Met a British guy that was carrying on a conversation downstairs at the breakfast place and thought I would ask him a cultural question. If you type in Cheadle on Google, you will find a few towns in Britain by the name of Cheadle, as well as one in Canada. So I asked the guy if he had ever heard of a town named Cheadle. Sure enough, this guy grew up in the one in Manchester. Hah, pretty cool. I don't have any reason to believe I'm of British descent, but I also don't have any idea about my Dad's side except for Native American, nor does know as far as I assume. When asked, I know I'm mostly Italian as my Grandpa's family is from Sicilia and my Grandmas from Naples. Good enough for me.
Woke up and it was raining and cold. Good time to talk about the climate in Amsterdam. It was around 55 degrees at night and anywhere up to 70 during the day. Absolutely beautiful when sunny, which was enjoyable extensively considering the sun rose at 5:30AM and set nearly at 10:45PM. That's right, it was light out until almost 11:30PM. That was awesome. Definitely couldn't go out at night without a coat, and jeans were perfect for anytime of the day. Talked to one American who visited often and one thing is for sure, you do not want to visit Amsterdam in the winter. Fine by me, I will take and enjoy the summer weather anyday.
Waited around a little bit then went back to my hotel to go and meet Casey in front of our new hotel that we were staying at. Kinda wish we had stayed at CitizenM the rest of the time, but I am just thankful that we were able to stay at two 4-star hotels. The week before I had buses blaring into our window starting at 6:00AM and no A/C.
Ended up showing up like thirty minutes to meet him, thanks to Google Maps leading me a completely difficult direction. Also, because of our Italian cell phones, I had no way to reach him and we had just decided on a meeting place the day before. Our hotel, Westwood Fashion Hotel was very nice, and we dropped our bags off and went to explore the city.
Another moment to discuss Amsterdam public transportation.
Every train stop has an electronic timer that shows when your bus will be there, and a map that shows where anyone can figure out which bus/tram comes into closest contact with their destination.
Another noteworthy thing, bikes and mopeds have their own lane on the sidewalk, and take that lane very seriously. Very seriously. I almost got hit several times over the few days and witness tourists almost get hit, because the lanes very much look like sidewalks. But they are not, and bikers do not slow down or have any mercy. Many use their little bell, and we even heard someone with a duck horn use it. They don't even like you to walk on the opposite sidewalk. Sounds crazy, but makes sense. Everyone has their own lanes and makes things very efficient. It all makes sense. Refreshing break from Italian public transportation, where bus drivers take 30 minute breaks in the middle of their shift, and route.
It was raining lightly most of day, which is quite a long time with the way the sun stays out. However we took awhile walking around and exploring.
Continued exploring until rain finally stopped and we ran back to hotel to change. Very difficult and expensive to find any kind of food in Amsterdam. Went to the Hard Rock and looked at the menu, 15 Euro for a cheeseburger and 7 for a drink, no thank you! Sorry Hard Rock, even I have my limits...which will be pressed in tomorrow's blog. By this time it was nearing dark, so was almost 11. Trams quit running at 12:30 so we walked around for a little bit then went back to the hotel. My first experience with media in nearly a month! Family Guy was on at the hotel, and was even in English! What a perfect place. They must really know how starved from TV we really were.
Slept perfect again on my bed there, even though it was a little bit smaller than the car-bed at the other hotel. Actually, despite the weather, loving every bit of Amsterdam so far.
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