To our left, on the edge of the lawn, was a row of clean benches behind which lay a string of exquisite edifices, many of them red bricked. So neat and tidy! There were people everywhere, basking in the European sun. The entire ambience was mind-blowing! After soaking in the atmosphere for some more time, sitting on a bench, we trudged in the direction of the Reijkmuseum bus stop. As we waited at what we thought was the correct
bus stop, we spotted tram no. 5 with 'Centraal station' coming from the opposite direction! This was being closely followed by tram no. 2, also bound for Centraal station. We knew we had to cross the road and tried to do so behind tram no. 5 but no. 2 came and halted so close (deliberately, I thought) to no. 5 that there was no gap for us to pass through. We hurried to the front of no. 5 and crossed. Boarded the tram and rode till Dam square. Alighted in search of supermarket to buy Lindt Tiramisu(an awesome flavour!) or a local chocolate. Spotted a huge supermarket named Albert Heijn, bang opposite the stop. The store was
impressive but we could not find what we wanted so settled for Lindt Milk Creme Brulee. Also purchased 2 tins - Amstel beer and Jack Daniels.
Proceeded towards centraal station along a very narrow, cobbled lane with loud and glittering shops on either side - reminded us of old town, Prague. Urmila entered a handbags shop to see a suitable one for mummy. The shop owner was a young sardarji. Urmila picked a bag and asked him the price. "20 Euros" was the answer. This is the equivalent of Rs. 1600/-. A total rip off! Learning from our experience of Prague on the 2014 trip, Urmila checked the tag inside. It said, 'made in PRC'. I smiled to myself, knowing what it stood for. Urmila, not knowing, asked the sardarji, "What is PRC?" He hurriedly answered, "Peru!" Wow ! What a bad actor! I straightaway told him, "PRC stands for 'People's republic of China'!" He was unfazed and blurted something about the design being from the Netherlands. We simply walked out of the shop. Imagine being cheated by a fellow Indian! Shame!
Reached the station, caught the M54 and were back at the hotel by 16:15. Rested for the rest of the evening, planning for tomorrow's travel to Brugge, Belgium. The day before I had read on the net that there was panic at Brussels-Midi station, triggered by the unexplained sound of a blast. Hope the city's calm during our stay. Settled the hotel bill, packed the bags to the maximum extent possible. To Brugge tomorrow!
The night view of the square below with the trees lit was magical !
