v. Australia. It ended up being a brutal, physical match that ended in a tie. This made getting a ticket longer than expected, but i managed OK and got to Schiphol around 110. Jakki's plane from Heathrow was expected to arrive at 126 - just enough time to check the travel shops for a transformer.
NOTHING. all of my converstations went something like this:
"We have all the plugh adapters that you would neet."
"I already have plug adapters; what I need is a power transformer."
"Ja, you would need a transformer, too."
"Do you sell transformers here?"
"No."
"Dankuwel."
pretty sweet. turns out that the power adapters from the good folks at apple can handle all sorts of voltage, amperage, wattage... so that's good. (all of this posting right now).
anyway. Jakki got in, and I was glad to see her. Don't get me wrong - i like exploring this place and it's fun to think about all of the crazy stuff i've seen... but it'd be nice to bounce it off someone else who's experiencing the same stuff. Jakki hadn't slept at all during her flights - she was a trooper and made it through the day. I'll let her tell her story.
We got Jakki a train ticket, found the right platform, lugged the luggage, and rode to Centraal Station. There we got Jakki a Strippenkaart to ride the trams, found the right tram to Atty's place, and relaxed a bit once we got there. Atty is super nice, if i haven't said that before. she served us drinks, sat out in the garden with us, let Jakki keep her stuff there until we could head over to Jakki's place... real nice.
Jakki and I spent the day... walking. I've done so much walking already - prolly around 9 hours total since i've been here. easily more walking than i've done all year. that's sad. We strolled through Vondelpark and headed up to the city center, where we (eventually) found a place to eat after searching for a falafel joint. alas, they were all closed (that we could find). we ate a a thai place - kind of expensive-ish, but good, and a lot of food. we decided that it'd be better to split meals at places like this - neither of us could finish, and they don't give you doggie bags here.
We wandered back to Atty's, made some phone calls (Jakki's landlord wouldn't be around for 2 hours after he had said he would be... Jakki's nostrils were flaring), and went out walking again. this time, in search of the frozen banana poster i mentioned in the previous post. Couldn't find it. Thought I knew exactly where it was. Nope. We'll find it though, don't worry your sweet heads about it.
Went back to Atty's around 815ish, called Jakki's landlord, who said he'd be at the place in half an hour. Sweet. we walked the long walk (through the Vondelpark, past the Rijksmuseum, past the Heineken brewery, and there we were. a bit longer than we suspected. it prolly took about 40 minutes with luggage and getting semi-lost (we knew where we were going, just had a bad sense of the number of blocks). I was glad that her place is on the block of Huidecoperstraat that it is - the one across the street seemed sketchy - tons of graffiti, etc. etc. Her place is on a nicer block, closer to the canals, right by an Apple store (maybe just a repair place? we'll see.) Jakki's landlord seems nice and her place is cozy and cute. Hopefully i won't have to crash on the couch there, but if i have to, i think we'll be able to manage.
Anyway. this three-part post has been WAY TOO LONG. unless y'all enjoyed it. anyway. stay safe kids, and i'll post more soon.
-m
the plan for the day was to take a nice walk up to Centraal Station, catch a train to Schiphol Airport, meet up with Jakki who was en route, come back, and hang out until she could get into her apartment. oh yeah - and try to find a power transformer! (see my comment a few posts back) they're impossible to find everywhere, but they'd have to have them at the airport, right?
I started my walk around noon, figuring that i'd get to the station around 1. the walk was great - started going through the Vondelpark, past the Rijksmuseum, up through the center of the city, and finally to the train station. By the way, the weather's been perfect here: mid-60s, not too humid, nice breeze, no rain. It was quiet, as Atty tells me Sunday mornings are. Very few people out, even at noon. There was a group of old men hunkered over a giant chess game -- i stopped and watched a bit. It was amazing how these teams of 4 could openly discuss moves and several options 4 or 5 turns down the road with the other team listening in. The one team looked like they'd have mate in about 5 moves or so, but they made a mistake, leaving their queen side wide open for attack... the other team swooped in and had mate about 3 turns later.
anyway... the architecture and canals near the city's center are simply amazing, especially on a quiet Sunday morning (keep an eye out for Saturday night's vomit, though) 17th- and early 18th-century buildings one after another create giant walls with slightly different decorative motifs as you go - just looking at the gables, the brickwork, the carved door decorations, the shutters... it's a history lesson in itself. very sweet.
getting closer to the station, there was a notable buzz in the air-tons of people were flocking to the station to go see a football match leading up to the world cup: Netherlands v. Australia. It ended up being a brutal, physical match that ended in a tie. This made getting a ticket longer than expected, but i managed OK and got to Schiphol around 110. Jakki's plane from Heathrow was expected to arrive at 126 - just enough time to check the travel shops for a transformer.
NOTHING. all of my converstations went something like this:
"We have all the plugh adapters that you would neet."
"I already have plug adapters; what I need is a power transformer."
"Ja, you would need a transformer, too."
"Do you sell transformers here?"
"No."
"Dankuwel."
pretty sweet. turns out that the power adapters from the good folks at apple can handle all sorts of voltage, amperage, wattage... so that's good. (all of this posting right now).
anyway. Jakki got in, and I was glad to see her. Don't get me wrong - i like exploring this place and it's fun to think about all of the crazy stuff i've seen... but it'd be nice to bounce it off someone else who's experiencing the same stuff. Jakki hadn't slept at all during her flights - she was a trooper and made it through the day. I'll let her tell her story.
We got Jakki a train ticket, found the right platform, lugged the luggage, and rode to Centraal Station. There we got Jakki a Strippenkaart to ride the trams, found the right tram to Atty's place, and relaxed a bit once we got there. Atty is super nice, if i haven't said that before. she served us drinks, sat out in the garden with us, let Jakki keep her stuff there until we could head over to Jakki's place... real nice.
Jakki and I spent the day... walking. I've done so much walking already - prolly around 9 hours total since i've been here. easily more walking than i've done all year. that's sad. We strolled through Vondelpark and headed up to the city center, where we (eventually) found a place to eat after searching for a falafel joint. alas, they were all closed (that we could find). we ate a a thai place - kind of expensive-ish, but good, and a lot of food. we decided that it'd be better to split meals at places like this - neither of us could finish, and they don't give you doggie bags here.
We wandered back to Atty's, made some phone calls (Jakki's landlord wouldn't be around for 2 hours after he had said he would be... Jakki's nostrils were flaring), and went out walking again. this time, in search of the frozen banana poster i mentioned in the previous post. Couldn't find it. Thought I knew exactly where it was. Nope. We'll find it though, don't worry your sweet heads about it.
Went back to Atty's around 815ish, called Jakki's landlord, who said he'd be at the place in half an hour. Sweet. we walked the long walk (through the Vondelpark, past the Rijksmuseum, past the Heineken brewery, and there we were. a bit longer than we suspected. it prolly took about 40 minutes with luggage and getting semi-lost (we knew where we were going, just had a bad sense of the number of blocks). I was glad that her place is on the block of Huidecoperstraat that it is - the one across the street seemed sketchy - tons of graffiti, etc. etc. Her place is on a nicer block, closer to the canals, right by an Apple store (maybe just a repair place? we'll see.) Jakki's landlord seems nice and her place is cozy and cute. Hopefully i won't have to crash on the couch there, but if i have to, i think we'll be able to manage.
Anyway. this three-part post has been WAY TOO LONG. unless y'all enjoyed it. anyway. stay safe kids, and i'll post more soon.
-m
posted by mpc at 4:01 PM
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