Amsterdam

The highs and lows of my whistle-stop visit

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

After the eight-hour train trip from Hamburg, we finally found our accommodation at Hotel Internationaal. Tired, hot and bedraggled, we walked into the bar to ask where reception was. The bartender said this was it and he was reception! I was taken aback and didn’t know if he was joking or not, but then he said the other members of our party had arrived and had one key and handed me the other.

We had to walk through the bar and through another heavy door to be faced with the steepest set of stairs imaginable — more like a ladder than stairs! We struggled to get ourselves and suitcases up the stairs, and I didn’t ever want to go down again, so I had a cold shower and sat air-drying to try to cool down.

The room has 4 beds, 4 windows (only one partially opened: we tried all of them as it was a stinking hot night), a TV, a sink, a cupboard and 2 lamps, no fan and no bathroom! Definitely the worst room we have had so far! But to make amends, it has the best, be it communal, shower.

As I was too hot, tired and lazy to get dressed to go out, Elizabeth and Keeley kindly offered to go find something to eat. What a disaster! Elizabeth got shortchanged 5 euro and they “forgot” to put Keeley’s meal in the bag which she didn’t discover till she got back to the room. The chips were…