Week 2

Since we were waiting on an assignment, it was a good opportunity to explore Europe. We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany from Thailand in with enough time to go out and see a little bit of the city before dark. Our flight was pretty uneventful, but I wasn’t sure if we would survive the Taxi ride to the hotel. I think the driver was in a hurry to get to another fare, because he drove like a mad man.
Once we figured out how to get on the tram with the help of a couple at the stop, getting around was easy. Everyone we met spoken English, so communication was not a problem. We visited the city center, walked down to see the Main River and visited St. Bartholomaus Cathedral. The city center was very beautiful and picturesque. Monday was a holiday in Germany, so just about everything was closed, and we didn’t see much else in Frankfurt.
We decide to head to Amsterdam, then Paris, and we planned to head back to Frankfurt because we thought that would likely where we would fly to our next site, Uganda. It turned out that we’re flying from Amsterdam so we’re headed back there on 5/31 to catch our flight, which departs on 6/1. Getting to Amsterdam was easy enough on the high speed trains. The agent that helped us at the train station was incredibly patient and found us the best and least expensive options for our trip. The tourist office was very helpful there also and oriented me to the tram system and provided us with a map of the city. We had a little trouble finding the right tram stop for our hotel and I dragged about 100lbs of baggage, one with broken wheels, around what felt like miles around Amsterdam’s cobble stone roads trying to get to the hotel.
Amsterdam just feels like a cool place. It’s hard to describe, but I felt at home and at ease there. It was a little chilly, but nice since we were walking. People are nice, friendly and willing to help, especially if you look lost. There are a lot of people on bicycles and it seems like the preferred way to get around town, even though the trams are very convenient. There are all types of restaurants, but I didn’t see anything that could be considered local cuisine, and one person we met confirmed that there wasn’t anywhere that was really Dutch as far as food. He said “you might as well have Mexican food”. We did eat at two Middle Eastern influenced restaurants which were both excellent. We did get to experience healthcare first hand since we needed to get immunizations and anti-malarial medications for our trip to Uganda. The hotel desk informed us of where the clinic was, which was within walking distance. Most everything is it seems. The immunization clinic ran smoothly and had a very efficient way of getting everyone through the different stages up through when you received your immunizations and prescription. We saw a nurse to review what we needed, choose what medications we wanted, and to receive our prescriptions. Unfortunately we lost the majority of the day between the clinic and getting our meds, but we did get to visit the Van Gogh Museum while we were there.
We missed our scheduled train to Paris, which was a little frustrating, since we were still dealing with luggage without wheels and we tried to rush to catch it. Luckily we there was a train one hour later with the same destination. We knew which metro line to take when we arrived in Paris and we purchased a ticket on the train before we arrived, so getting to the hotel in Paris went well. We arrived in Paris later than we anticipated, but we did make it to see the Arc de Triomphe. We also visited the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, and of course ate French pastries and bread. Walking around Paris gave me the feeling of having gone back in time. Unlike Amsterdam which has older buildings and architecture mixed with the new, in Paris it feels like you could be 100 years in the past when the traffic dies down and there are few cars.
Next week will be all about getting back to Amsterdam and catching our flight to Africa!