UG got a text message this morning that he is out of credit for internet access. But he used his phone in Kazakhstan. I didn't roam with it, so I didn't get that message. So $7 worth of data has lasted us almost 2 weeks. Neither one of us had any strong desire for last minute sight-seeing. We took our time packing up and checked out of the hotel at noon. We left our luggage in hotel storage and went out looking for our last Russian meal. I haven't seen pelmeni on any menus since the No 57 in Moscow, so we decided to find it somewhere today. We checked out every menu within a few blocks of the hotel, and finally found it at the Ivanhoff restaurant on Nevsky Prospect. I got my dumplings, and UG ordered a chicken breast. Somehow his chicken was both soaked in butter, yet dry and tasteless. He doesn't seem sad to be leaving the culinary arts of Russia. I got a Mille Feuille for dessert, but it wasn't a berry version, so it was rather bland.
We got picked up at the hotel by a Mercedes for the ride to the airport. The driver was such an enthusiastic tour guide, pointing out sights along the way, that I wished we'd had him drive us around earlier. At the airport, we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Fortunately, there were several duty free shops to check out. Most of the vodka we bought was significantly cheaper here. How annoying. and we've already purchased our duty free limit, so we restrained ourselves. The prices on souvenirs was all much higher, though, so we were happy we'd purchased those previously.
Like most European airports, the security check is right at the gate. So after our public groping, we got crammed into a little room to wait for boarding. I suspect the room was sized to allow passengers to appreciate the space on the plane itself. There was no room to line up to board. It was a final reminder of the Hermitage, with everyone pushing and shoving to get scanned in to board. We got fed on the plane, but no rum was available, which I've come to appreciate on KLM. Fortunately, it was only a 3 hour flight.
Landing at AMS, we had fog again, but only a 10 minute taxi this time. The walk to get luggage wasn't as long as I remember from 2 years ago. And now that we have done it before and weren't half asleep, getting tickets into Central Amsterdam wasn't as difficult as before. Finding the train, however, was still a pain. First, getting down to the train platform with luggage is difficult, due to the pillars blocking wide cases. On the platform, apparently there are screens which are supposed to indicate which platform you're supposed to go to. Our train said 1 or 2. Which one? 1 or 2? We ended up standing there and asking people when each train arrived, "is this train going to Central Station?" When we finally got on a train, we were too late to get one of the 2 seats next to the spot for luggage. So I had to run up at each stop to make sure our big suitcases didn't get pulled off the train. Again, who designed a train to the airport that doesn't allow room for luggage?
We got an Amsterdam sim card, but before I put in my phone, I turned on roaming on with the Russian sim card, and I'm still getting internet access on that same $7 initial purchase. It makes the 35 Euros we spent for 4 days in Amsterdam seem really expensive. Perhaps we should have loaded up the sim cards in Russia. Too bad my battery died again, so I couldn't use it to find the hotel. We managed to get to the hotel, in the Rembrandt Square area instead of across from the train station where we stayed last time, using public transit.
The hotel is a huge disappointment. It looks nice. Very modern, concierge desk, etc. But they gave us a room on the first floor looking into an alley I'm not entirely comfortable with the safety factor. There is no book in the room outlining hotel features. It's not even possible to call the front desk. I walked to the front desk to get ice for UG's foot. And they looked at me like it was the strangest request they have ever heard. No ice machine. They handed me a laundry bag and sent me to the bar. We had to ask for towels because all they gave us was 1 bath towel and 1 hand towel. No clock in the room. And gas station style toilet paper dispensers, which spit out individual sheets. But the internet seems to be working well, at least.
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