What a long day of travel. We left home (Canada) at 4:30 p.m. and we arrived in Leeuwarden (Netherlands) the next day at 4:30 p.m. So 24 hours (with a 6 hour difference so 18 hours of travel.)
Our KLM flight was great – as usual. I love flying KLM. We did pay extra for a better seat so I had plenty of leg room, and Bart and I had 2-seater together, a window and an aisle.
When we got to the Schipol airport, we found our train but since it was a holiday in the Netherlands, the schedule changed and there was not a direct train to Leeuwarden. Darn – we had to transfer to a second train at central station in Amsterdam. We were going to use our credit card to tap in and out. Well, we did not tap in at the airport, since we thought we had to do it on the train, so we rode the train illegally!! When we got to central station we had to deal with a rude employee who was annoyed and wouldn’t let us out so we were stuck behind the wickets. Until 2 girls came by and did the exact same thing. He let the 4 of us out – but not without grumbling. We then got a kind lady at the ticket desk, who said some of her colleagues are not so nice, as so many people come here from the airport, the same way. Well we didn’t know – there was nothing at the airport to force you to tap, so maybe they should change that! Well we got our ticket and got to platform 10b to Leeuwarden on time. About a two and a half hour train ride. We went through Flevoland along side the North side of the Isjelmeer. It is incredible that this land was man made from the sea – check out the YouTube video if interested. We had some beautiful views from the train, but we also were so tired….so missed some I am sure. Bart had a good snooze on the train.
We found an Irish pub just down from our hotel. We enjoyed a beer and some Dutch Bitterballen. Yum!! Even though it was chilly, we enjoyed sitting on the patio, as we were sitting in a covered glass patio house. We stayed in a small self-serve hotel which was perfect Bakery Boutique Hotel and had a comfy bed.
I was hoping to get some things sorted for our cycle trip which starts tomorrow, but I was so tired I couldn’t think. I went to bed and was snoring a minute later (so Bart said) by 8 p.m. And I woke at 8 a.m. 12 hours! Wow – I needed that sleep.
We didn’t get to see so much of Leeuwarden but we did walk a bit through the old city centre. We found a Albert Hijn grocery store where we picked up some breakfast food for the morning.
And after having a good night’s sleep, I can now keep going.
Tomorrow we will pick up our bikes and start our week’s cycle on the Elfstedentocht route.
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