Day 4 of the Euro Trip of our European Trip in the Summer of 2013

Day 4 started off great and went downhill in a quickly.  It was quite an experience but let's start with some positives first.

After staying in a very nice Crown Plaza at the edge of the Red Light District in Amsterdam, we decided to venture off and explore with absolutely no plan.  We knew that we had about 3 hours before we needed to catch the next train out to Luxembourg and so we decided to venture around the red light district.  We first came upon a breakfast place where we ordered some espresso, a chocolate scone and a chocolate chip croissant.  It all was all fresh and it was a great breakfast.  We then headed off and walked around the red light district and took pictures of the Notre Dame Cathedral, some canals and whatever else we could think of.  Quite the dirty city but it was to be expected.  

Amsterdam is suppose to be known for their Gouda..so I was told from Chinue.  I only knew about the pot, prostitutes and sex shops.  We found a store that sold Gouda and it was called…The Cheese Store.  We picked up a whole oval shaped thing of gouda and then headed off to find some bread.  Chin's idea was to have cheese and bread as our lunch on the train.  It did take us awhile but eventually we found some croissants.  

This would be my 3^rd time having croissants in Europe.  Chin loves croissants.  I absolutely HATE croissants made in the states.  Even if it was the only food available I would not touch a croissant.  Well, now I know that most places in the US just suck at making croissants cause these things are amazing and no, it wasn't the contact buzz from all the pot smoke.

Back to the story: We got our food and picked up our luggage from the hotel and headed to the train station which was about a 10 minute walk.  Gorgeous train station from the outside.  Inside we checked with a ticketing agent to make sure we had the right trains.  We were going to Brussels and then off to Luxembourg.  Once we confirmed our trains we went and purchased our refreshments for the trip.  We always pick up some beer and wine for the trip.

The cow has a sweater!

We get on the correct train and off we go to Brussels!  That’s not entirely accurate but we did see windmills!  Our train decides to have an unscheduled stop at Dan Haag (The Hague in English but how the hell was I suppose to know that) and then kicks everyone off the train.  Chin and another confused tourist try asking for help from one of the train operators.  This is funny and sad part.  Chin and this other lady are talking to a train operator on the 1^st level of the train just outside on the platform..he yelled so loudly at them I heard them up in the 2^nd level and through a glass door inside the train.  He refused to give us any information.

This is just the start of the rude behavior of the Netherlands' folks.  We go to a ticket agent who says we can’t get to Brussels today and then corrects himself and says we need to make 6 train transfers and have to leave from a different train station. To get to Brussels we need to take a tram from The Hague (I wrote it down).  We go outside to figure out how to get on the tram and of course nothing is marked properly.  There is a tram but only the current departures are listed. It’s not till we begin to walk back inside that we figured out that Den Haag = The Hague.  This is an important point because the guy who gave us the directions translated just 1 word out of all the words he used to for the 6 train stops.  It was confusing.

After still being confused because we can’t find a map and the schedules don’t match the schedules in our book I found an information counter.  The person says we can take a certain train to another station and catch a bus to Rotterdam and then get to Brussels.  I asked about a specific station that we knew we had to travel through and that was listed on the train schedule.  He said there was a broken train and we couldn’t get to that station.  Here comes the head scratcher...the stop I wanted to go to and was told we couldn't go to was actually listed on his electronic board but he wasn’t sure why it even showed up.  Just like a damn movie he nods his head and closes the desk leaving me even more confused.

He did give us the recommendation about going to Rotterdam and then catching a bus so we decided to try that route.  Can you guess what happens next?  We get on the WRONG TRAIN.  Turns out the train we wanted was delayed.  Two stops later we take the train BACK to Den Haag and then catch a train back to Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam we go BACK to the ticketing counter.  We get the same guy who says sorry and then tells us that Den Haag should have told us how to get to Brussels (no shit).  We then have to get into another line for "international trains" where we are told it is IMPOSSIBLE to get to Brussels that day.  Later we find out she was also wrong.  We then decide that we are going to work our way to Brussels going from city to city.  We first catch a train to Rotterdam, then a train to the stop that we were told we couldn’t go to. From there we catch a train to Brussels.  We never did make it to Luxembourg and had to cancel our hotel. Thank you Skype!

We got into Brussels after 10 where we aimlessly walked around until we found free internet at a hotel that we could use in order to book a room for the night and to figure out where exactly we were.

We booked a Hilton that was not really close to where we were at which was downtown Brussels. After booking the hotel room over the internet we headed down to the square where one can find the most beautiful palaces ever built.  The whole square was surrounded by gigantic amazing buildings.  We were too late to grab dinner but headed around the corner where Chin got some Belgian Carmel Gelatto and I, a Belgian Waffle.  It was a after midnight when we finished up and we were both tired so we got our one and only cab ride on the trip. 

One minor fact about the cab ride.  Almost all the cabs in Europe seem to be Mercedes.  Not completely out of the ordinary since they are made in Germany.  However, while this cab looked great from the outside the inside interior had the look and feel of an economy car.  He got us to the hotel in one piece where we checked in and called it a night.