My Amsterdam Mini-Adventure: Ninety Minutes on My Way to Seoul

It was a good thing I checked my email before we went to bed last night, because KLM emailed at 11:10 P.M. to inform me that my 7:30 A.M. flight from London to Amsterdam was cancelled! Thankfully, I was rescheduled on a flight that took off seventy minutes later, and I would still have time to make my connecting flight from Amsterdam to Tokyo. Flight one of three today was relatively uneventful, and seemed to be full of people who had been rescheduled from my original flight.

I had planned on spending a leisurely three hours wandering around Amsterdam before my next flight, but the later departure time of the first flight, coupled with the fact that I now couldn't check my luggage through to Tokyo since my rescheduled flight was with a different airline, meant that I wasn't sure if I would get to see Amsterdam this time around. By the time I got through immigration, picked up my suitcase, checked in for my next flight, rechecked my suitcase, and got to the rail platform, I realised I would probably only have ninety minutes in the city before I had to come back to the airport. Although that doesn't sound like much, ninety minutes wandering around a beautiful city like Amsterdam sure beats sitting in the airport for two hours, so I bought my rail ticket and was pleased to find a train just about to depart for the city centre. As soon as I stepped out of Centraal Station, I was glad I had made the effort--the city was as great as I remembered it, and I was sorry that Bob wasn't here to stroll along with me.

Before you feel too sorry for Bob, his routing to Vancouver was also with KLM, and he'd have a nine-hour stopover in Amsterdam on his way back to London. One of the funny things about our two walks, sixteen days apart, was that we both passed this statue that we didn't remember from our previous visits, and made a note to mention it to the other person--so, in a way, it's like we were strolling together.

If you followed our previous Amsterdam adventures, you may remember that I love the tiles that adorn many of Amsterdam's buildings, and this particular tile was pretty special:

With the name of the street written backwards and the date written upside-down and backwards, the fish somehow seem to belong in the tree! When I spotted this open doorway, I couldn't resist a peek inside:

The Hofje van Brienen, or De Star Hofje as it's commonly known, was built in 1804 by Arnout Jan van Brienen on the site of the Star brewery, which he purchased in 1797. Originally built as housing for elderly men and couples, it is said that van Brienen established the housing foundation as a thank you for being rescued from inside one of his locked vaults! The hofje is beautiful--a peaceful oasis in an already idyllic city.

A cute pup waited patiently outside the Westerkerk:

I'd come here in search of the best fries ever--so light, so crisp, so addictive--but, alas, the kiosk was closed! I suppose if there's a bright side, it's that I got to see the cheeky mural that decorates the stand when it's shut:

With only fifteen minutes left before I should catch a train back to the airport, I started heading back to Centraal station, sad to be leaving the beauty of Amsterdam.

Of course, there's still quite a bit of dog poo on the streets, but trust the residents of Amsterdam to come up with artistic ways of reminding owners to clean up after their dogs:

It would almost be worth breaking in to see a real, live unicorn, don't you think? And an attack unicorn at that!

I loved these messy doors--especially the "EEK."

I arrived back at the airport with time to spare (every city should be twenty minutes away from its airport courtesy of a cheap, direct rail link like Amsterdam is). One minute I was looking up at planes

and the next, I was on one.

Cities like these kept popping into sight as we flew over what the flight path on my screen told me was Siberia--it looks just a tiny bit cold down there!

Time to get some sleep . . . .