Contented Traveller

I had a bit of a lie in this morning which was nice.I slept really well in the hotel, although I did wake up with the first signs of a cold. Having said earlier in the week, " I never get sick"....

I had a cup of tea and put the telly on for a bit. It was drizzly and damp outside, but it is November after all. I got ready, and then decided to try and have breakfast downstairs, even though I hadn't booked it. I made the mistake last year of not bothering, but then spent ages trekking around and not really liking the look of lots of places, which is a nuisance if you just want to get some breakfast! They said it was fine, it was busy there, and added another 20 euros to my bill, but it was worth it for convenience. I didn't want to keep stopping all day. 

I packed up, checked out, and went on my way to the station. I couldn't believe how ridiculously close the station was to my hotel, and had the trains been running, it would have been laughably easy to navigate. Hey ho. 
I bought my ticket for the Metro, which I'd never been on before, but I was told it was faster. Ten minutes later I got to Amsterdam Centraal. 

It was cold, and rainy, but I expected that. I wore my jacket and scarf, but had the foresight to bring my horrible "school coat" which has a hood, and wore that over the top, so I was quite snug and it was one thing less to carry. 

I wandered for about two hours. Last time I was here, I ended up on the main, high-street shops kind of parade, which was good, but it was a bit like going shopping at home, which wasn't really what I had come for. So this time I made sure I took a lot of the side streets, over the canals so that I could see more of where I wanted to. 

As I walked across Dam square, I saw they had sent up a huge tent thing right in front of Madame Tussaud's, and there was music etc. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but later when I walked back, I realised it was a Sinterklaas arrival parade thing, and there were loads of children dressed up as Zwarte Piet. I stood and watched for a bit, and took a few pics. There were even a few "Piets" kind of abseiling from the side of the buildings, pretending to snatch people's bags as they walked by. 

I was conscious of the time, and as the train wasn't running to the airport, mindful that I might have to leave earlier than planned. I went to Ily for a cup of tea and a warm up. I went there on my last trip, and it's in a good location opposite the station. 

The station was busy, but it wasn't too hard to work out the route. There were coaches laid on to go to the airport, so I hopped on one with loads of others. 

I stocked up on some goodies from Hema, which unfortunately left my arms aching with the weight of them. I killed a couple of hours at the airport, had a coffee etc. My poor shoulders have been really sore. Constantly putting a backpack on and off, and having to turn it round to get out passport/phone/boarding pass was beyond a joke by the end. 

Flight was easy and landed at 6pm. I felt my gloom start to creep back in as we landed....

It was a really nice weekend. Of course it would have been even better to have someone to share it with, but in the absence of that, I'm not going to miss out on doing what I want to do. And I wasn't lonely at all. I had a really stressful week last week with my job, house viewings etc, and wondering which path I'm going to take. But a lot of that simply evaporated this weekend. I had time to think. I enjoyed walking around, albeit in the cold. I made every decision and even if things didn't go exactly to plan, there just wasn't a flicker of anxiety. I talked to people, they talked to me. I took in the sights. I was really sad to come back actually. I love my family, and I can't lie that I was rather pleased to see a certain little dog (!) as well, but I actually felt quite liberated and more in control of everything. 

I think it was the thought of going back to work..... 

So that was my trip. Short, but it managed to stay on budget, and I enjoyed the time I spent there. I shall probably go back in the Spring/Summer. My camera has had it's fill of grey and drizzly Amsterdam, I suspect it would like a few with some sun and light ;-) ..........