We scored a seven-hour layover in Amsterdam thanks to a delay in our flight leaving from Lisbon so we decided to catch the train into the city centre and go for a wander. We had been in Amsterdam 16 years ago with friends and had stayed out near the airport, which required us to catch a train into the city every time we wanted to see anything. Unfortunately this gave rise to the infamous Utrecht trip that I have never been able to live down.
After spending a night on the town, we stumbled to the train station to catch our train home, sometime around 2am. I had seen Schiphol on one of the signs at the platform, but had failed to notice that it went to Utrecht first. The THREE OTHER PEOPLE on the trip followed me without question and we piled onto a train that went in the opposite direction to the airport.
It took us a while to notice this and by then it was too late to turn back. It was also a direct ride so Utrecht was the first stop. Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Utrecht, got off, ran to the other platform and jumped on a train going to Amsterdam Centraal and then to Schiphol. Apparently this was all my fault.
Even with all the ribbing, it was nice to relive that experience and rewrite it. We got into Centraal sometime close to 5pm and wandered down towards…something. We were in the main tourist area which was HEAVING with tourists, plenty of them stumbling around stoned, lighting up as they went. There was something a bit schoolboy and immature about it, the sense of just lighting up because it wasn’t allowed back home, like boys (and I only saw men doing this) on a lads’ weekend away. It was all a bit cringe and uncool.
We went into the World Press Photo Awards exhibition on display in New Church. The woman behind the counter warned us that the exhibition was closing in 45 minutes, but we reassured her that was more than enough time. Great photos inside (including a winner from Australia about Indigenous fire-management practices in northern Australia and the challenges — and opportunities — arising from climate change) though, predictably, it was all depressing with awful things happening from one corner of the globe to another.
After the exhibition we walked through Amsterdam, which was about all I wanted to do. The weather was glorious which made for beautiful vistas down the canals. A lesbian couple asked Glen to take their photo. We watched a bridge road rise and allow boats through down the canal (awesome). We stopped in at a restaurant serving delicious Indonesian food (totally unexpected).
We got ice creams where I walked an said ‘Olá’because I can’t get my languages straight and the guy behind the cabinet thought I was Spanish. Then followed an exchange about what flavour the pink one was and then me somehow ending up with three scoops of ice cream. Glen thinks he was flirting with me; I’m not so sure.
We continued our walk up to a park and caught Pokémon, took photos of birds, and walked back to Centraal Station for our train ride back to the airport. Glen had a headache, we were both tired, but we’d had a wonderful stroll through Amsterdam on our layover.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?