Stepping Foot on the 7 Continents of the World A Step at a Time

Finally landing in Paris. From the plane I saw the Eiffel Tower and had a good bearing of the city from the many times I had gone through the map of the city back home. Touchdown. I was in Paris. It felt both surreal and real at the same time. I have always secretly feared immigration. Murphy's law seemed to be always in place whenever it was my turn to be screened. It's not that I had been sent home but I always felt I was always given a hard time. And Paris was no different. "How much money do you have?" in a thick French accent was directed at me after looking at my passport by the burly immigration officer. I knew it! Something had to be made difficult for me to enter. After answering him calmly. He let me in. Whew! Thank God that was the first and last immigration I had to go through in Europe. Oh, I almost forgot about Switzerland. I'd take care of that later. Now, back to the adrenaline rush of finally being in Paris. I went to fetch my luggage. Got a trolley. And turned on my mobile phone. There was signal, unlike in Taipei. I started sending text messages to my friends because I couldn't contain my excitement. I could hear not a single word of English all around me. French sounded so good in a cold climate. Indeed, welcome to Europe, Bunny. Got my luggage. Now, it's time to navigate the airport for the free shuttle to the train station that will take me to my train to Amsterdam. The thing with CDG airport is that its circular in orientation, therefore it's not scary to get lost. You just go around and eventually end up at the same spot where you started. Which happened to me while I was looking for the depot of the shuttle. Finding it was tricky. It's a good thing I decided to take my time to understand the signs, which were all in French by the way. When I figured it out, with a little help from a nice French woman, I was riding the bus to the station. One good thing about doing your homework was that I didn't have to pay for the RER ticket to Gare du Nord because of my Eurail Pass. It was free! My first freeloading experience. I knew I needed a lot of that because I was travelling on a budget. There was a long queue to get the train ticket, which later I would realize was a sign of things to come in Europe. Lining up, that is. My first encounter with the gypsies was right there in my first train station. True to form, they were entertaining people by playing the electronic harp on the waiting ramp. I had to really distance from them because I didn't want my first muggery, God forbid, to happen on my first day. They were easy to spot in a crowd. Which was good because, again, if I do get pickpocketed on, I want to know who did it so I could fight back. As if! I got off Gare du Nord. I immediately looked around to check out my train to Amsterdam, though I had a lot of waiting time. 4 hours of waiting to be exact. But I didn't mind because there was too much to absorb. And my adrenaline was pumping the whole time. I was trying my darnest to hide my excitement and to look composed like a worldly traveler I would like to project. Aside from finding my train and how to ride it, there were a lot of things I needed to do like take a piss and eat as it was getting close to lunch and my last meal was early breakfast on the plane. First things first. I asked someone inside a booth on how to go about finding and riding my train. The pleasant French lady who spoke to me in English, which I would later find to be a rarity in Paris, told me everything I had to know. And then I looked for a spot to settle down. There was a small berth where other travelers like me were waiting patiently. I grabbed a spot and rested for a while. It was cold with the cold air penetrating my already layered clothes. But did it matter? Of course not. Heck, I was in Paris and I was not complaining. Ok, I now had to pee. I realized I passed by a toilet going to the platform of my train. I left my spot and walked towards it. I was lugging my 2 bags the whole time. Quite heavy, but then again, did it matter? Hell no! Finding the toilet had one little problem. I needed coins to go in. I didn't have any. So I retreated and decided to buy lunch first so I could get loose change. I had a pastrami sandwich for lunch. Not bad. Ate it while standing because at this time the station was brimming with people already and there was no place to sit anymore. And I didn't want to pay to sit in a cafe. Such a cheapskate me, I realized. But then again, I was travelling on a budget and my first day wasn't the day to start splurging. Finally it was time to board my train to Amsterdam. I booked a first class back home. And when they say first class, it was indeed first class, complete with attendants to welcome you and a complete meal with your choice of drinks, including French wine. The travel time to Amsterdam would take about 4 hours with a horrifying 10 stops in between. But at least I got a glimpse of Belgium and the other famous Dutch cities like Rotterdam and the Hague. That's the beauty of traveling by train. It's 3D Europe. Seeing what I saw of Belgium, I wasn't impressed. Somehow it was lacking in character especially after seeing Paris and the outlying French towns. Seeing Rotterdam and the Hague was more interesting because of the very modern and unconventional architecture. I had to see cows and windmills. The view didn't disappoint. There were so many windmills scattered all over Netherlands I lost count already. The Schipol stop signalled we were nearing Amsterdam. Then finally, Amsterdam. First impression. Old world charm. Warm people. Cold and wet weather. I say nice. I got off the station, excited as ever, but feeling tired already. It's been one whole day of walking, navigating around and just waiting. Stepping out of the station felt a different vibe for me. Amsterdam was bustling in an upbeat way. It was like people were breathing acid. Everyone was just sending out positive vibes. I loved it instantly! But reality check first. I had to find my hotel. I lugged my bags with me on the cobbled road looking at my travel book for directions, looking around for any sign of my hotel and just absorbing the fantastic sights. I finally asked for directions. I think it did make a lot of difference to me learning that people speak English. After walking 2 blocks more, I was at the front desk of my hotel. I absolutely loved my hotel! It was at the heart of the city. It was very cozy. And the staff were all very accommodating. Just as how tripadvisor.com reviewed it to be. I was loving every minute of it, all the way up to my room, which looked so modern, cool and cozy. I took a shower after 2 days of wearing the same clothes and then I went to check out the city. I was at the heart of the Old Centre with interesting old architecture. What really stood out for me were the trams in the middle of the road. To me, more than the canals, my visual of Amsterdam would be the trams that zigzag around the city. I walked and walked getting lost in the side streets, and ending up in the red light district. Not at all scary because of the number of tourists like me milling about. Yet I was the only Asian at that time. So I sorta stood out. Until I heard from behind me Tagalog. There were 3 Pinoys strolling as well. Seamen I figured because they kinda looked it. I ended up in the part of the city where there was just a proliferation of Amsterdam's coffee shops. I walked past them, casually checking out what's happening inside. And then I decided to go for it and find out for myself by going inside one. I chose the farthest on the street because being new in town, it still felt kinda not legal to go inside in a way. Once inside, the friendly staff greets you with a menu of the different flavors of weed and space cake. Arranged from the strongest to the mildest. Ok, enough observing, it's time to get my feet wet. I chose the mildest on the list, to be on the safe side. Ordering weed meant you needed to order drinks with it. That's why it's a coffee shop, stupid me. But alcohol was not served. Not a coffee drinker anymore, I had to order decaf with my first weed in Amsterdam. Whoah! she brought me a thick monster of a joint that I, for a moment, feared smoking. That would definitely knock me out and erased whatever jetlag I would be feeling later. And the rest would be forever carved in my memory. Smoking a joint in Amsterdam, drinking coffee intermittently. Feeling dizzy and awake at the same time. Finally feeling how perfectly legal it was to do it there. And eventually enjoying the experience. I managed to finish one joint. Head spinning I mightily tried to walk in a straight line to a place I could grab something to eat. There was still sun, even at 8pm. So imagine being stoned, navigating your way to you hotel in a totally new place and seeing sun at 8 in the evening. Surreal indeed. I grabbed a sandwich in a pastrami shop. Gulped everything down. And found my way to my bed, happily slumbering, ending my first day in Europe.