Sunday 28 October 2012--Drive to Aberdeen for my late-morning flight to Amsterdam, where I'm taking the overnight layover again. Annoyingly, the
airline won't check my large bag through to Boston--I'll have to pick it up at the luggage carousel in Schiphol and schlep it around
town. I was planning to have just the carry-on, as I've done in the past.
I've decided to spring for a proper hotel this year. (Not only was last year's room appalling, someone there stole my credit card numbers as well.)
The Best Western in Leidse Square is still pretty reasonable, and is near Vondel Park. I take the train from the airport, then a streetcar from the central
station. Check in, then stroll through the park. Then wander along the canals for a while, before ending up at Café 't Smalle, commencing the evening's
pub crawl--Café Brandon, Café van Zuylen, Café Belgique. Cut through Dam Square, where the carnival is on again, on my way back to the hotel. I have an
email waiting, informing me that tomorrow's flight to Boston is cancelled. Hurricane Sandy is tearing up the east coast. I'm stranded in Amsterdam. Oh
darn.
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