European Winter

My experience with the central train station in Amsterdam is daunting. People are rushing everywhere, there are huge signs with arrivals and departures of trains, the Metro, busses, and who knows. Tickets for all those modes are dispensed by machines. I can never find anyone to ask a question, and I end up confused and frustrated. When i signed up for a bus tour of Delft, Rotterdam, and The Hague, I worried that I would not be able to find the connection i needed. No problem, said the receptionist at the hotel where i paid for the trip. Here’s a map, it’ll be right near where the Uber drops you off.

Skeptical, but game, I arrived early on Jan 1 for the tour. Map in hand, i walked back and forth for nearly an hour, unable to find what was billed as obvious. Every restaurant was closed, as was the ticket information booth. Jan 1 – New Year’s Day. Gah! A kind man at the pancake restaurant pointed me in the right direction, but it was already my 9:00 departure time. Did i miss the tour? Oh no! But the clerk at check-in said it was not a problem, i should just go up to platform B and catch the next bus.

It was not until the first announcement that i realized I was on a different tour. “Rotterdam MarktHall es cerrado.” My buried Spanish woke up. That means it’s closed. Jan 1 – New Year’s Day. I had already been informed that the tour of the Royal Dutch Ceramics factory tour was not available as it was closed for the holiday. I was offered compensation, 4.50 Euros was hardly worth the emails, and the offered canal cruise was useless as i was leaving Jan 2. The dialogue continued in English and Spanish through the tour. I had a chance to see all the sights (the ones which weren’t closed) and practice my Spanish in preparation for later tours.

So instead of hiking outdoors on a miserable day, i had the opportunity to slip into some lovely restaurants for snacks and the bathroom, and get some interesting history in Spanish and then in English to fill in the blanks. Overall it was a lovely day, even if I didn’t get to see the tile factory in Delft, or the Girl with the Pearl Earring in The Hague.