We are off to catch the plane to Amsterdam from Lisbon this morning. As we headed downstairs in the hotel we were shocked to see a very full and busy breakfast dining room. This hotel must do a good business with the tour groups and I am not surprised. It is a very comfortable hotel with a swimming pool and hot tub. No, we did not get a chance to use them since Wes has a cold.
The rental car is parked in the underground parking lot and it really has very narrow ramps and sharp corners. I would not like to have a larger sized car to get in and out, but we managed.
As we leave Nazarene we know that the freeways we take will have tolls and we are not sure of the best route. Fortunately Karen has a route planned for us – or at least we think so. There is a new section of highway that is not in Karen’s memory so we ended up winging our way through that and managed to get on a secondary road. I should mention about the tolls when you do not have an automatic electronic sensor in your car. When you come to a toll you need to look very carefully at the signs to figure out which lane to go through. It is not always very obvious and you may end up taking an off ramp rather than a through lane – I know I did it. Not a problem - just go off, take the round about and return to the on-ramp.
This is not a real concern since it wormed its way through a few small villages before giving us an entrance to the freeway. Once there we had an easy drive to the airport.
When we got to the airport we learned that our flight had been delayed by two hours. Since we have a connecting flight in Madrid this was not welcome news. Not a problem we are told, they will rebook our flight from Madrid to a later one. I am not pleased with Iberia airlines since this will have made the 3rd change since we booked. The flight we booked left Lisbon at 9:30 am with a change of planes in Barcelona. That was changed to a flight to leave Lisbon at 12:30 and a change of planes in Barcelona. Next we were informed that the change of planes will take place in Madrid. So we originally were to be in Amsterdam at 4:30 pm and then with the last change it would be 7:00 pm. When we got to the airport we were informed of a two hour delay with our 12:30 flight and so they changed our second flight to the 7:20 meaning we get into Amsterdam around 10:00 pm. We are not too pleased since our hotel is at least 30 minutes away from the airport.
Oh well, what can you do? Nothing so we just sucked it up. The nice thing is that the airline provided us with a lunch and dinner snack – very high class (ham and cheese sandwich, a drink (water) and pastry with a sausage in the middle). How could we not forgive the inconveniences of the time changes?
As we sat in the Madrid airport we noted the design of the airport and felt that it had a very Gaudi look with the feeling of being under a forest canopy. However, when I checked it was designed by a British firm, Richard Rogers Partnership.
We completed our journey to Amsterdam arriving as scheduled around 9:50 (or as they say here in Europe – 21:50). To get to the hotel we first had to walk downstairs to a lower level to catch a train. With our Eurail this is a free service. Our first challenge was to figure out which train we needed and the maps on the wall really did not help much. Fortunately we had some maps on the blackberry that we had uploaded so finally figured it out. Then we got on the train to our station. As soon as we got off Wes got out Karen to figure out where the hotel was and how to get to it. When he realized that the hotel was only 2 kms away he decided that we could walk there. With his cold that he has been fighting I tried to convince him we could afford the 15 euro or so to take a taxi but he refused and stubbornly decided to walk. I asked what he wanted me to say over his funeral and he said to say that he had saved us a few euros. NOT FUNNY!!!!
At any rate by the time we got to the hotel he was feeling it. All day he has not felt great, but better than the last couple of weeks. I hope tomorrow he is back to feeling better again and that the walk did not set him back at all. He is finding the meds he is on helping a lot.
The hotel is an interesting one and we will decide how much we like it during the week. Our room is on the front and with no air conditioning, we have the window open. The tram runs down this street so we do have a bit of noise to deal with. However we are far back from the lobby so we do not need to be concerned about people coming and going.
Tomorrow is a new day and we wills see what it brings.
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