After being here for a few days now I've discovered a lot of things I love about the city, but there are a few things I feel pretty nostalgic about from back home. One of those things is free public bathrooms. See, here in the Netherlands (I know this is true in other places in Europe as well), if you have to use the restroom, you have to pay for it. So today I was walking around downtown after my morning coffee and decided it was time to find a bathroom. Well, not only are there an extreme lack of bathrooms in this town (I don't know how tourists last here), you have to pay to use the ones that do exist. So after searching for a while I finally found one, and there was a little machine in front that said insert 50 cent coin here or alarm will sound. Well I didn't have a 50 cent coin, I only had two 20 cent coins and a 10 cent, so I couldn't go in! So then I had to look around again for another bathroom which took me 20 minutes, but I have to admit that once I found it this one was a pretty pleasant experience. It was only 40 cents (what a bargain!) and the nice old man that took my money at the beginning wished me a wonderful day with a big smile when I walked out. I have to say, being thanked and smiled at for using a public restroom was a pretty good feeling. But I don't know if it beats the free and plentiful public bathrooms in the US.
Anyway, in case you didn't like my story, here are a couple of random photos to entertain you. Brian is currently on a work trip in Berlin, so hopefully he'll have something interesting to report when he gets back.
Cheers!
x2
Lots and lots of boats here - very pretty!
Brian conked out in front of the canal
At an outdoor cafe one night - there are so many of these and they're all fun!
This one's from today - it started out as a beautiful hot day and all of a sudden the sky opened up and started pouring. And no, of course I didn't have an umbrella. I ended up looking like a wet dog by the time I made it home...
- Krista
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