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Published: June 22nd 2011
Arrivals? Departures?
Finding my way through Amsterdam Schiphol airport - making sure I would be at the right arrival gate to meet sister J.I left first, leaving at 6am and flying from Fairbanks to Minneapolis to Amsterdam. I got a whole row to myself from Fairbanks to Minneapolis, much appreciated! My connection time in MSP was cut short and I had 28 minutes to get from Gate B to Gate G, but they didn't give my seat away, and the flight clicked right along. It felt very familiar landing in Amsterdam and was good to see my luggage, and no stops from Customs is always a good thing.
Sister Jean was not as fortunate, her plane was not air worthy, and her flight was delayed leaving Philadelphia by 3-1/2 hours. She was already landing in Amsterdam 2 hours after my flight, so now I have a 5-1/2 hour wait in the Amsterdam airport. Oh well, they have wireless and I have lots of good movies to watch and books to read!
Once she arrives, we will get on a train to Antwerp, Belgium, about a 2-1/2 hour train ride. So begins our biking adventure. We are both pretty excited to get bike maps of all the routes around Antwerp, enjoy some ice cold Belgium beer and Belgium chocolates - life is good!
Sister
Schiphol Airport
Is fun that it all is familiar! Jean finally arrived and we headed out on a train to Antwerp. Of course we boarded the train on a very full car, and had to lug our bags up 3 full cars before we finally found seats. But had lots of help getting our 49.5 pound bags on and off the train - everyone is very friendly and helpful. It took us about 2 hours to get to Antwerp, found the waffles - oh my gosh they were better than I remembered if that is possible, a biking map, a map of Antwerp, and a taxi! No rain here, and we were at our flat in no time.
Jean waited at the door to the flat with our bags, as I went to the corner grocery store to retrieve our flat keys. It seems everyone knows everyone here!
We decided that a nap was very much in order, and managed to crash for 3-1/2 hours! It was only after Jean's insistence that I moved at all - I was SURE that I could sleep the night through :-). So off we set to get our bearings - and find some dinner.
Really glad we did as
Schiphol Airport
Remember I had ALOT of time here! the cold beer and lasagne hit the spot! We found a bike shop, an all night grocery store, and a bigger market that will be worth exploring. We managed to stay up until 11pm local time.
WE HAVE MADE IT ! YIPPIE - let the biking begin!
K and J in Belgium again and loving it!
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Edie Curry
non-member comment
Glad you arrived Safely
Sounds like a wonderful start to your trip. Pictures are great and I hope the biking is just as great!! Take lots of beautiful pictures. I will cross my fingers that your weather is sunny and temperatures perfect for biking.