DTW-AMS

Hi Folks!  We have made it to the Netherlands, although not without its challenges.  After taking the Michigan Flyer from Jackson to the Detroit airport, we stood in line to check our bags and check-in for the flight.  We were originally on a 1:30 flight to Philadelphia, connecting at 6:50 to Amsterdam.  We were in line around 10:30, because of the timing of the shuttle.  The US Airways clerk asked if we wanted to get on a earlier flight to Philly, because there were thunderstorm/weather delays, and we might want to get there as early as possible.  Agreeing, he issued us new boarding passes for an 11:45 flight and off we went to security.  We got to experience the full-body scanners, which seemed pretty painless.  And no one asked to rifle through our bags for anything unidentifiable, so that was also a plus.

We headed to the gate to check the flight boarding, because it should have been soon, only to find out that the NEW flight we had been booked on had been cancelled!  There was a flight at the gate that should have left for Philly at 10:25, that was in the process of boarding.  We stood in line to ask questions and the clerk was nice enough to get us on THAT flight, as it was boarding.  She called the bag room to have our suitcases transfered to the new flight.  Luckily, they were easily located due to the neon green duct tape strips Dave put on the top and bottom of each bag. We boarded, the plane pushed back from the gate and we then proceeded to sit on the tarmac for another 1/2 hour because of traffic and weather.  Finally, we made it to Philly about 1:30 pm. This gave us plenty of time to stretch our legs, get something to eat, and hang out until the evening flight to Amsterdam.

The fight to AMS was not full, so we were able to sit reasonably comfortably, as comfortably as you can on long flights like this.  Flight time was about 8 hours landing around 8:15 local time this morning.  The Schipol airport is set up a little differently than Detroit, and you have to walk through a large part of the airport to get to the customs desks and then baggage claim.  Dave was interested in knowing where the MC Escher mural that was supposed to be in the airport was located, so first thing we did was stop and ask at the information desk.  We had passed it, so we went back to locate it, and discovered it was in an area under renovation.  not to be undone by this type of triviality, there was luckily a staircase nearby at the top of which we could see the mural from above and photograph it.  In the US, you are definitely NOT allowed to photograph in airports, but no one seemed to mind.

We got through customs pretty quickly, collected our bags and headed for the train connection area in the airport.  We ended up buying tickets from the ticket window, and not the automated kiosks that are available.  After asking the difference between first and second class seats on Dutch trains, and being informed that the difference was the price, we purchased the second class tickets, which were 14 euros instead of the 1st class 25 euro tickets, we headed for the platform.  Note - many Dutch residents speak A LOT of English. There are 2 stations in Den Haag, our pit stop for this leg of the race, and we definitely wanted one over the other.  After discussing which train might be going there, a friendly man on the platform assured us that the train in front of us was going where we wanted to go.   Alas, we sadly found out he was mistaken.  We ended up at THE OTHER station, on the other side of town from our hotel.  Luckily there are information booths for travelers pretty frequently sprinkled about transit stops.

We now bought tickets for the tram, which supposedly would take us where we wanted to go.  Trams are like buses, having regular routes and stops, but not always going in the same direction.  Sometimes the 17 tram is going north and sometimes it is going south. We ask the ticket takers which tram we want, but they decide as we are getting on the 11 tram, that we do in fact want the 17, which boards across the street and around the corner.  We head to the shelter and look at the map, trying to figure out which stop we want and how we can relay this to the driver.  The next #17 comes along and in our hesitation on deciding how to ask the driver, the doors close and the tram leaves. The next one comes along 10 minutes later.  Lets pause now to think about the fact that we have taken a transatlantic flight and been traveling for quite a few hours on very little sleep, and even littler coffee. The driver of the next tram punches our tickets, affirms that we are going the right way and makes sure we know where to get off the tram. We don't find seats with our luggage, but stand until one opens up.  I rise a few stops later to give my seat to an older woman who looks like she desperately needs a seat, proceeding to almost knock her over and elbow the woman across the aisle in the head in the process. I retake my seat as she has a companion farther back in the bus waving her back.

We find the hotel with no problem. check in isn't until 3:00, but they are glad to store our bags and give us a map to go somewhere else until the room is ready.  We are now in the Gemeentemuseum, repository for much of the archival Escher materials Dave wants to see.  We did not have an appointment, but they were slightly aware we were coming, as Dave had sent email last week.  Dave is looking at books on Escher and had a talk with the archivist who will be pulling Escher's personal photo albums, among other things, for us to look at tomorrow at 10:00 am.  We are going to head over to the museum cafe for a break and to plan the rest of our day.