Who is John Gall?

Preamble: I know it's been a while since I posted on this topic...call me lazy or pretty much anything else you want, but somewhere in the middle I just lost interest in writing anything at all. Now I think I should at least finish the series and who knows... I might start writing all over again. You're good luck might just be running out :D

Day 4

Aah, the day where we would walk around with our cameras and shoot all the things we scouted had finally arrived. It was also our last day in Amsterdam, so we had to get those shots. But first things first: we had to check out. Thankfully, the hotel had a fairly large luggage room where we could leave our packed stuff and head out. Packing our stuff was a whole different affair. After the impending acquisition of tulip bulbs and a bunch of Amsterdam souvenirs, our bags were only going to get bigger and bulkier.

And then there was the Anne Frank poster that I had picked up for my little girl. This was going to be really tricky. Anne was going to have to come all over Northern Europe with me and make it back to India in relatively decent shape. Wow, did I chose a mountain to climb on that one!

Ok, so after we left our luggage (and Anne) at the hotel, we were off to Centraal Station to book our berths for the evening train to Copenhagen. We were hoping that it would be relatively easy given that it was a Monday morning and that most people who had come to Amsterdam to enjoy their weekends would have left by now. Berths booked, we headed out to Daam and then on to the Apple store I had seen yesterday so that Praveen could pick up his iPhone 4. Pity they were out of stock and backed up for another 3 weeks after they got deliveries. So a lemon on that front.

But the walk was the same one I took yesterday to go to the Anne Frank Haus and so there were a few places for some nice pix. Unfortunately, the skies were overcast and so really bad lighting from a photography perspective, but lovely weather for a walk. The walk took us to Konigsplien where we headed straight for the flower market. Both of us picked up a few tulip bud packets and walked all the way back talking about how we were going to try and plant these back home in India and were going to be successful.

While we were shopping for refrigerator magnets and the like, we saw this:

I almost pee'd my pants watching it! So funny!

After a bunch of shopping done, it was time to take care of some other business. Food. So we were back to our favorite place in Amsterdam. Leidseplien! Looking around for places that serve veggie food for my partner in crime, we finally settled for Reyndors and Boy! were we glad. It was wonderful food for the both of us. Once our hunger had been sated, it was time to shoot Leidseplien in all it's overcast glory. We would have to use some serious techniques to be able to shoot it. Thankfully, we didn't have any techniques, so we would have to do with whatever we could. You be the best judge.

Now that our photographic urges had been sated, we had to rush back and leave so that we could catch our train to Copenhagen. Since the journey was overnight, we needed to arrange for food and some liquids that made the journey easier. So where can we find it? Thus started the hunt for Red October (Vodka). Walked around Hobben'straat and walked into a store called Dirk where we picked up some Chakna and stuff called De Reitjer which is stuff the Dutch use to sprinkle on their breakfast. I thought my little princess would like that very much. But no alcohol in that store. Asked a bunch of places and finally figured out that we would strike gold at a store called Gall and Gall which was at the Dam.

So we picked up the baggage from the hotel, got into a tram, landed up at Centraal Station where Praveen stayed with the bags and I headed towards the site of the Gall. Picked up an Absolut (€16.50) and then realized...we had not gotten anything to eat. Luckily, there are lots of food joints at the Dam. The McD there didn't have the Grount (veggie) burger for Praveen, so that option was out. So the only option left was Subway. Picked up a veggi footlong (with everything) for Praveen and a Meatball footlong for me. Then it was off to the races as I dashed towards Centraal Station. I reached just in time for us to put the luggage away and settle in as the train moved away.

I put up my Kodak zx3 on my Joby GorillaPod so that I could record our conversations during the journey. It would be hilarious to watch it sometime later in life. While I was putting it up, the Ticket Checker came in, verified our tickets and then updated us that there was an accident up ahead so the train was being rerouted and there would be a delay of a whole SIX MINUTES! Can you believe that? He told us about a delay of 6 minutes! How cool is that?

As soon as he was out of earshot, out came the Absolut with Coke Zero and Sprite. Unfortunately both of us didn't realize that we have accidentally picked up sweet popcorn, so that was a bit of a bummer. But since we had some Haldiram Bhujia left (thanx to Praveen), we were ok.

Sometime around 10pm, we polished off our footlong sandwiches and prepared for the first Immigration check. That was at Emrich where the nice folks of Germany welcomed us and bid adieu on our journey forward. The last town I remember seeing was Dartmond as I fell asleep awaiting new adventures for the next day.

Good Night!