Some of you know that I’m in Europe for work, and it’s been interesting. I left DC on Sunday evening, and arrived at Amsterdam-Schiphol(ship-hole) on Monday morning. I was given the choice to stay at the Radisson or the Sheraton – I should have stayed at the Sheraton – it has a connection bridge to the airport (and train station), whereas the Radisson has a free shuttle (which stops at 11pm). I checked into the hotel, got a shower to wake up and headed to Amsterdam-Centraal on the train to sightsee a bit. I did a self-guided walking tour of the city, saw a few things I hadn’t seen before, went inside the Anne Frank house, and walked a lot. The Anne Frank house was very interesting. It’s been restored to what it was like during WWII and the Nazi occupation. The stairs were extremely steep – almost like climbing up a ladder. I didn’t do the boat tour, as I’ve already done it twice, but I discovered the newer areas of Amsterdam with the ritzy shops and antiques dealers. I also realized that I was very near the Van Gogh museum. Brian and I had taken the tram there, but it really wasn’t that bad walking either.

Tuesday was spent at the client’s and I stayed in the Hotel Vianen, in Vianen, right off the highway. It was a cozy little place with great high-speed wireless, but I couldn’t control the heat and it was a little chilly. I spent a lot of time that evening working on “work” stuff to get it out of the way and done.

Wednesday morning was spent at the client’s and they were kind enough to give me a ride to the Culemborg train station, where I started my journey to Turnhout, Belgium. I had to change trains 5 times! The first two changes were getting to an “international” train station in the Netherlands, then I had a solid hour of travelling between Dordrecht and Antwep-Berchem, then more local trains to Turnhout. In one of the stations (Lier), the train to Turnhout was late, and they announced something in Dutch, but not in English I asked a stationmaster, and he put me on another train to Herenfels, where I could wait (an hour) for the next train to Turnhout. It took about 4 hours all told. I think I would have prefered taking an express to Brussels, and then another express to Turnhout without all the train changing. Keep in mind I have a very large suitcase with enough winter clothes for 11 days without washing. Not Fun.

After arriving in Turnhout, it was still a little bit light out, so I first tried to get online at the hotel quickly to check e-mail and see what time my meeting was for today (Thursday). The hotel has experimental wireless with no DHCP server, and one provided by Proximus. The proximus signal didn’t make it to my room, so I went to the lobby to play with it. Unfortunately, the stupid thing requires that you have a mobile phone to use it Even if you select to pay by credit card, it sends a username/password to your mobile phone. Well, when it asked for my mobile phone, I gave it my US land line (I thought it was for billing), and I’m sure an SMS to my landline did a lot of good. Apparently, I can also pay with a scratchcard, and there’s a Proximus store near the city center (and the hotel), I’ll wander out tonight to see what I can find.

I did wander around the city center, found a small market (mostly beauty supplies) which had snacks and sodas, so I’m well stocked on the snacks. I found a Leonidas store as well, where I purchased Belgian chocolate for those that asked. I looked at mobile phones, but the cheapest they have is 59euros, and I’m not sure I want to spend that on a phone I’d only use occasionally. I think I’ll borrow my friend’s old one if I need it again.

Today, I’m sitting in my client’s offices and enjoying the Internet access, I had about 200 unread messages in e-mail – about 20 I need to do something about. My meeting today is for 3pm localtime, and another one tomorrow at 9am, after which I’ll be on a (direct) train to Brussels-Centraal where I check in for the weekend. I’ll be checking out Brugge (Brugges) and Gent (Ghent) this weekend. Both cities have walking tours. The train line from Brussels to Brugges stops in Ghent, so I’ll take advantage of the train system and get off there and only pay for one ticket (12euros)

Enjoy!