Pauline bids NL farewell

September 26, 2009

Pauline got up early without me, and went to the center to get a haircut (haircuts are one of her favorite souvenirs). It looks really cute – French bangs. When she came back, we grabbed her now-stuffed luggage and headed to Amsterdam.

They have a clever system for lockers at the train station: You put your stuff in, close the door. The computer senses which locker it is, you swipe your credit card, and it prints you a ticket without charging you anything. You keep your ticket, and leave your stuff (even overnight or for days, as Suzanne did when we were hotel-hopping in the beginning). When you retrieve your luggage, you merely scan the ticket, the locker pops open, and your card is charged according to the number of days you stayed. The lockers are clean and huge. Really convenient also. Pauline and I wondered if something like this could work in America, or be prevented for fear of dangerous things being stored.



(a bike parking deck at Amsterdam Centraal Station, Seattle-esque boathouse on a canal that was an animal shelter, Pauline and I on the canal tour).

We went to the last few shops that Pauline wanted to see, including the Condomerie, a cute stop. We couldn’t resist a final bowl of wonton duck noodle soup on Zeedijk, and met up with Geoff. We took the train to the airport, saw Pauline off with biggggg hugs and kisses, and plopped back onto the train to spend some time together in Amsterdam unwinding.

Geoff and I went to the Spui and had a few beers and really relaxed. After running around all week, it was nice to have no plans for the evening. When we got tired, we got on the same train to go home, even though he was going to Amersfoort and I to Utrecht. On the train, I got a text from some friends I made on the Erasmus Day, and invited Geoff to come for drinks in Utrecht. Vi met up with us also, at the Winkel van Sinkel, and it became a night out!

At home finally, we stuffed ourselves with some french fries and just rehashed the week and the evening. I happened to glance down at Geoff’s computer screen while we chatted.

Me: My computer is still on US time. What time zone is your computer set to – where is it 4:30 in the morning?
Geoff: It’s 4:30 in the morning here, Cat.

I was shocked. It felt like only a few hours had passed since we dropped Pauline off at 5:00 PM and now it was bedtime. BYE PAULINE. . . . love and miss you.

(In Dubai, May 2008)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby List!

Baby List Gear Bassinet - Used a hand-me-down bassinet not sure the brand. Only used for 2 months because baby gets too big, moves around too much. Co-sleeper might be nice if breastfeeding, and might be able to be used by baby longer. In retrospect, we should have just used the bassinet on the pack-n-play instead of having a stand-alone bassinet.  Pack-n-play - didn't think we needed one but it's true that you just need places throughout the house to "put baby down" that is not the bed or couch (roll off) or the floor (cold/drafty/dirty). In the kitchen we used a  rock-n-play  (does not take up a ton of space/small footprint), 1st floor living room we used a moses basket on the floor, 2nd floor we used the crib and then the  bjorn bouncer  when she was a little bigger, 3rd floor we used the bassinet and now the pack'n play. We got the  4Moms Playard  with bassinet because it was low-profile, no bells and whistles, and collapses with one-pul...
Read more

Lots of Walking - An American in Tokyo

Image
January 8, 2008 There seems to be a lot of walking in Tokyo, and everyone does it very briskly and silently. Waves of people spill out onto the streets from the subway exits, and know exactly where they are going. Most people are wearing dark colored pants and shoes, and a nice wool coat, and carry a briefcase. The women are wearing heels and skirts, and make the walking look effortless. As I had been warned, I truly stand out in my jeans and sneakers. But, since the cobbler in South Center Mall in Seattle closed early and unannounced before I could pick up my re-heeled and re-soled boots, I'll be in sneakers until I hit some shopping in Roppongi. This morning I got up pretty early and went in search of an American-style breakfast - eggs sounded so good . I gathered all my maps and wandered North from the hotel. I crossed a few small rivers and ended up in an area full of business buildings. I had passed a lot of noodle houses, and was happy to see a Tully's Coffee wit...
Read more

Tiffany Weddings and Camels

April 15, 2008 My brother just got back from our cousin Grass's wedding - "a Tiffany wedding," he called it. My friend Al just called me this morning to announce her and her fiance's wedding date - October 2009. She wants it to be a Tiffany wedding. I had to Google it to find out who Tiffany is . I am disappointed at my ignorance because I've been reading (pretty exclusively) wedding magazines for the last two months. (I try to do this on the DL so that no one will wonder why I'm obsessed with wedding flowers, dresses, locations, and invitations, with no sign of one in sight. The answer is that sometimes I just get into a wedding mood and I'm not above unabashedly planning a non-event). Luckily, Al has chosen me as one of her bridesmaids, and now I have a great excuse to keep obsessing about minutiae leading up to an event that causes thousands, millions of women to become nauseous with worry, excitement, or -- in the case of Heather's cousin-in-l...
Read more