Today we left our Hotel at Wuppertal about 9.30am allowing plenty of time to take the hire car back to the airport and catch our 2.30 flight. Breakfast was delicious, once again, and so we farewelled Wuppertal after a lovely few days. Getting to the airport was fine until we got near to the airport and the navigation system did not follow the signs to the airport. This concerned us a little and then we decided we had best follow the signs rather than the navigator as we had started heading away from the airport. This was a late but good decision and we only headed once down the wrong side of the road and into oncoming traffic in our efforts to get back to the airport. A bit of a heart stopping moment but the cars heading towards us were stopped at a red light and there was an exit left that we took quickly and only got tooted once. Phew!
We got to the airport and fuelled up the car. If you don’t, they charge you 4 Euro 15 cents to fuel it instead of 1 euro 25 cents. We left the service station to take the car back and the navigation lead us back away from the airport. We could see where we needed to go but drove around in circles for a bit until we finally got there. Thank goodness we had plenty of time and we didn’t have to panic.
Inside the airport we checked in our bags, had a cuppa and went through to the gate. Gerard’s boarding pass failed the reader test so he had to be put through manually and then we sat and waited. Finally they called for boarding for our flight about 10 minutes later than scheduled and we boarded a bus to the plane – a fokker 50 that seats about 80 people. We sat in the bus and watched our luggage loaded onto the plane and then the pilot came onto the bus and said there was an electrical problem with a wire broken to the steps and we would have to return to the gate lounge and wait there. Once back at the gate lounge we went and bought a drink and nibbles at Starbucks and then our flight was called. We skulled our drinks and I stashed the nibbles in mu backpack. We were bussed back to the plane and this time we boarded and took off, everything was fine. We landed in Amsterdam about an hour late at 4.30pm after a 22 minute flight.
The train was the best option to get to the city, so we bought tickets for 5 euro each and boarded the train. They run every 10 minutes and after about 25 minutes we were at Central Station Amsterdm. We left the train and walked out of the station into the hustle and bustle of Sunday afternoon in busy Amsterdam. There were crowds everywhere and navigating through them with a suitcase was not easy. Everywhere there were cafes with tables on the sidewalks and people eating and enjoying themselves. The weather was beautiful, about 26 degrees. We found our way to Dam Square which is where we thought our Hotel was, but alas no Hotel to be found that was ours. Gerard went into a café and asked directions while I waited with the bags. Head right, cross two canals and then turn right and then left. Sure!!
A taxi driver pulled over and asked if we need a lift, but I said no, and asked him for directions and they matched the others, so off we went. Fortunately the directions were correct and 15 minutes later we were checking into our Hotel. We had only walked a short distance more that we needed to. Lovely Hotel, Raddison Blue, great room and we settled in.
It was dinner time and we had been in touch with Lee and Michael who were staying back near the Central Station about 20 minutes’ walk away. They were having drinks and food at their hotel so we headed off to get some dinner for ourselves. We walked down through the old town, carefully avoiding the red light area back to near Central Station and found a nice, clean Dutch restaurant and had a beautiful traditional meal and a glass of red wine. Gerard had steak with pepper sauce and I had grilled chicken. It was beautiful and accompanied by the best chips I have ever had, golden crisp and not oily.
Lee and Michael came and found us when we had finished eating and we had coffee and caught up on their travels and news. We headed back to our Hotel and slept very well.
