Belgium, Amsterdam and Sneek
16 September 1999
In the morning we did take in the castle and the white cliffs from a distance, but we decided it was prudent to take an early ferry. That turned out to be a very good idea because when we arrived in Belgium we discovered there was a train strike! Dover The big board that every European Train station has, was EMPTY. Tons of people were sitting on the floor of the station staring up at the empty board. Occasionally a train would be announced, posted on the board and a bunch of people would jump up and run to get on it. It would leave soon after. It almost didn't matter where it was going.
We had to get to Amsterdam somehow! But there were no trains scheduled; we couldn't plan. We bought a ticket (Which it turned out we didn't need --we already had the return from our bonn- london ticket! A bit of wasted money! Besides, there was a CONDUCTORS strike!) and just got on the first train that left -- like everybody else. We kept getting off and getting on trains, getting a bit closer each time, until we finally got to Brussels where the international trains were still running. It was not as dramatic as it sounds, mostly it was just waiting. But every once in a while we had the feeling that this was one of THOSE experiences that we would talk about!
