I *Lion* Amsterdam!

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I *Lion* Amsterdam!

(Written on May 14 2006)

As our last weekend (and first to be entire honest) where the five of us would be together, Allison, Alison, Erin, Andrea and I headed off to Amsterdam for the weekend. As we are all cheap students, we opted for the Eurolines bus instead of the train. The difference? The train would've taken 5 hours and would've cost 150 Euros. The bus took 9 hours and cost 62 Euros. We decided to risk our lives and bladders on the bus and save 100 Euros.

Our bus was to leave Paris at 10:15am on Friday April 7 and we got there without any problems - with a wake-up in order to be out of Ango before 7am. Being North American (and not French) we were at the bus station early (by 9:15) and sat around for an hour. (With runs for food included!)

And here's where things get tricky. I really had to go pee. Being cheap, I didn't want to pay to go at the station, so I figured I'd go on the bus as buses always have bathrooms to use. Haha... We got on there, and I waited until the bus started before checking the door for the bathroom. Locked. I waited another 20 mins, thinking the driver would come back and open it. No luck. So I went up to the front to ask if the door would be opened, and he told me that the key had been stolen!!!!! Meaning ... I had no where to go to the bathroom!! FOR 9 HOURS!! You can imagine my anger at this new development.

After the driver saw my distaste in the lack of bathroom for 9 hours (understandably so, right?), he randomly pulled to the side of the road announcing that this was a bathroom stop. I, of course, RUN to the women's bathroom. The bathroom experience requires an explanation on its own as it solidified that I can now pay for bathrooms.

I entered the bathroom, expecting not the greatest, but thinking it would be manageable as I really had to go. There were two stalls, and I ran to the farthest one from the doorway and just stood for a second. There was literally no toilet seat. There were two blocks over the 'hole' in the ground, meant to stand on. These, we learned, were critical in this bathroom in order to avoid what was on the ground.

Needless to say, all of us were not impressed, but all used it, and then used Erin's hand sanitizer to rid ourselves of the filth. Oh, there was also no soap in the wonderful washroom. The bus continued on, and we made a few more stops within the 9 hours to the bathroom, as well as snackruns where Alison finished her ice cream before me somewhere in Belgium. (It was a big deal since she's a slow eater!) As we continued to Amsterdam, we drove through Brussels, and Antwerp, so I got to see a bit of those cities along the way.

We got to Amsterdam around 7pm and randomly found our way to the hotel - with some very nice people along the way (that spoke English mind you) that helped us find our way through the metro and to the hotel itself. We all changed for the night, and headed out to a restaurant for dinner.

It was a really nice Argentinian place - as I never eat locally ya know. I had ribs. Yumm :D I can say that it was the best meal I had in Europe up until that point, so that says a lot. I also haven't eaten out much and when I do, it's pizza basically.

TO BE CONTINUED ... But I will post this anyways!

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Photos

Goofs in Amsterdam
Outside the metro station after arriving by bus to Amsterdam. L-R: Me, Allison, Erin, Andrea. Alison is taking the picture.

Erin Crouching
This is Erin demonstrating what we had to do in the now famous 'Random French Bathroom'

Ice Cream
Alison and I with our ice cream cones that we bought in some random town in Belgium!

Lounging
Me lounging in the hotel!