Wooden tulips.

I had the choice between a 30 minute layover -- which, given passport control, was not a race I cherished -- and a six hour layover.  So here I am in Amsterdam, taking it all in for the next several hours.

First impressions:

• Dutch airport workers are much more pleasant than surly Bostonians. (Also, they apparently don't breed brunettes.) 
• English is on top most of the time.
• Wooden tulips are about as expensive as real ones.  (Although, you can get the bulbs in the airport pretty cheapily.)
• A pack of Extra gum will set off the metal detector.  (Foiled by foil, as it were.)
• The Euro is a leather-clad, whip-toting dominatrix that slapped my poor Dollar into meek and pathetic submission.
• Even the tarmac, lined by a single row of carefully pruned, almost cartoonishly perfect trees, oozed a quaintness that would rival New England. (Laura, I think, would find this obnoxious.)

And that's about all I can manage. I mean, it may be 9:00am here, but my body seems to think those three hours of head-bobbing next to Old Dude With Blasting Headphones didn't really amount to much sleep (he watched -- and found enormously gripping, apparently -- Phone Booth).

So. I'm going to snag a few Zs and then head to Barcelona.

More to follow!

Comments

[susie.]

please oh please tell the story of barcelona!

i can't believe you kept that secret! i totally thought i would know when it was coming.

[sarah]

those euro bitches have it great in new zealand. and the british pound? it's not even fair! meanwhile the nzd is a crappy 80c to the american dollar.

hope you're having fun in spain!