Day 22-26: Back to Copenhagen -> to Paris.... the journey should go on !

So we are back to Copenhagen in the morning. Since it was a working day, we directly went to the University and to our office. It was a good feeling after coming back to Copenhagen. Felt like home, though it has been 20 days only.We rested ourselves for a while in office, the personal laptop that we had were in the office itself as we left from the there directly for the Amsterdam trip. We switched them on, copied images from the camera, uploaded them on the Picasa and Orkut (yes you heard it, Orkut(It was the most popular social media platform in India at that time and Facebook was sort of in oblivion). Started chatting about our grand first trip with our friends, felt like yes we did something amazing. 

During the whole day, we had lot of tea and fruits. We just spent the whole day, watching the pictures, chatting with friends, telling them about our first experience about the Europe. Called back home after a long time, told them about the trip and what all the things we did (Censored).

Around 4:30pm , we left the office, and headed back for the home. Before going home, we picked daily supplies like bread, milk, corn flakes, and some things new for a change. We reached back home around 6pm, and freshened ourselves. We ate some bread, milk and fruits for the time, then after rested for an hour, by that time Out landlord Mr. AS was also back from the office, so we set down and started talking about the trip. Lots of things were discussed except the strip club part.Mr. AS asked us about the trip, how we managed the transport and some other things, as he was also planning to go there some time with his family (censored trip !). After talking for 1 hour, I set down with them for dinner. Had some more talk over the dinner. Finally I came back to the room at around 10pm, did some chatting and surfing internet.

We slept that day like horses, hoping for a bright Tuesday morning when we wake up. 

Following 3 days - 

Now we became a little serious about the work. I started work on assignment, and some small reading about the next assignment. The first rough analysis of first assignment was ready by Thursday.  I mailed that to my guide and comforted myself that yes I have done something.  After planning our future trips we were all set to roll out to Paris, the city of dreams, love and fashion. Our plan was to reach Paris on Friday and get around for two days and back to pavilion on Monday direct to office. But we got hit by the railway office as there were no reservations available for Thursday. So we had no other choice but to buy the tickets for Friday. 

So all the much awaited plan of Paris  was slashed down by 1 day. We were all set and had planned the way we gonna travel Paris, although all was on Mr. A who was Paris for his intern to show us around the city. As he has already seen all of it, and we also left our accommodation concerns on him. Plan was to stay in his hostel [to be specific in his room, free of charge], no contingency plan]. Hopefully all will go by the plan, but you never know, there’s always space for surprises.

To Paris we go-

So on Friday, we packed our bags, planned as usual to leave directly from office, our train was at about 4:30pm, not sure. We left office  at 3:30pm, went to the central station. There is a shop –Afgaan market from where we use to buy our trip food always. Bought some snacks, fruits and for me mango pickle. We boarded the train, Mr. A Junior was also with us. We had to change 3 trains, to reach Paris. The route was – Copenhagen ->Hamburg-> Lillifrandis- > Paris.

So we had to do a lot of here and there trips. We were gonna reach Paris, on next day afternoon, so had a long way to pass out, without any doubt cards were always with us, we played for god knows how long. Still a long long way to go–uhhhhhhffffff................. keep going till next time.

Day 21: Back to Amsterdam, full throttle walk around

We took out the Amsterdam pass booklet to search for places missed on day one. Our first pit stop was an old wind mill stationed outside the present Amsterdam, it lies near the last local train station, built mainly for the purpose of water transportation and controlling floods. We reached there at around 9am in the morning of 24^th may. It is a very nice and scenic place, very quite and the tour around the mill is very exciting and thoughtful, fills with unknowns. After spending 2 hours there, we left at around 11am, back to the main city. Following the day one in Amsterdam, We again visited some more museums, and also started picking up our goodies, that are offered for free along with the Amsterdam pass from various locations. 

We picked Haniken bottle opener, silver key chain, chocolates, enjoyed free coffee and tea. After going on like this for a while, around 2pm we were out of energy, so finally we decided to take a peaceful boat tour, which was our second free canal ride included in the pass. It took about 45 minutes and finally around 3 pm we were back on the ground. We went to find some place to eat, which was usual as you can case, french fries. Finally after settling hunger issues, now comes the point where, we don’t want to go anywhere, but had no other choice as our train for Copenhagen was at 6pm, we still have 2 more hours to pass.

We roamed around for another 1 hours, just looking for anything we missed or something we can buy. But nothing that could pop-up in front of our eyes, done with all that we could do, so we headed back to the station, found ourselves a nice bench to sit down,relax and tic-tock. The remaining 1 hour, all we thought was that what we did in these 3 days, how we spent night on the roads of Amsterdam, the experience of Amsterdam night life, red light area, the sexy police officers and playing cards. This was our first leg of Euro trip, truth be told, it was fantastic. 

Although Amsterdam didn't look that pretty as you see in movies. The first experience of local transport outside Copenhagen was amazing, I mean it is so simple anyone can understand with just a bit of thought process. Now all we wanted is to board the train [our train was direct from Amsterdam to Copenhagen], and just sleep. We were really tired after today’s long marathon walk through the city. Finally when the train was on the platform, felt like we never wanted to leave the place. Though it may seem, what did did we do in all the trip (no lap dance, no sex, no booz and no crime), but the thing is this that you don't have to do actually do them to feel them. May be it is the feeling of just being there, the x-factor and all the art and nigh-outs felt good enough.  Back to the platform, we boarded the train and we gazed on the city of Amsterdam for one last time, as we will not be coming back here during this Euro trip. 

We might come back in future, who knows but we are surely won't be coming back during this summer. Although it is always a sad feeling, leaving a place behind, not sure when you will come back. But that's the way it works, you just have to let go. We will miss this trip, as this was our first of many Euro trips, and it was really amazing. In the sex capital of Europe, wandering all the night and doing stupid things like, playing cards in front of red light area, going to the strip club, sleeping outside the station, eating French fries all 3 days and collecting free gifts from all over the city. It was full of fun, the way we got the things done and the idea of getting to know new things. Surely this trip will help us in understanding the way the transportation works in Europe, it was full of that experience much needed, if we want to complete the Euro trip in the time we have. We already had plans for all our future trips, and in what order we are going to do them, only thing was that how much time we need for each of them.

Our next trip plan was for Paris. Now we just need to plan on when to leave and how long we need to stay.  This is due till we reach back to Copenhagen.

See you all in Copenhagen soon.   

Day 20: Trip to Belgium- Antwerp and Brussels

Around 7am we went to the hostel where Mr.S and Mr. A were staying, to wake them up and get ready for the days trip. We got ready by 8:45am and left for the tourist office. We also bought some eatables for the way journey. Mr. S as usual came just before the bus was about to leave (but in time), Mr. L had to go back to call him, otherwise he would have definitely missed the bus. Mr. L told us that both Mr. S and Mr. A were sleeping when he reached there. Finally at 9:15am all of us were on the bus and it left for Belgium at soon after. The guide continuously told us about the history of places we were going to visit when we were in transit and how they differ from Netherlands in terms of culture, activities, language and what is the importance of these cities today.  

The first of leg of the trip from Amsterdam to Antwerp took about 2 hours, around 11:30am we were in the main plaza of Antwerp, where a wedding ceremony function was underway. We enjoyed their dance and also recorded it, was a different beat comparing to wedding functions in India. Coming back to the plaza, the buildings around it, the main town hall, and other important building surrounding the it were quite old. It was like a fully packed place with entries from all four corner places. A monument in the middle of the plaza is known as the "Hand of God", mainly because of its structural similarity to a hand.

It was first time, we saw a plaza, we liked it very much specially the environment surrounding it. The guide told us that we have 1.5 hours to go around the nearby places on our own. Mr. S, Mr. A and Mr. A Junior went to a restaurant for eating. While me and Mr. L went ahead and started exploring places. We first went to an old cathedral, it was very a glorious example of 15th Century Architecture, the outside was very attractive and so was from inside too. The old furnished wooden structure around the bishop's platform,sitting gallery and other holy places inside were truly amazing to see. In particular I liked the sitting place in the middle, where only priest and other religious leader can seat. It was in between the public benches and the podium of the Bishop. The View must be quite amazing when you look from the podium towards the people. 

After taking a good look at it, we came out and went to find others. They were sitting in a restaurant just outside the plaza. We also set there, till they finished. There were many chocolate shops there,  as Belgium is very famous for its chocolates. you can see various kinds of chocolates, a lot of different tastes and shapes there. A treat for almost everyone I guess. 

Then we went to the river side castle, it was small but very beautiful. The view from there was very nice indeed. We had some picture clicking and some fun for ourselves. After that we went up on a platform, just next to the castle, it was just on the river bank and also a statue was on the top of it.  There was ice tea being served to all, so we also took one each and enjoyed it fully while taking a break on the platform, seeing the nice view along the river bank. We did some photo shoot styles, pulling each other and action scenes.

We boarded the bus again and left for Brussels at around 12:30pm. The journey is about 1 hours and full of scenic views. After reaching Brussels at 2pm, first pit stop was at Atomium, a large structure build analogues to the structure of a molecule (a combination of atoms). Also in front of it, is the headquarters of UN/UNDP.

We reached the city center at around 2:30pm and the time to return was 5:30pm. But since we were a bit late, all except one pair insisted till 6 o’clock. Somehow every one agreed and so time to gather back at the plaza was set to 6pm. First thing we did was a tourist information center and  get a city map. The tourist office is situated in the plaza itself. So we took 2-3 maps and started to make a plan. We marked all the places we can go by foot till 5:30pm, as we had to come back at the plaza at 6pm. Started our journey from the streets, there is a famous statue of the MANNEKEN PIS (better known as the peeing prince), small but quite famous(It was a gift to King of Brussels by some other king but doesn't matter). 

Then we went to the Albert  square, first we saw the statue of Elizabeth in the middle of the square, then statue of Albert (on whose name the square is named) near by. There is a very beautiful park just there, behind the Albert statue, we crossed in and went on the other side of the it, clicked many pictures of ourselves and blondes moving around. Since you can see it was a marathon only that we were just walking, we continued and went to another cathedral, almost same as the one we saw in Antwerp in terms of beauty and likeness. The inside of the cathedral was pretty awesome- paintings, artifacts and the overall structural design. While going to our next stop we crossed a small garden named "THE SABLON SQUARE". We walked a long way to reach our final and most awaited place the Poelaert square, the view from here was amazing. You can see whole of the down town Brussels.  The pillar in the plaza is dedicate to the world war I and II.  It was about time for us to start our journey back to the plaza. 

On the way we were doing the usual business of taking pictures of moving attractions and also searching for food places. As usual, Mr. S and Mr. A Junior went in the subway restaurant,  we waited for some time (me, Mr. L and Mr. A), but when the two of them didn't come back, so we went to check them, but couldn't find them. So we decided to go back by ourselves and wait for them at plaza. We reached the plaza at 5:35pm had some time more, so again we went to see a museum nearby. On the way back at an street corner, there was a group of people playing some wired never seen before musical instruments. To be true, the music was very pleasing and heart warming. I liked it very much. We waited there and then came back to plaza but still both Mr. S and Mr. A Junior were not back yet. We then went inside a Chocolate store to buy gift, me and Mr. L bought a special chocolate pack for €2.85 for Dhairya (our land lords son). Mr. A also bought something for his sister (Miss Sh).  Then we came out and saw that people from our bus and the lady guide was there standing in a corner of the plaza, just next to the store. Still both the missing persons from our group were not back yet. The people started their journey back to the bus, Mr. A has to stay only in Brussels, as he had his return ticket to Paris from Brussels only on the morning of the next day. So he stayed there, the missing persons also got back in time and we came back to Amsterdam at around 9:15pm. After reaching there, Mr. A Junior insisted to visit the red light area and strip club. So now begins the night and Amsterdam as all know it. 

As we all were interested to visit the strip club at least ones, not that we wanted to enjoy all and everything it offers but just out of curiosity. So we set our course to the red light area. The red light area is a place where the prostitution business is situated. All the adulterated activities happen in there. Its a legally recognized area in Amsterdam. We saw the prostitutes watching from inside their glass cabins, trying to lure anyone they can. But we all were not interested in such kind of things at all. May be due to the kind of society we came form or the backgrounds itself. Never came a thought for this, but then again may be it is not that immoral to say. All depends on what as a person you think, and what the society you are raised in terms it as. We were just not into this, boring it may sound but the choice is personal. you can make your own, when you go there. 

So back to the walking, we couldn't find the place strip club. Mr. A Junior was very energetic still, trying all possible to find the place. We then set beside the canal and buzzed our thoughts on what to do now. Suddenly we saw some look alike people were coming our way, interns from another IIT. They told us about the place they were went and also they asked about if there is any other strip club around. But we told them that we haven’t been to any and as far as we know there is only one. After a brief talk with them we started walking and reached the strip club at around 10pm. The entry fee was €5 we all then went inside, and enjoyed the show for about 2 hours. Most girls were ok type but one of them was stunning. She was quite a beauty. I would have loved to get a lap dance from her, but my morals and my heart kept me far from that. Mr. S went out early (as fast as we came in, he was out the next moment), he didn't like it I guess. Don’t know why on the first place he came inside. We then came out too at around 12:30am, found him at a restaurant outside the street. We also set there for 1 hour. Around 1:30am, the police came to disperse the crowd from there. 2-3 lady officers on horses came and went straight to the strip club street,  if they were male officers, probably they might get stuck in the club themselves. 

As the police instructed all people there to empty out the place, we again left with the quest to search for a place for night halt. We had no money to spend on hotel, and we had to survive there till evening next day, as our train for Copenhagen was scheduled at around 6pm. So we all went to a square next to the madam Tussaud wax museum. We played cards till morning (till the central station opens), at around 6am we went inside the central station of Amsterdam and slept for 2 hours. The day though just began, but we were exhausted by the already long trip. So another day, and another story to follow. But do wait a while, let us rest and rest your own eyes.  

Day 19: This is the day...

After waking up we early in the morning,  we were all set for the exploration, to feel the place for what it was. We started to search for city map and places of our interest. There we came to know about the Amsterdam City Pass.

For your information, many cities in Europe where tourism is a major part of daily life of people, places which attract a lot of tourists, they usually have the City Pass which includes cost for using public transport and gives you access to many of the attractions for free (or to say, at a reduced price) and many free goodies (treasure hunt).

The Amsterdam pass provides you with two free canal rides + free entry to many museums and many free goodies such as- free chocolate box, tea, coffee, silver key ring, bottle opener and many more + concession on many other places. In Amsterdam there were three types of passes- 1 day, 2 day or 3 day. As our plan was for 3 days including a short visit to Brussels(Belgium), we bought 3 day pass for €58 and a one day pass (for Mr. A) for €45. (JFYI: The tourist office opens at 9am, it is situated just outside of the central station of Amsterdam)

So we were all set to roll by 9:30am and started planning the place to visit for today. We first went on a canal ride, to enjoy the city view. We followed with a visit to some of the famous museums – the Amsterdam national sculpture art museum, sex museum, museum on bible. This took us all the day, we covered a great distance of the days trip by foot too. Finally in the evening we went to the famous Van Gogh museum, its art collection mainly consist of Van Gogh’s paintings, but also has art work by done by some other famous artists.

This time around there was a special exhibition there, so we had to pay €2.5 (otherwise its covered in the pass). There was also a live stage performance by a singer. She sounded nice although couldn't understand a bit because it was all in native language. Though none of us had any interest or taste for art, but we liked the art work there and there was some crowd that day, adding to our impression. It was nice all in all. we came out from there around 8pm, than we straight went to the French fries shop, as we were hungry. French fries did save us in Europe (the default vegetarian's food for Europe I would say).

Back to planning for next day, we book a guided tour plan for Brussels and Antwerp (Belgium) for €57 each. That was the quickest way to go there and come back to Amsterdam in time. The tour was scheduled from 9 am to 5 pm.  Coming back to the french fries shot, we ate as much as we can, then we went for the night roaming in Amsterdam (We tried to search for hostels in the day but couldn't find one). So finally me, Mr. L and Mr. A Junior decided to camp at the bridge near the station but Mr. S insisted on staying in a hotel which to be true was very expensive comparing to what all we had in our pockets (for budget travel in Europe, book in advance or be ready to pay high). 

But to check out in any case, went to a hostel and the owner demanded €50 for each and we were not in the mood to pay this much just for a nights stay. But who can convince Mr. S. For your information he just like to spent money, may be the political history of his family had some influence on him. He just likes to a live luxury life. 

So we three backed out and Mr. A followed Mr. S. The night again was the same, till 2 am inside the station, then take your pick and go around. We set down in place and started thinking what for tomorrow and the day after that. So far the Amsterdam experience was not the same or not the one we had heard of. Yes we had seen some explicit museums, seen some historic places, but even this all does not feel like Amsterdam. That my friends we came to know on the night next day. That was all together pure Amsterdam... !!!  

Day 18: Copenhagen to Amsterdam……………

Part – I (Copenhagen to Hamburg)  

 We asked our professors for holiday on Friday, left office early on Thursday so catch the train. Everything setup, and we were good to roll. Our train was around 2:30pm in the afternoon, we three along with Mr. A Junior (he was a sophomore from our college), who was also in Copenhagen for internship, decided to travel together so he was with us most of the times. We just traveled for about 3 hours and to our surprise, something we never thought of happened. The train went inside a ferry ship, I mean the whole train. That's the way trains travel between Germany  and Denmark to cut down the large circle one need to take, if one wishes to go by land. (Just for reference purpose if you go by the route which uses ferry you will reach Hamburg in 4.5 hours but, if you take the land route, this will take you about 7 to 8 hours, almost double)

As per the capitalistic or opportunistic rules, you are not allowed to be on board the train when it is inside the ferry. So all passengers went up to the deck, where there are mostly restaurants, an exchange point and shops for buying goods – liquor, chocolates smokes, perfumes, cloths, toys or whatever u name it, they have it. Finally after a journey of about 45 min. we reached to the other side and we were again back on tracks (Always a happy feeling). We reached Hamburg around 6:45pm, changed trains there and started the next lag of our journey.... !

Part – II (In Amsterdam)

  We reached Amsterdam around 11pm, Mr. A (out batch met, not Mr. A Junior) was already there (he reached there around 8pm) and Mr. A reached there at 10:20pm.  Both of them were waiting for us (me, Mr. L and Mr. S) at the station. After searching for each other for a while, finally we got together. The first thing that came into our minds was food. Yes I know you might say what the hack, we in Amsterdam and first thing we think is food. But let me tell you, never try your stamina on empty stomach, will save you some embarrassment. So, we came out of station, and just went straight on the main road from the station. After walking for 10  minutes we found a shop selling French fries, no questions asked, we took one each ( about €2.85), a bargain from what we have had so far. 

Part – III (First night in Amsterdam)

  After eating and roaming around for a while we went back to station, looking for some place to sti down, relax and pass the night, as we couldn't book any place to stay. The station was big and we thought it would be easy to find a hiding place there, but as a routine the station staff asked us to leave the station to carry our cleaning and other maintenance activities, it was done from 2am to 4:45am every day (in case you plan to do the same). So we were again homeless, also we were tired because of the long journey (almost 10 hours), so we set down on a small bridge near the station amd started playing cards. To our shock we later discovered that it was right in front of the red light area. Amsterdam has a pre-established area for adult activities, in loose term or general terminology it is called red light area (More details will add in the later part). We started playing cards, there was a lot of police activity around that area, many police teams of 3 or 4 personal went passed us in just 3 hours we spent there. As soon as we started a young local student also joined us. I forgot his name, he showed interest in playing cards and we also needed someone as Mr. A and Mr. A Junior were not in the mood, so Mr. S explained him the game and we started playing, just half an hour later a police team came to us, and asked us – who we are, what are we doing here in the night, also they were skeptical because of Mr. S’s beard and also because of the fact that a local person was with us. We just answered them that we have a train to catch in the morning for Belgium, and don’t have a place to stay and the central station is also closed now, so we are just sitting here and playing cards to pass the time till morning. 

We had to convince them that we are students and we are here to visit for the first time. We showed them our passports, after some explaining they started questioning the local guy. As robbery is very common in Amsterdam they asked him about his ID, address and contact number. The guy was also very responsive. He gave them the details and after that he invited the lady officer to play, to make things clear the lady officer was very sexy. Infect all the police teams we saw had a good looking lady officers and the one that came to inquire us was hot. Anyways, she went away without any response, and we continued playing cards. The local guy then asked us that we are really what we said earlier, as he has an ambition to join the Amsterdam police one day and so he didn't want any bad tag on his record. Good for him.

 We played for about 2.5 hours, when we finally stood up and went back to station to get some sleep. Although we couldn't get as security staff members keep coming and waking us up, saying that you can’t sleep here. Somehow we managed for an hour than finally we went on the platform 1, where the facilities were situated. As usual pay and use is the way when you step out of home. We had no other options, this is the funda all over the Europe, no free public toilets and no drinking water. We were okay with it but the only thing that bugged us was that water cost was so high that we couldn't even believe it. We have public places for water and toilets in India and here it was all charged, more then a can of beer if you like to compare. A bottle of   water (0.5 liters) will cost you around €2 dammit, so we decided that we will fill out bottles from the washing rooms, where ever we go. You may say what about hygiene and health, and we may say what about being traveler friendly. In each restaurant we use to go to washroom, each one and fill out one bottle of water. That’s the way we managed water supply in all our journeys. Except for some places where we had no other choice. Even the soft drinks and bear are cheaper than water. That’s was the most frustrating thing, at least for me and Mr. S as we don't drink alcohol.

at last, we went to the station at around 5am, and stayed there till 8am. We tried to sleep but couldn't because of continuous disturbance of passing trains and to guard our luggage. So this was our first night in Amsterdam, playing cards and searching for a home, traveler's home I would say. Hard to find when you don't have much to play with, but then again, the fun is in the journey, more then the destination............  Let us contniue, soon !