9 hours in Amsterdam
Amsterdam 2016
Buying tickets for the year is not only profitable, but also useful. It was thanks to such a purchase of tickets to Portugal that we ended up in Amsterdam without additional payments. A year ago, my friend Lesha took the same tickets. He called me the other day to tell me the sad news that the flight was canceled, but the news was just very joyful, because now you can fly with a transfer in any country in Europe! Having sorted the transfers of UIA flights, we found out that the longest through Amsterdam is 7 hours. The operator on the phone said that there was still an unspoken nine-hour transfer, but I would have to fly not with a low-cost airline, but with KLM. It hit so hard! I've never been so happy about a canceled flight. Another long transfer was possible in Prague, but the choice between "Prague cake" and "joint" was obvious.
Georgian feast
Georgian songs, unrealistically delicious Georgian food, a decorative horn that I accidentally tore off the wall. We tracked the Georgian mafia every half hour, the main thing is that the commissioner survives. A sea of wine and fun, Olya's birthday was more fun than a wedding at a Georgian winemaker. The main thing is not to forget that one of us is flying to Portugal tomorrow. . .
We got home late, with such a layout it was possible to walk longer and go straight to the airport. I would have things with me.
Let's fly
During the flight, Dasha distinguished herself by fixing the table on the plane. It is clear that the Polytechnic University is graduating real engineers who can even fix a Boeing 747! But the pilot, unfortunately, did not turn out to be a graduate of the Polytechnic University and gave us such a hard landing that the plane even turned out of the runway before it had time to completely slow down.
Jumping out of the plane first, we quickly ran to passport control to explain what we were doing here with a Portuguese visa. The officer, in general, did not care what we were doing and where, so he asked us to show only the reservation of Portuguese hotels. Our friends were not the first to check in, as a result of which we got lost so that we were found only by a miracle when boarding a train from the airport to the center.
Amsterdam meet us!
The city met us with a peasant who was spinning a joint right at the station. Then there were many very colorful characters. It was necessary to have a bite to eat without wasting time, the most reasonable decision was to drop into a McDuck.
Fairy visited McDonald's!
I liked McDuck, it was delicious.
Along the cozy canals, we went towards the red-light district. The girls in the windows happily waited for their customers. True, the girls themselves, as it were, to put it mildly, an amateur. Yes, and the size of some toys in the windows of sex shops caused goosebumps. But five-year-old Artyom just liked the windows very much, when he tried to take Artyom away from the windows, he said: "Let me have a look! " Admiring the channel from the next bridge, we noticed a nurse who was clearly looking for someone to help. Our delegation quickly identified its representative, who was entrusted with a responsible mission to find out how much the help of a nurse costs.
I was the representative. Moreover, my own wife bulged out of the crowd more actively than all of me, they say, don’t come back without a price. At first, it was somehow embarrassing for me to go to the nurse, but she was so accommodating that the price of 50 euros did not even seem scary to me. Further, it was tactfully necessary to freeze, because there is only one nurse, and there are many people who need her help, but I am married.
In general, I gave my main argument "I have only the first hour in the city", to which I received a counter-argument "So I will give you a great start. " Nevertheless, the services turned out to freeze, although it was clear that the girl really wanted to help.
Yes, after this it was necessary to cool down, we went to the nearest confectionery for ice cream.
The next point was to visit a coffee shop. Our whole expedition was very rich in spirit, and everyone was firmly convinced that we did not need a coffee shop. But as soon as you pass the first one, someone shouted: "Let's go in! ". Of our entire delegation, only five-year-old Artem did not smoke. On our route, we also visited a number of attractions such as the Coin Tower, the Asian Temple, the Royal Palace, etc. but it makes no sense to describe them, do you need to go and see them? In the middle of the city there is a small square Begijnhof.
Around which were located residential buildings, including the oldest wooden house. I could not resist and went into the gazebo of someone's house, sat down at a table and felt like a real Dutchman.
The narrow streets of Amsterdam were filled with a festive mood, a lot of music, cheerful people, everyone was selling something. Very cozy. It felt like walking around Istanbul. There is a large cheese shop in the city center. The key feature of which was that all cheeses could be tasted in unlimited quantities.
I probably tried all the varieties of the world) And time was ticking, and there was less and less before departure. Lesha's family had a departure 2 hours earlier. And at this point our roads parted all the way to Kyiv. Here's an interesting point, with the same dates and starting conditions, everyone's preferences and goals are so different that our Portuguese routes only crossed for 7 hours in Amsterdam)
The next goal was to visit one of the city's many huge parks. We walked to the park for about an hour, and the main thing was to take a picture on the way against the background of the legendary Iamsterdam sign.
In my imagination, I imagined how majestically I looked out of it, but in fact there were so many people there that everyone except me looked out) The Vangogh Museum had such a powerful entry price that we were culturally enriched without even going inside. This is what a museum of a real classic means. On the way to the park, we passed through the archway of some building in which a street accordionist played the classics as well as the entire orchestra in the Philharmonic.
The park was long and relaxing with lots of lakes and exotic birds. One of the birds pointedly caught a fish : ) In the park, the whole city seemed to relax, and the summer sun warmed everyone on the green grass. In our ranking, Amsterdam took the highest place among the cities of mainland Europe. In the last hour, we once again returned to the red-light district to enjoy the color. This time, saving time, we had dinner with french fries, which are poured like seeds into a paper cone and poured with mayonnaise. The curtains of almost all the windows were closed - the work was in full swing, everyone was working) On this, the introductory part of our long journey was over. And we moved on : )
Boarding the flight
