Travel Diary

Sunday

In the morning, I needed to reach the train station, so I made my way to the tram stop and boarded the next tram. The driver had no change or one-pass cards and thus I was told to just board and not worry about the fee. It’s fun when this happens (twice now), but I really do want to pay my way.

We all met up at the train station and headed west to a little town called Haarlem. Apparently, our Harlem in New York City is named after that town, just as New York was once New Amsterdam. These days, it’s easy to forget how influential and widespread the Dutch once were in the world.

In Haarlem, we met up with Lesly’s friend and her kids and toured around the fanciful little city. It’s like Amsterdam-Light without all the huge crowds everywhere. It’s also very picturesque. A boat tour through the canals offered us a little look at the city and the weather was divine, with the sun beaming down on us. It was actually getting a little hot. A nice “problem” to have.

After the boat tour, we had a memorable lunch and got to eat outside. Behind us was a large church. It was a very scenic place, the storybook way to spend an afternoon in Europe.

We walked around some more and had some ice cream. Like in many places, sweet treats are a large selling point. Places selling Nutella over waffles or crêpes were rampant. With all the walking around, one would think a person would lose weight over there, but with all the high-calorie foods, one pretty much just breaks even.

After that, we headed back to the station and returned to Amsterdam.

Once there, we rested once again. This is always a wise strategy. Europe can be tiring when trying to fit so much in. Small naps can really recharge a person for the next event. I should have tried to do this more in London and Dublin.

At night we met up for some crepes and then toured around the city. Terry and I walked around the Red Light District some. It was certainly eye opening. Inside the glass doors are some of the world’s most beautiful women and they definitely can be tempting, with constant winks and smiles and fingers beckoning one to come over and chat with them. There were all types too, but along the main streets, those were the A-teams, with nary an imperfection showing. The accommodating lighting also played a part.

You’d see people having a small conversation, then being led inside and then the curtains would close. I’m not sure of exactly what happens next as I didn’t go inside. But one can take a pretty good guess.

It’s a fascinating industry. And I wasn’t there to judge or criticize, but rather observe and learn about aspects of Europe.

After that, I returned to the hotel to rest for the night.

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