The trip started out with a half hour delay of the first train, which turned into a full hour as I had to take the following three trains one hour later each. But I still arrived in Amsterdam early enough to rent a bike (MacBike closes at 6 PM). I had bought a new public transport chipcard on my last visit but chose to walk to the bike rental instead, from Central Station to Waterlooplein. And for the first time since learning of the aforementioned disappointment I felt at peace while doing so, even walking the ever so crowded Warmoesstraat. The sun was shining and sparkling off what seemed to be already very early x-mas ornaments arching the street at intervals, and it was really warm for the season. At Dam Square there was a fairground with a large Ferris wheel and several other rides, I never learned what the occasion was but it was nice to look at the colorful and very futuristic light display, like being in a sci-fi movie.
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| Warmoesstraat |
My booking at the hostel, made only two days in advance and already paid, had been for a large, mixed-gender dorm which I'm absolutely not fond of but it had been the last available vacancy. However I was so lucky to be given a bed at the very same six-bed, all female dorm of my previous stay, even the same bed, top bunk #6, which was a very welcome privilege.
Chatting briefly with the lady at the reception I was told that the current "hot" weather (not really hot at all, just lower 70s, but indeed unusually summerlike for the season) apparently was sent our way by a hurricane about to hit Ireland. Upon returning home I would soon see this confirmed but back then I was quite puzzled to hear about this, having no access to news while traveling.
Having put the sheets on my bunk and emptied my backpack of all but the essentials, putting the rest into the locker, I set out on the MacBike once more and found the new location of Baba coffeeshop, formerly in Warmoesstraat but now moved near the western harbor docks. The nightfall over the canals there was so beautiful, the deep, darkening blue of the sky up high and the yellows of the horizon reflecting on the water amidst the picturesque boats. A little bat flying by over the canal at the Oude Houthaven (Old Timber Harbor).
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| Nightfall at Oude Houthaven |
Eventually I rode back to Vondelpark and brought the bike into the shed of the hostel. All the bottom racks were occupied with other bikes, so I had to lift mine onto one of the top racks. The MacBike being sturdy and heavy, a lot heavier than both my own bikes at home, it wasn't an easy feat even for me, but who else could possibly manage if not me! Once I had the hang of it it worked quite fine: each single rack can be extended outward, that rail where the wheels go in is at a height of about 5 feet, shoulder height; in goes the bike, and the rack is pushed back in line with the bike on it. Such double storied bike racks are quite common in Amsterdam (for good reason).
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| Not the shed, but similar double-story bike racks |
Wherever the journey goes,
Traversing the void
Forever
It begins and it ends (there)
And everlasting my abode
Is Roba El Khaliyeh
Roba El Khaliyeh, the Empty Space
In my heart
The bleak wasteland they call
Roba El Khaliyeh
The next morning at the hostel dorm, my first act was to slay a big skeeter in the shower, it had settled on the ceiling above me and I jumped up to squish it, it was full of blood, but as far as I can tell the blood wasn't mine. LOL
I bought breakfast at Albert Heijn's (supermarket) and sat in the park to eat it. I had no particular plans besides enjoying the sunny weather and riding around town, walking across the Waterlooplein Market, and checking out some stores. I took a ride on the ferries behind Central Station too which is always enjoyable (unless the weather is too cold), and they take you across Het Ij free of charge, even including your bike.
At night I rode to Dam Square to just watch the fairground with its funky light show for a while. The lights were good enough for me - I didn't even care to check the prices for the rides, knowing they'd be unaffordable anyway. But standing on the wall by that monument and dreamily watching was free.
Then I was back at the park again, sitting by one of the ponds on the lawn. Lots of other people sat there too, some had music playing. I didn't mind it, it was just Amsterdam being Amsterdam. The wildlife of the park is quite accustomed to these crowds too, herons and other water birds, and I watched two little bats flying to and fro above the pond too.
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| Dam Square fairground |
At one place in the big park there's some sort of huge, wooden jungle gym with various lofty walkways, I took the adventure of climbing around that thing in the darkness, which was fun although my backpack got in the way a bit.
The next morning I already had to check out of the hostel by 10:30. I remembered to take my bike out of the shed before that time, lifting it out oif the high rack again, since I still needed the key card to open the shed. The hostel is undergoing some renovations currently, and that morning there was a huge boom lift and the reception entrance was closed off; they had put some little green and yellow arrows on the ground outside to guide people around the building through the backdoor by the bike shed and through some corridors, which was quite ingenious and funny.
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| Follow directions. LOL |
This day was colder and not so sunny anymore, the sky was overcast, and by early afternoon I noticed how strange it looked: The sun was shining through, but not as a whitish dot of light as often the case with high fog, but instead the sun was fully visible, sharply outlined, and orange in color, dim enough to look straight at it. It was quite puzzling, "Look at this weird, orange Apocalypse sun," I said to my Master.
Back home that evening I would learn that this phenomenon was also caused by that stray hurricane that had by then passed over Ireland.
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| Orange Apocalypse sun over Amsterdam! |
The ride home wasn't without some minor complications again though. The second train from Utrecht was just about 5 minutes delayed so that in Venlo I had to run to reach the already waiting connection train. Some other young folks were running with me, mostly males of about 20 years old, and of course I had to make a point of overtaking and outrunning everyone else and being the first to reach the waiting train. Although I was the only one who had to fix her heavy ponytail after that. LOL
But it was in Dusseldorf where shit got weird, with the fourth and last train - well, supposedly the last one. It was already delayed by 15 or 20 minutes when it arrived. Then soon after boarding it there was an announcement that due to medical emergency work at the platform, the stop in Bonn would be omitted! I then overheard a lady in a seat across from me talking on her phone, presumably in jest saying that she couldn't keep coming to Bonn anymore because of how there was always something like this on that route.
I had to get off in Cologne and take another train to Bonn; that one arriving without further incident at least.
So... always problems in Bonn? No wonder - the place where the cursed Hell spawn lives! Yours truly... LOL
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