day eight: london to amsterdam

got up pretty early today. 8:30am (which is alarmingly early if i was at school). got up again before N and went to the library to check my email and shower. woke up N at 9 so we could leave by 9:30. finished packing and left money for the guys whose place we were using (A & R).

because we had so many traveling issues the day before we probably over to the london city airport earlier than we needed to. we walked to baker street station and then took the jubilee line nine stops to canning town out in zone 3. we thought we'd have to get off the tube and walk to the direct light rail to take the train to the airport, but they were connected so all we had to do was walk up to another platform and wait for the train to come. so that was a big time saver. it was a cold ten minutes for the train. we were on an exposed platform on a windy morning. the train itself was smooth and easy enough, three stops and we were in the middle of the airport terminal. it only cost us 2.20 pounds to get from baker street to the airport which was another plus.

we got there at 10:45am for a 1pm flight. so super early. the airport itself is in an industry area right by the water so it was pretty gritty. but the airport itself was great. it was all self check-in only so we got our boarding passes in a minute and went to have some breakfast at the cafe. N had a chicken club and i had a chorizo argula sandwich. another great plus was that the entire airport had free wi-fi. it's where i wrote the previous post, while waiting to board for the plane.

the flight was only 40 minutes on a small jet plane. the seats were slightly smaller than the standard seats which was hilarious because N could fit in them... so he was extremely uncomfortable the whole flight. i took a twenty minute nap which was nice. i have to say BA does a much better job than american airlines. they served us sandwiches and drinks for free on a 40 minute flight. that's unheard of in the states!

once we got to amsterdam we bought a map (the first time we bought a map) and jumped on the train into the city. from central station we had a 20 minute walk south into the city to get to our hotel. the place was a good deal at 60 euros a night for a big room with breakfast included. we walked around after dropping our bags. we found the nines street right behind where our hotel was which was great. i found this great denim stop with hundreds of different kinds of jeans from the states, europe and japan. the area was by far my favorite neighborhood on the entire trip. N and i both thought we could totally live in the area. i actually stopped by a realty window to see how much places in the area were going for. the canals and the narrow streets were beautiful. N found a massage place and he was dying for a massage so he got a 90 minute massage while i continued to walk around and then sat down at a bar across the street to walk for him. i found a model agency which was interesting, i thought about going in and see how the models were in amsterdam, but i already knew they were pretty good on the whole. not paris or milan, but strong. at the bar i finally got to catch up on some reading. i read most of an old copy of the monocle. i have two more left to read on this trip. they'll probably have to wait till the flight back. it's 9.5 hours so i feel like i should have plenty of time for reading.

after the massage, N was starving. i had three beers at the bar so i was pretty full. but we found an argentinean place after searching for a reasonably priced meal for a while (food in amsterdam is pricey). we order chips with guacamole and two steak dinners, which were pretty good if only for a change of pace. N was still hungry so we stopped by the market next to our hotel and got some fresh bread, deli meats, basil and cheese. we made sandwiches for dinner part two. we also bought six grolsch tallboys and six heineken tallboys (for the next day). we ate in our hotel room while watching some tv. N had a few drinks at dinner and another four here. i had two more. so we were extremely full and pretty happy. N almost fell asleep but we decided to check out the red light district instead. we met an old homeless american (at least he said he was) who told us hilarious stories about the place and give us a little guided tour of the whole area. there were loads of people around, lots of guys of course, but lots of tourists: couples, families. it was kind of a weird vibe. we stopped into a bar to grab another pint and then headed home. we watched tv for a while since we needed to sober up before heading to bed.