The Cubicle is empty!!!

Sept. 29 (Thursday)

Found out Mamang died today. A very sad day. Talked to Dad, Jiggs and more importantly Maria.

All encouraged to continue travelling. I have mixed feelings.

I checked with a nearby KLM office to see if I can get my flights changed. No luck. Very costly and would not get me there earlier to make the funeral.

The rest of the day spent thinking about mamang and the family.

Day 27 Amsterdam
Sept. 30 (Friday)

Talked to Maria and Dad. The funeral is for Sat. Oct. 1.

Wished Dad a happy birthday, but I’m sure it was bittersweet for him as well.

Went to the Rijks museum and the Van Gogh museum.

Day 28 Amsterdam
Oct. 1 (Saturday)

My thoughts were with the family as today they buried mamang.

More importantly will be heading home tomorrow.

Did some shopping to occupy my time. Did a few tours in town. Walked alot, especially at Vondel park near the hotel.

Placed my backpack at the CS so I won’t have a load to carry from the hotel to CS.

Day 29 Amsterdam
Oct. 2 (Sunday)

Got home safe and sound.

As many of you know, that I’am back and have been back for some time. It has taken awhile to come back to this blog as serious personal events have happened since my return from Europe. But I will try to reconstruct my daily events during my stay in Amsterdam.

Sept. 27

Left the hotel 1 hr before the scheduled train departure time for Amsterdam. Walk to the town square, people were out and about going to their normal routines for work. Today being Tuesday. Looking forward to this leg of my travels as I have heard A-dam is a good place to hang out and relax. Took me some time to find the Train Station. It was located underneath a nondescript building. The sign indicating that it is the Central Station is hard to find. The Belgians want the tourists to keep guessing where it’s at. I then proceeded to find the track. Trains from Brussels leave every half hour I believe for Amsterdam with stops at Rotterdam, The Hauge and Schippol Airport.

The train ride was quiet as business people around me bussied themselves reading reports or logging in their laptops.

At the Rotterdam stop, I had to do a double take as “Mountain Man” walked in. People at work would know what I’m talking about. Had exactly the right look with the hair, beard, clothing, some mannerims. The only thing different was this guy was slighter built and did not shout out “ouiee’s !!! The funniest thing so far this day.

Got to A-dam before noon and decided to ditch the heavy backpack. The Central Station is easy to navigate in but it was under construction. Their building a subway connection from Central Station to the north Island. So the main doors are not usable. You had to exit thru the wing doors.

Went to place my backpack in the locker. My bag went thru a x-ray machine and was tagged to have the bag inpected by an officer. They said they wanted to see the big object in the bag. I knew exactly what they meant. I had bought two bronze statues of the Mannekin Piss in Burssels and had them wrapped in newspaper and taped. They might have thought this is some sort of bomb. So I took out my workman’s utility tool and exposed the knife to cut the tape and show the statue. I guess they’re not so much worried about the knife than a bomb. Showed her the statues and was cleared. Placed the bags in the locker and started to head out and explore that is Amsterdam.

First thing I did was go to the Information center directly across the street from CS. I bought the A-dam pass and my transport pass. All for a cost of 52 Euros. It entitled me to free entry to most all of the museums, two free scenic canal boat rides and 3-days worth of bus, subway and tram use. Also got the location of my hotel and how to get there. This actually took longer than I originally thought (1 hr, at least) as there was a long que to ge get the A-dam pass.

By now I’m getting hungry as I have not eaten all day. I proceeded to walk up Damrak up to Dam Square. Dam Street which is the main thouroughfare in the whole town was packed with people, mainly tourists. This actually used to be a cannal until filled in to become the main st. out of the CS.

Walked all the way down to the square (about a mile walk) to check out the A-dam vibe. It was really fun as I have not been in a big city in a long time. The sights and sounds just on this street is amazing!

Found a place to eat a hearty english meal for lunch.

After lunch it started raining, so I stayed at the retaurant for a bit and get my bearing on how to get to the hotel. Went back to CS picked up my bag and took the tram to the hotel. Had to use my umbrella for the second time on this trip.

Checked in the hotel with no problem and took a nap.

After the nap, took a shower and head out to Leidzeplein for some dinner and drinks.

Overall a good start to my visit in A-dam.

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