Amsterdam
- Tara Larkai
- Mar 28, 2015
- 3 min read
Our way to Amsterdam was via train from Paris Nord station. We took Thalys train which had reasonable ticket prices. For $100 you can book yourself a first class seat which we did. Included in the first class was spacious seating, dining table, wifi, food and drinks. It was very comfortable except the wifi failed to work our entire trip. The trip was about 4-5 hours, can't quite remember. There were about 3 or 4 stops before arriving in Amsterdam. Our tickets were checked once on board by the conductor. The first class cabin had only a few people and our own waiter. The wait staff changed after each stop, I guess, they got off at their stop and another one boarded. One of the waiters that went all the way to Amsterdam with us was very rude. I am not sure if he was in a bad mood or he was always nasty and rude . First he tells us to move our bags from the corner of the door when our first waiter told us it was okay to leave them there. Then when we asked for his assistance to put the bags on the shelves, he told us that's not his job. Another passenger helped us put them on the shelves. Upon arrival in Amsterdam, we again asked him to help us bring down our bags, again we got the same nasty stare and this time, he ignored us like we did not exist. SMH. I do not know what his deal was. We should have known that was a start of a very bad night.
Amsterdam Central station is pretty large. It is actually the largest in Amsterdam and very busy. We all know what Amsterdam is known for...Cannabis. The first thing we smelled once we got off the train. The smell is very strong and can be overwhelming for a first timer. Coming from a country where this is illegal it was very shocking to see people walking around and smoking it nonchalantly. After getting over the shock of how readily available cannabis was, it was time to find our way to our hotel. We were staying at Movenpick hotel. Uber has been our go to mode of transportation thus far but now our internet was not working. After 30 minutes of trying without success, we decided to just get a taxi. In order to get to public transportation, we must go outside the station and walk a block. Yoooo! When I tell you I have never ever ever felt this cold in my life before, I MEAN IT! The cold and wind that met us at our first step outside was indescribable. Let's just say we had to go back into the station and do a second take. The wind was more than chicago wind and hit us right in our faces. I thought I was dressed warm enough with 3 layers on but that was not enough. We readjusted ourselves and went at it again only this time we ran to the taxi. Usually we would negotiate with the driver first before getting into the car but we got right into the car to get out of the cold. The driver was African, I don't remember what country he was from though. He told us there was a lot of Africans living in Amsterdam. We could see the hotel from the train station that is how close it was. It should be no more than a 7 minute drive but this driver took a longer route just to rack up the meter. It ended up being about 27 euros. We know we were cheated but how were we going to argue it with the driver. It was later around 10pm and we were exhausted. Jackson and I checked in while Chloe went to use the bathroom. It was going well until we received a call from Chloe telling us that she was followed by security from the bathroom and they would not allow her upstairs. WTF? Their excuse was that they didn't know there were three of us. That does not give them the excuse to follow her around like a criminal. We were so irritated we wanted to get another hotel but they told us they wouldn't refund our money because we had already paid in full. First that stupid man on the train then a hotel security thinking he is police officer. For a Movenpick hotel, we were very disappointed. We drowned our sorrows into ordering room service. We wanted to go to a coffee shop but we told that being a holiday, everything was closed.
Room service was probably the only best thing the hotel had to offer. Oh and our room service attendant, Renus! Ooh what a delight Renus was! Stay tuned for more on Renus. He was quite a character!
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