Stairs (n.) - a series of steps for going from one level to another

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My flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful, though I was a little afraid that I would be late due to a late take-off from Colorado. Mom was already waiting at the airport, and Angie arrived just a few minutes after me.

While we waited for the plane to board, Angie decided she wanted to go get her shoes shined... in Detroit. An hour later, when the plane started boarding, Mom and I sat there wondering A) if she would make it, and B) if she didn't, what the heck were we going to do with her carry-on bags?? Finally, Mom boarded with her seating group, leaving me with a scripted motherly-scolding to give her, and I sat there fidgeting until she came running up, out of breath, with a wild story about her shoe-shining adventure. Something about there being a long line, someone cutting in front her, and walking to the other end of the universe to find another shoe shiner, only to walk back to the first one again. I don't know, but I've never seen leather hiking boots look better.

When we arrived in Amsterdam, we took the train to the city (Centraal Station) and then walked about 5 minutes to the apartment that we rented, which we were delighted to discover was right on the corner of the Red Light District, with a view of a sex shop out our window. Our host was a tall, really handsome Dutchman named Cees (pronounced something like "case", but not really.) He showed us to the apartment, and thankfully carried our bags up the ridiculously steep and narrow structure they call...

Stairs (n.) -
1. a series of steps for going from one level to another
2. a medieval torture device for 67-year-old women

Property tax in Amsterdam is based on how much of the street-front your house spans, so houses are built very narrow and tall. Each house has an arm at the top that is used as a pulley to haul furniture up through the windows because you can't fit a greased tennis ball up the stairs.

My mother would learn to hate these stairs in the four days that we stayed there.

After we settled into the apartment, we went down to the tourism office to buy tickets for the next day's events, then we went on a canal boat tour. The sun was bright, and my sister was feeling hot, so I spent most of the boat trip wrestling with the lady in front of me trying to keep the window open. All three of us had forgotten our sunglasses and were so exhausted from jet-lag that we closed our eyes and almost fell asleep on the boat. Angie did fall asleep, so I finally let the lady win. The fact that she was bigger than me had nothing to do with it.

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