36 hours with Dragonladyink -Haarlem and beyond!

On my way back to Ottawa from Moscow I decided that a stopover in Amsterdam was in order.  You see, if you fly with KLM, you can book a layover in Amsterdam for mere pennies.  After much back and forth on the website and the phone (that is a whole other story for another time) I booked my transit for what I thought was an early evening arrival in the 'Dam and a mid-afternoon departure the following day.  This had to be done over the phone because the website was being difficult.  The agent took the info, booked the itinerary and confirmed it with me multiple times before reserving the ticket.  I was given 72 hours to call back and pay with a credit card, the normal booking charge being waived due to the technical issues.

After a number of further futile searches, it seemed that the ticket booked over the phone (despite it being $300 more expensive than the internet price ARGH!) was the most reasonable in terms of itinerary, routing and ease of transit.  I then had to eat a bit of crow pie and call the KLM agent once again.  Did I mention that I was frustrated, not impressed and might possibly have been short with the phone agent?  Pride carefully stowed in my back pocket but ticket now booked, I went about my business happily under the impression that my flight was to depart at about 5PM from Шереметьево airport and I would arrive in time for dinner with my sister in Amsterdam.  I'd then spend the night at her place and we'd hang out in the AM before I had to head back to the airport to catch my flight to Montreal and then a bus to Ottawa.


You know, it is a good thing that Mr. U keeps a very close eye on me.  You see, the Thursday before I was to leave (departure planned for the following Monday) he verified my itinerary to make sure that all was in order.  The home phone rang and I was delighted that Mr. U had taken the time out of his oh-so-busy-and-important-day to call me.  That jubilation was short-lived when I realized that something was not quite right.  Judging from the tone of his voice when he asked me, "WHAT time does your flight leave on Monday?", I could tell that there was something amiss.  My flippant response of: "oh, some time around 5PM", didn't quite cut it.  The question was repeated in a more growly tone and I immediately checked the email confirmation to find that my departure flight did, indeed, leave around 5:30 BUT it was AM and not PM!  Good thing he checked, I tell you.  I burst out laughing, realizing how disastrous that could have been.  Oddly, Mr. U didn't share my mirth.  I wonder why?


**Note that I was going to check my paperwork the following day or on Saturday just to confirm.  I'm not completely incompetent, you know.  I've made it 40 years without too many mishaps and I have never, ever missed a flight in my life.


Thankfully Mr. U was able to book a car to pick me up as there are no trains or metros running at the hour I would have had to have departed for the airport.  He grumbled and growled but secretly I know he likes to take care of me.


Lessons learned:

1) check the work of others -I had requested the evening flight from Moscow to Amsterdam but the agent booked me on the AM flight

2) there is a crazy amount of traffic in Moscow 24/7 -at 3:00AM there were slowdowns and tons of cars traveling to/from Moscow (it still took the better part of 45 minutes to get to the airport in the middle of the night!)

3) 2:50AM is a completely uncivilized hour to have to leave for the airport (or anywhere else for that matter!)

4) it was totally worth it because I got to spend an awesome 36 hours with my sister


After an uneventful flight to Amsterdam (check-in, boarding and flight were all smooth -yay free wifi at the airport terminal) I hopped a train to Amsterdam-Centraal and caught up with Dragonladyink (after asking two very nice men where the Starbucks was located).  We decided to take a cab back to her place as the pouring rain showed no signs of letting up any time soon.  Now having a full day ahead of us, we took some time to figure out what to do.  You may remember that barely 2 months before I played tourist for a week in Amsterdam so I did not feel the need to tour around the city once again.  After tossing around the idea of Antwerp or Utrecht, we decided to hop a train out of town to Haarlem (20 minutes away... close enough to be convenient and far enough away to provide a change of pace/scenery).


Mother Nature decided that she approved of our plan and turned off the waterworks and turned up the sunshine to make our adventure all the more pleasant.  

down an alleyway

gates surrounding an old nunnery

doorways in the cloister

cloister gardens

street in Haarlem

stopped for a drink here, an old church transformed into a micro-brewery

Ye olde flower shoppe

shopping street

ye olde chocolate shoppe

random person

my fries in a cone!

  afternoon treats

interesting architecture

Haarlem canal

Shopping and photos and a quick drink later, we had spent the better part of the day enjoying each other's company and it was time to head back to the flat for some rest before our dinner reservations.


Supper was fantastic in an intimate Italian restaurant in the Jordaan district.  We walked around after dinner to work off our gluttony before turning in for the night.  The next morning it was up bright and early as I was heading to the Van Gogh Museum and Dragonladyink was off to the gym to have her ass handed to her on a platter by her personal trainer.  Neither worked out according to plan.  I was prevented from even entering the museum -too many people in line, museum 25 minutes late opening and I was short on time to begin with and Dragonladyink kicked her trainer's ass instead of the other way around (way to go MM!).  My walk around the Museumplein was peaceful and the weather was perfect so I took advantage of the time and space to snap a few photos.  At least I got to ride on the tram and didn't get lost or mugged this time (unlike 15 years ago when I first visited Amsterdam).  All was not lost.

this is as close as I got to the museum

structure on the Museumplein

catching a few rays in the grass

Realizing that trying to negotiate cobblestones with my 20kg suitcase would be an exercise in futility, Dragonladyink called her driver and had him take us to the airport for the low price of 35€.  When we parted ways at security/passport control, she was heading back home and I was heading on to Montreal and then to Ottawa for an adventure-packed, whirlwind of a week.

All in all, MOS-AMS-YUL-YOW with KLM is my new preferred routing when I head back to Canada.  I think that is what we will do in October but this time I'll really check my ticket to make sure I have the flight times right!  Mr. U's heart just can't take any more of my shenanigans.