Our schedule included taking a British Airways flight from London City Airport for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Amsterdam. When I first made these reservations my reaction was "what airport?" We had heard of London Gatwick (traveled there from Detroit for our first trip to Europe) and numerous times we have traveled to London Heathrow, but where is this London City airport? Well I soon learned that it was located on the east side of London and traveling there from London Heathrow was not an easy task. I first tried to hire a car with a driver to meet us and take us there. The cost was prohibitive, almost $200, and the quote included a statement to the effect that because the route traveled through the heart of London there would be no guarantee of making the trip in ample time to catch a connecting flight. So, as I explored various other options I finally concluded that we would need to travel to this airport using the London Tube (subway). Now for someone living in rural East Texas who has very little experience with subways since moving here almost 20 years ago, that can be a real challenge. I began by using an online "guru" to map out the route. We had to walk from the Heathrow Terminal #3 passing up the offered transportation such as Heathrow Express (fast train) to Paddington Station and other slower transportation to Paddington all "in the heart of London". Finally, we located the London Tube entrance with the direction of the train stating "toward Green Park". Now boarding a train with bags in hand was another challenge. Since we each had a 24" rolling bag that was loaded very heavy, and in addition to that Sylvia had a large carry-on bag that she was holding by its handle, and I had another smaller rolling bag plus a heavily loaded back pack. It was not an easy task to board a train. But board, we did, what we thought was the correct train. However, before the doors closed, I decided that it was not right so proceeded to get off. I made the exit but Sylvia got caught inside with her large bag in the door as the door closed and soon was on her way to the next stop while I stood there left behind and helpless. Having decided prior to leaving home that we would only take one cell phone with us, I was carrying that cell phone with no way to reach Sylvia. I jumped on the next train traveling in the direction that Sylvia had gone, thinking she had probably exited at the next stop, I got off there. However, I did not located her at that stop. So, I contacted the authorities, asking how to locate her and since she, too, had contacted them I was given the information of where to go to find her which I followed explicitly and there she was. So, together we caught the next train traveling in the direction that we had originally chosen and soon arrived at our first major change of subway lines. The remainder of that trip went as planned and within about 90 minutes we arrived at the London City Airport with ample time to check in and wait for our flight to Amsterdam.
Our arrival at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport was uneventful and with the transfer pass we had bought online we were soon ready for the 20 minute transfer via a train that would take us to Amsterdam Centraal Station. The platforms where the trains departed were located one floor below the entrance level from the airport. With the posted schedule showing that the next train for Amsterdam Centraal Station was departing from platform #1, we located the elevator to take us below to that platform. Within minutes after arriving to wait for that train the schedule showed that it had been cancelled and then the next train was on platform #3. So, we went back to the elevator, rode to the floor above and crossed to the elevator that would take us to platform #3. And, then arriving at platform #3, we found that the train leaving from there had been cancelled and once again, the next train was to depart from platform #1. So, again we reversed the process and finally a train scheduled to take us to Centraal Station arrived at platform #1 and we boarded and after a few stops we arrived at Centraal Station where our friends, Virginia & Tom and Joy & Tim, were waiting. After buying 3-day transportation passes for the Amsterdam Metro (public transportation) we soon boarded the train to take us to our rental apartments.
The rental apartment that we had reserved, with Virginia & Tom, was located on the Amstel canal, directly across from The Hermitage. When we arrived there we were met by the owner, Conny, who showed us around and explained how to use the elevator and appliances in the kitchen. The apartment was located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building with a spiral staircase to a nice roof deck from which one could see many of the rooftops of Amsterdam.
Inside, the apartment was very attractive but with minimalistic furnishings.
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We began our stay in this apartment with a somewhat traumatic event. Sylvia and Virginia went grocery shopping almost as soon as the walk-through instructions were completed, leaving Tom & me at the apartment. As they returned and used the elevator to get back to the apartment, the elevator malfunctioned and they, with the groceries, could not get it to move to the 2nd floor. Eventually they kept hollering until Tom & I heard them. I immediately sent a text message to the owner, Conny, who met them at the street level entrance to the elevator and opened a door, across the garage/entry to her apartment that allowed access to a stairway to use instead of the elevator.
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