day fourteen: amsterdam / london

This is a travel day, so not a lot to speak of till we arrive back in the UK. Here are the notes.

• Up before light and out of the studio before the vendors have their stalls set up in the market.
  
• We take a quick tram to Centraal Station and then a 25 minute regional train to Schipol Airport outside of Amsterdam.
  
• Brunch is pre-packaged gouda and pickle (similar to a chutney) sandwiches with Lays chips and sodas. Actually better than you would think. We have learned that Europeans love their sandwiches, especially if they are on the go. In England and France, many bakeries will have cases full of pre-made baguette sandwiches made with hard crunchy french bread or ciabatta. Coffee shops, petrol stations, and grocery stores will stock their coolers with pre-packaged sandwiches like the ones we Americans would normaly see in a hospital vending machines, sealed in the little plastic triangle. The difference is that these are made fresh that day with quality ingredients. We actually enjoyed several examples of both types on this trip.
  
• The flight to the UK is an hour long and smooth. We then get a train from Luton airport (35 miles north of London) straight to the station closest to our hotel. From here we actually got to see a good bit of the lovely, snow-covered English country-side.
  
• We unpack and I go explore for supplies and to get the lay of the land. We then have a little picnic of hummus, pita, cheese, fruit, and sodas I found at a local grocery.
  
• Shawn and Anna have arrived from Paris and we all meet Reid in the lobby for drinks. We hit the local area for Italian food and wine. Next, we find a club for more drinks, dancing, and a few more drinks.
  
• Bedtime arrives around 1am-ish.
  

The hotel we are in is very hip and has interactive TVs which include free music library and web access in addition to the normal TV and movie features. The internet feature is free on the weekends so no more internet cafes.

Gavin