Day 106 – to Utrecht
- After I had only 5 hours of sleep, I was awakened by the damn alarm. I went through the motions of our morning.
- We walked to the train. Our ride to Utrecht was only 30 minutes, just long enough to eat lunch. One family had one of those giant strollers and a baby that would not stop crying. Little dude/ette, you are in a swanky limousine of a stroller; what do you have to be upset about?
- Utrecht wasn’t exactly clear. We walked out of the station, through a mall, and out the other side to try to find a place to hail an Uber. It was a cluster of very busy bike lanes and one-way streets in the few places cars were allowed. One driver waved us off, but after several tries, we finally got a ride.
- Our hotel room was not on the first floor as described, nor on the EU first floor. Grrrr at them lying to us. Plus the stairs were ultra skinny, tiny, and twisty. It was a rough haul with our bags. At least we didn’t have large cases.
- Our balcony was soaking wet from a dripping water leak. It was a good thing we didn’t need that. Our bathroom was teeny effin’ tiny. I dramatically declared I wasn’t leaving until our next train because of the stairs. I could subsist on snacks.
- So, for the evening, we rested/gamed/YouTubed, made a shopping list, and walked down all the stairs to the wonky automatic door that tried to kill me.
- On the way to the store, we saw boat tours in the canal, a nice willow, and a castle. Then, we found a pizza joint that beckoned us to stop for dinner before groceries. (Always a good idea.) The grocery run was simple, but a tad inadequate. We got enough for a couple of days.
- He spent the rest of the night gaming. I watched movies and fought insomnia.
Day 107 – just chill
- We slept in, which was nice. Our DIY Room Service breakfast was burritos.
- It was a gloomy day, so we had no interest in going out. Plus, we had more time than this city needed. We did run to a couple of stores to resupply.
- I worked on a couple of personal projects, and we did some YouTube/gaming and had snacks.
- Eventually, we made dinner.
- Part of our evening was spent connecting with a friend and doing travel work to make sure we can see said friend.
- From our room, we could see an old-fashioned-looking windmill. We sought it out and found it to be a small café
- Later that night, we could hear fireworks. We looked and searched but couldn’t see them or a reason for them.
Day 108 – Utrecht’s old town
- For our morning, we slept in, had our DIY room service for breakfast and our picnic lunch, and made plans with a friend for when we get back to the London-ish area.
- We then walked to the middle of old town for some shopping and sightseeing.
- The canal front was quite interesting with businesses (and homes) up at street level and some more (businesses in some areas, residences in others) at canal level.
- There were also quite a few boat tours running through the canals.
- For lunch, we found a bench between an old city gate and a large cathedral. We saw a (Muslim?) couple doing their wedding portraits in front of the Academiegebouw Universiteit Utrecht (Utrecht University Hall). Her dress was a gorgeous deep red color covered in sparkles.
- While we were still eating, a trash man practically shoved the trash can at us for our “trash” which was chips we were actively eating and water we were drinking (and my water bottle is obviously reusable). I appreciate his diligence, but it was too much.
- Later, we stopped for drinks and a sit. I had a limoncello spritz that was one of the strongest drinks I’ve ever had. Dayum. The bar also had a Bose audio canon (speaker) hanging from the ceiling.
- On the way back to our hotel, we hit the grocery store and wandered through a weird “dollar” ish type store. They suckered me in with halloween on display.
- For dinner, we made a feast: salad, burger patties, creamy mushroom sauce, tortellinis, and peas. We couldn’t even eat it all and had leftovers.
- Late at night, we heard more fireworks.
Day 109 – Utrecht wandering
- Our day of wandering wasn’t much different than the one before, but it was still nice.
- We used part of our morning to finalize plans to see our friend.
- We wandered along canal streets, this time going in a different direction. There were a lot of lovely homes and interesting buildings along the way.
- We saw some random chairs at an intersection and sat there to have our picnic lunch.
- We ended up quite near a spot we were in the day before. For a break, we found another Lebowski pub. It was completely different from the one in Reyjaavik. And this one had a massive giraffe. Neither of us could remember a giraffe in the movie, so he looked it up. Turns out, if you are googling for a giraffe in The Big Lebowski, it means you are at the Lebowski bar in Utrecht. That was funny to us.
- We just can’t seem to go to the store once every 2-3 days instead of every day. That’s a little annoying, but we needed a couple of things, so we stopped in on the way back to our hotel.
Day 110 – to Rotterdam
- After our usual breakfast/clean/pack, we took an uber to the train station. It was much easier getting there the “correct” way than the way we had wandered out of it and that mall. We were able to walk straight to our train, get on, and pull away. It was so smooth.
- The train itself was less so. There was no Wifi for me to work. 😥 It was also a really rocky train, but it went through the town of Gouda.
- Our apartment was nice. It needed a few updates, but one whole wall was windows and we had a proper living room, kitchen, and water closet separate from the shower.
- After we unpacked and rested a little, we loaded up for a late lunch at the nearby ramen place and a provisioning trip to the grocery.
- When we got back, I dove into some YouTubes. He did some laundry and found one of his games calling him. And then I crashed into a nap. Apparently, I was more tired than I knew.
- We eventually cooked and ate dinner and cleaned up. We also did more gaming/YouTubes.
- As I looked at our bed, I realized it was two twin beds, but with one king comforter. I knew that would be annoying for us both. He went to the desk and came back with another comforter. He told the staff member, “we don’t like to share”. She giggled and said, “me either.” Apparently, the Nordic way of each person having their own duvet is one of the keys to sharing a bed.
- Around the time he crawled into bed, I found a movie. And then, a friend popped up for a quick chat.
Day 111 – exploring in Rotterdam and go Aggies and ‘Canes!
- Our breakfast was quick. We made a note to get quiche again for travel days (when we are in places with a microwave). It was quicker to heat up, to eat, and made less dishes, too.
- We took a tram two stops over to the marina area. On the way off the tram, my phone was rebooting and I couldn’t tap out. I worried a tiny bit about what “damage” that would be. We wandered through part of Rotterdam with cool buildings. We found an odd hotel? dorm? apartments? called Hive. It was very interesting architecture.
- At a cafe near Hive, we sat for drink and watched a sign artist paint some decor for the restaurant. She was very soothing to watch.
- We wandered through a little (and old) part of the marina. Then, while getting on the train back, I noticed it tapped me “in” even though I never tapped out; I considered that a good sign. We also hit a grocery for more wine, er, um, and a couple of supplies.
- Rain – most people in the town were dressed for a blizzard, but few carried umbrellas. When it did rain, they’d just duck under an awning or into a shop or a café until it stopped. It also rains while the sun shines a lot.
- Of course, once we were back upstairs to our apartment to have lunch, the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the afternoon. It even glared in through the windows.
- It was already xmas in Rotterdam, though. Decor was everywhere. In October.
- I spent the evening trying to work while I monitored football scores. His Aggies had a solid win over Citadel: 41-0.
- I got my charge for the tram when I couldn’t tap out: $6 to his $3. Not bad.
- We both forced ourselves to stay awake for the Miami game. A 0100 start is brutal. (He even made a Burger King run at 0130 before they closed at 0200. They didn’t have chicken fries.) Double overtime made that far worse. It was hard fought, but we did it…and we survived the upset weekend. We finally crashed at about 0500. oooof
Day 112 – resting in the rain
- First thing I did when I woke up was refresh the scores page. What a great gift to find that BYU held on and Notre Dame ended up losing. Both #1 Georgia and #2 Notre Dame lost to unranked teams. In a normal world, that would move us from #3 to #1, but I didn’t hold my breath. Rankings are fickle.
- We leisurely made breakfast and then I started to “work” while he found a new update to a game.
- It was gloomy and dreary outside, so it was the perfect day to rest and recover from the late, late night.
- After lunch and some packing, we made a grocery run for the last couple of things we’d need.
- And then, after dinner, I checked the rankings. And found that Miami is #1!!
Day 113 – Brussels briefly before Britain
- After breakfast and packing, we did the loooong wait for our crowded elevator. Normally, two would be plenty, but one was down and these are quite slow. We had to let a pair of people “die on base” on our way down. But our checkout was smooth.
- That gave us 45 minutes to kill at the platform before a 2 hour train with no desks. At least I keep movies on my phone.
- Despite being a “ticketless” ride (like general admission), there were enough cars/seats that loading wasn’t chaotic. We even got a “booth” with a small table by the window seats. Score! I’d be able to work after all. But there was no Wifi. This might be the first train ever that didn’t have it. Spain didn’t have it for non-Europeans (because it’s tied to a phone number and +1 numbers don’t work), but they had it. At least I could use my phone as a hot spot. And, since we were leaving both countries soon, I didn’t have to worry about running out of data. The mostly-calm* train didn’t last long, however. In just a stop or two, so many people got on that the aisle was half full. We were lucky we got on a little early. They were lucky they were only going a stop or two. This is another reason why we like ticketed trains. *For part of our ride, two very chatty young women were in the other two seats of our booth. They didn’t stop talking the whole time. Another pair of older women were a few seats away doing the same thing and quite loudly. Oh how I longed for a quiet car. I might also need to upgrade my “drown out the noise” playlist.
- In the train station, we both saw the poster ads for Pizza Hut’s Sriracha Chicken Pizza. I added it to our list of things to do when we get back. We can order a chicken pizza from our favorite place, Pizza and Grill, and add Sriracha to it. (Also, I just learned I have been spelling Siraracha wrong. Strangely, that first r is silent, so we all pronounce it correctly.)
- Our hotel was back to our same neighborhood as before (because that’s where our train will be) but a different hotel. We took some time to get settled in.
- For an early supper, we went to a “spaghetti house” where I had Vol au Vent again. Sadly, this one was not as good as the others I had had.
- I spent some time working, but then we spent a significant portion of our evening dealing with a broken AC. After the guy was in our room for far too long, we told him to stop trying and that we’d just sleep with the windows open. We wanted them closed so we could sleep in, but nothing was working. We gave up and went to bed.
- Goodbye EU. It’s been wonderful. We wished we weren’t running out of days.
