From Amsterdam to Accra

Trip Start Mar 11, 2005
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Trip End Mar 27, 2005


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Flag of Netherlands  ,
Saturday, March 12, 2005

The first land we noticed was Belfast and then it became cloudy again. As we broke through the clouds in Amsterdam, the roads were covered in snow, which had melted by the end of the day, thanks to the rain. It was a high of about 3 C. After deplaning, we found some luggage lockers to dump our carry-ons in and decided to catch a train to Amsterdam to kill some time as we had a 7 hour layover. We kept looking for a way out of the airport until we realized we had to go through customs. The first guy I asked if it was OK to go into the city for awhile said, "Oh, are you American?" "No, we're Canadian" I replied. "Well then, no problem!" he said. Wonder what the difference would have been? We had to get in line to go through immigration. They just stamped our passports and we bought round trip tickets at the train station which is right in the airport and took the train to Centraal, which is right downtown. It was very cold and windy. We walked around til we saw something familiar - McDonalds Amsterdam Canals
Amsterdam Canals
 . We went in for breakfast (it was only 7AM). I had a McToastie which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Kailey got locked in the bathroom and we had to get the manager to get her out. It was the main door to the hallway that locked as it had no handle on it. Bathrooms cost .35 E. After Kailey nearly got run over by a tram (this wasn't really her morning) we decided to take a canal boat cruise to get in out of the weather. The neatest thing I learned about the houses is that they have a furniture hook hanging from the roof of each of them, which they must use when people move. Since the hallways are so narrow, all the furniture has to be brought up the front of the outside of the house on a rope and in through the window of the room it is going into. We caught the train back to the airport. The boys needed to eat again, and we found ourselves at the famous McD's yet again. We decided to go wait at our departure gate, F2, but when we got there, no one else was there. By the time we figured out where they had moved the gate to and got across the airport, the people for our flight were already boarding. Boy! We sure knew we had the right flight. Out of 300 people, I'd say there were about 20-30 of us Obruni (white men). The flight was late leaving as there was so much traffic.
Amsterdam seems to be a wonderful city, would like to have more time to sight see however that will have to wait for another time. The real destination - Ghana - beckons.
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