Days 1 & 2 - Traveling to Dordrecht

I left Bloomington yesterday at 11am with Adam for the airport. We made it there in plenty of time and I was so proud of myself for fitting six weeks of what I would need in 1 big suitcase, a backpack and a large purse. So, I was a bit sad when I was told that my suitcase weighed 8 pounds over the amount allowed, so I was going to have to pay an extra $50. Luckily, there was a little shop near the ticket counter where I bought a small duffel bag where I put a few things from the suitcase. So, I had two checked bags after I had tried so hard to only have 1. I guess that means I'll have room for a few souveniers. So, after the luggage situation was taken care of, I had a teary goodbye with Adam infront of the security guys (who made fun of me a little bit).

I arrived in Chicago around 2pm central time and met my parents at O'Hare for a quick lunch. The restaurant my dad wanted to go to was closed, so we found a little Italian place about 20 minutes from the airport. I was a bit nervous about getting back in plenty of time, but the food was good and I was through security and at the gate with two hours before my flight. As it turned out, I didn't even need to worry if I was late, because we were delayed about 45 minutes while the ground crew re-adjusted some special cargo.

I slept for about 2 hours on the plane ride and caught one of the in-flight movies. The seven hours went by surprisingly fast. I arrived in Amsterdam this morning at 9:45am (3:45am Indiana time). I exchanged my dollars to euros, got both of my checked bags and breezed through customs. Then I learned how to work a pay phone to call Helga. I probably wasted about 2 euros because they don't give you change. I also had a bit of difficulty getting my train ticket to Rotterdam to meet Helga. The machine I used with my credit card asked for a PIN number and it wouldn't accept my debit card. Luckily, there was a ticket office nearby and I was able to purchase a ticket on my credit card from her just fine. I took the train to Rotterdam and met Helga at the station. I got her keys and a map with the route to her apartment in Dordrecht highlighted. It was an easy 10 minute walk through a really pretty park. I made it to Helga's around 12:30pm local time (6:30am Indiana time). I was still feeling pretty good on my 2 hours of sleep, so I took a much needed shower and relaxed on the balcony overlooking the park.


Helga got to the apartment around 2:15pm and made us lunch. In the park outside of Helga's building is a free petting zoo with goats, peacocks, cows and other typical petting zoo inhabitants.


We walked around there for a little bit, and then, we walked to downtown Dordrecht about 10 minutes from the train station on the other side. It is a beautiful town with a perfect mixture of traditional buildings (including a lovely church built in the 1600's and a monastery from the 1500's).

I took a TON of pictures already (which I will try to post ASAP). We also stopped at a little restaurant that makes pancakes. We both had an order of them as our dinner\dessert...YUM! The meal, including my Coke Zero was only about 6 euros. At least we did a lot of walking, so I felt o.k. having the treat.

We got back here about 7:15pm (1:15pm Indiana time) and I spent over an hour checking and writing emails (and I've only been gone a day and a half) on Helga's computer. It is a bit harder using the German keyboard because some of the keys are different. We are now watching Germany play Turkey is a World Cup semi-final futbol game and enjoying a glass of French wine.

Tomorrow, I am off to Belgium. I plan to spend a bit of time in Antwerp early in the day and meet Helga and go see some sights in Brussels after she leaves work.