Saturday April 12, 2008 Paris - Montmarte & Farewell Dinner

We boarded the bus for Montmarte. Of course I had absolutely no idea what this entailed, and fortunately at the last minute I decided to grab my light sweater jacket! I didn't know that we would again be doing walking around Montmarte and that while we boarded the coach at 5:30, we weren't actually going to be eating dinner until almost 9:00p.m.!







The drive was beautiful with the setting sun and lack of rain. We drove past the Moulin Rouge and the seedier/red light district of Paris area. I entertained myself by trying to take scenery pictures with clouds and sun and buildings. Tania got the scenery bug and seeing that we were in the front of the bus, we had a great view of what was ahead. Then Tania and I tried to take pictures of ourselves, I've never successful at that!








Montmarte was absolutely stunning. The view was breathtaking. To get to the top, you could take a small railcar up the hill, or walk the stairs. The rail car fit probably 40-50ppl in it, but took much longer than to actually walk the stairs. Street musicians were on the steps as well as at the bottom. Very talented and enjoyable to listen to. One of the bands consisted of a sousaphone, trombone, sax, drums, trumpet, etc. They even had their own CD. They were fabulous, especially when the singer decided not to sound like french rap into the megaphone!







There were only 26 of the 44 that participated in the optional excursion to Montmarte and the farewell dinner. For some, the 55 euros a piece was too much. I had anticipated that everyone would attend the farewell dinner, but seeing that we never had a welcome dinner or ice breaker in the beginning, why would saying goodbye be justified? Nick had left after the morning tour as he had to fly out for a conference on Sunday. I never did get to say goodbye, nor did many of us. I did see his email address, but he didn't give it out to myself or any of us.




Dinner was a choice of five options for each course. Four of us - Tania, Paul, James and me decided we would order differently and then share so that we could try almost everything. I couldn't bring myself around to taking a picture of the main course - because they came out staggered, and we were already splitting them by the time they all came out. Unfortunately not one of the four dishes even appeared remotely photo worthy by the time we had split them! Appetizers were frog legs, snails and shrimp. We passed on the soup and something else. We started the meal off with a champagne aperitif which was delicious - but the waitstaff wasn't too pleased if you waited until the meal came to drink it! We also had a variety of five cheeses somewhere in the midst of courses! The meals were prawns, chicken, duck, salmon and beef with sides of carrots, rice, potatoes or broccoli. The prawns were my favorite!



The meal included unlimited beverages - red & white wine, beer, OJ, and water. The table was rather crowded as all beverages and glasses were on it as well as food and bread. I managed to knock over a small glass of red wine on myself and the woman next to me! Fortunately it managed to remain mostly on the table! There was also live entertainment - a man singing and playing some form of guitar instrument - which was entertaining as he sang mostly tacky American sing-a-long songs! Dessert was chocolate mousse, apple tart, profiteroles (cream puffs - frozen!) and caramel creme brule.



Glenn managed to fall down the stairs - catching himself by the railing two steps down - but scare for all of us! This was the second time he had fallen, to my knowledge, on the trip - the first being the face plant into the sidewalk from exiting the bus. Fortunately, a little scraped up and a few band aids later, Glenn was well enough to join in the dinner!


As dinner was winding down, I tried to get everyone together onto the same stairs for a photo. Even if only 1/2 the tour group, better than nothing. Except for Betty, most of the people that were there were my favorites anyway! As my camera was the first used, Betty didn't make it in my picture as she was too busy stumbling around to get in the first few.













Dinner was rather rushed since the restaurant was apparently closing. A huge disappointment as this was the most fun we had had as a large group. Personally, I think it was the restaurant/tour companies way to minimize the "unlimited drinking".


Seeing that I was the first to leave the group in the morning, 6:30a.m., I tried to get as many contact information as possible. After the pictures, I asked Robert to write down their address and email so that I could send them pictures from Amsterdam. Needless to say, this seemed to take a while - and we found Beverly on the top of the stairs to try to remember her son's email address. Meanwhile, I guess I hadn't noticed, but people had cleared out. I don't recall an announcement or anything, it just happened.


Betty was of course still stumbling around drinking. She had two glasses of wine, which she either put one down or downed it and then dumped some of the remaining glass in a "waste" bucket that the waitress had for glasses. Betty tried to walk up the stairs and completely ignored a server telling her that the drink had to remain. The server asked me to tell her it had to stay. Why me??? Oh, why me? Is this payback, or retribution? Why does my last night have to include Betty?


Politely I told Betty that she needed to either finish her drink or leave it as we had to go. She slurred to me that maybe she wasn't going to go. I told her that was fine with me, she needed to decide. This is happening while I'm still talking to Beverly about her information. Then Betty asks almost incoherently, "Who you sharin'?" Ok, so as a refresher, I have a child and I work in Children's Services with families, so I can almost decipher most things, keeping that in mind...I don't have a clue what she's getting at nor do I want to waste my time or breath on trying to converse with drunk Betty, but I do. Damn me. I ask her if she is asking me if I have a roommate, which she in fact was. I tell her that Tania is my roommate, which she says, "Who? Who's dat?" Tania of course has been rather nice to her most of the trip - helping her to her room, off the bus, taking pictures of her when no one else would - a clear angel - and the reality is is that drunk Betty doesn't have a clue who anyone is as she has managed to be drunk and disrespectful the entire trip to everyone. Anyway, Betty goes on to say that she was lucky enough to get a double room by herself, and she didn't even pay for her own room. Of course this was slurred and broken, but the gist of it. Man did I want to tell her off. Did I want to carry on about WHY she ended up with her own room, when I had originally had my own room (blessing that I ended up sharing with Tania - wouldn't have wanted it any other way - even if given the option to be alone!). I wanted to "accidentally" push her down the stairs and see how she fared. I wanted to tell her off and let out all my immature feelings and emotions onto drunk Betty. Afterall, she wouldn't remember it, right? But the truth of the matter is ~ I would. I would have remembered it and regretted it, for the days of my life. Besides, I truly am a better person than that, I think. If you think this was taking a long time, you are right, it was.



The four of us, me in the lead with Robert behind and Beverly (bless her soul!) assisting Betty, walk out of the restaurant. There is no bus in sight nor is TG or anyone else from the group. The restaurant is in the middle of a crowded street and it goes up hill and downhill. Sometimes, most of the time, I can be completely oblivious. Especially when I'm with a group of people. I don't choose to be a leader, so often times I try to be the follower - and in group situations this is exactly where I try to follow. Needless to say, this leaves me often times lost - so knowing where the bus should have been, I was clueless. I headed up the hill leaving the others in tow. I was irritated that no one had waited or come back to direct us where the bus was and how did this happen to ME? Clearly TG had threatened the entire tour that if you didn't get to the bus on time you would have to find your own way back to where you needed to be. Why now, when I have to be out at the taxi at 6:30a.m. tomorrow morning, does this happen? And WHY is it I'm stuck with Betty? Am I really that bad of a person? There must be some reason, right? For every situation, there must be a reason, even if not blatantly obvious from the get go, right? I continue to silently pray, "Dear God, why can't I become a better person towards someone else?" and other crazy thoughts as I walk aimlessly up the hill, back down the hill, and again. There is no sign of the bus. At the bottom of the hill, I see a tour bus and an unknown driver. Mind you, the cat calls are rampant as I figure out how in my dressy outfit I manage to now lose the others and have no idea how much it will cost to get a taxi back across town. The threats of safety running rampant in my mind. Anyway, this wasn't the bus, but the driver and his "friend" were clearly willing to give me a ride. NICE...No thanks!



Back up the hill again, I happen to see Robert coming down the hill on the other side. All four of us are again reunited. I'm sure it must have been 1/2 hour by now, at least. I'm still sad that my roommate didn't come rescue me, or anyone else for that matter. Clearly without Betty in the picture, I would have been OK with Robert and Beverly, but Betty put a nasty twist on the situation. Back up the hill we all go and Betty happens to hear someone speak English. She decides to try to ask a question, but can't get it out and can't stand up. Somehow I found the strength in me to grab her by the arms twice from behind when she almost fell backward on me. I can't say that the fleeting thought didn't cross my mind to move out of the way and let her fall! I asked for directions back to Clichy which was a taxi, that we should catch down the street.



Back down the street we go. I try to flag down three taxis without any luck. We cross the street again hoping to get a taxi at which time Betty is angry with Beverly that she's really rude and aggressive. We should have left her sorry drunk behind to the wolves, seriously, we should have. Robert had tried to assist Betty as well, but this didn't go well, so we left it to Beverly to drag her around and let Betty hang all over her. In crossing the street I hear my name...My sweet angel - My Tania! They didn't leave me/us! Right behind Tania are Paul and James. The three of them had vowed to split up to find the three, I mean four of us. Tania and I head back to the bus to let them know we are on the way, while Paul and James man-handle, I mean help Betty to the bus and Beverly and Robert walk together strong in their relationship and faith. And that, was the last I saw of Betty for the remainder of my trip.



The drive back was pretty quiet - other than filling people in on the escapade to find the bus. The bus was at a standstill due to a car being in the way. The local TG or bus driver, got out of the bus and moved the car! Impressive. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all pretty tired and the extra bottle of beer I had snagged to celebrate at the hotel was warm. We took a few more pictures in the lobby and said our goodbyes.



One last TG story...she had given me 40 euros to pay for the taxi that I was suppose to catch at 6:30a.m. She assured me that the taxi wouldn't be more than 38-40 euros.



Tania and I talked into the early hours of the night and everything of mine was packed and ready to go to wake in a few short hours.

Betty Blog

I wish that I could say that the end of the blog will lead to some exciting climatic ending with Betty, unfortunately it doesn't. Throughout the rest of the trip, I did my best to avoid Betty. Although I never seemed to be more than a few feet from her. I'm not really sure how that worked out, since of the 44 people there were definitely some that I was never around. Maybe they made sure of that!

Without scrolling back through blog world, I'll recap Betty encounters, quickly. Seriously, quickly. After that first day of being accosted by her on the bus, I did my best to steer clear. I figured that if I ran into her somewhere alone, I may be tempted or she may be tempted to act on as she called it, "a good old fashioned cat fight". Mind you, I'm not really a fighter. But I think if push came to shove, I'd give it my all. In reality though, if Betty and I were alone and she lunged at me, all I would have had to do was sidestep and watch her fall flat on her face. She truly was that intoxicated most of the time. However, mornings she seemed more coherent and almost tried to converse with other tourists.

There was the day in the cafe/bar with the internet access. When I walked down the steps, there she was smoking and drinking. I kept walking, confrontation avoided. Also at the same hotel, she hung out in the lobby watching/gazing at the t.v. as we were all hanging out down there playing cards. Nothing was shared between the two of us. Of course I avoided her like the plague, which included not going into wait to pay for the optional excursions when she was in there, although she didn't want to wait, and she ended up paying last, right after me. Then there was the day where we stopped at a grocery store and stocked up on munchies and water. She of course was one of the last ones on the bus as she was smoking. I was one of the last as I was taking pictures of the Swiss alps. I offered to take a picture of the Malaysian couple, but then they realized they had the wrong memory card. As I turned to get on the bus, there was Betty...in my face. She kept saying "sorry". I only say sorry if I am apologizing or as a way of saying, "excuse me". Neither of which seemed like Betty's response. Not understanding, since clearly she acknowledged that I'm the stupidest person she's ever met, I asked what. She kept repeating sorry, so I walked away and got on the bus. At which point she yelled slurishly (my new word), "I'm not done talking to you yet." I raised my hand up, with my back turned her direction and got on the bus.

And that, was the last of my Betty encounters...until the end of the Farewell Dinner.

Saturday April 5, 2008 Amsterdam Area, Rhineland Germany

Breakfast was a wonderful array of fruit, Danish, cereals, meat/cheese assortment, as well as sausage, eggs, hash brown patties, etc. I sat at a table with Catherine and Tania and we talked about the Red Light District. “Betty” staggered into the breakfast room, got her breakfast and then wrapped it in napkins to go.

At 8:15a.m. we met out at the bus and headed out for the city tour of Amsterdam and the canal Cruise. This was the first morning of the hellacious seat rotation with the clockwise two seat move. Ultimately, the seat rotation would bring out the demons of the majority. Most preferred to stay in the front of the bus, since the rowdy, younger, fun crowd had initially migrated in the back of the bus. What the elderly failed to realize is that had the rotation been implemented, the bus would have been quieter overall breaking up the more outgoing. Not that any of us in the back of the bus were complaining per se, but photo opportunities were somewhat better in the front of the bus when you could actually see what was coming as the Tour Guide did nothing to let you know.

In the US when entering a new state, there are usually large welcoming signs, significant to each state. Usually within a few miles of entering a new state, there is a Welcome Center, not to be confused with a WC in Europe which was a “Wash Closet”. The first country we entered, the Tour Guide (TG) mentioned a sign (after the fact) with five stars; of course I didn’t see it.

I had a single seat on the bus the day before, as did Nick and “Betty”. There were new tour guests on the bus this morning that threw the seat rotation out of whack as well as leaving very few open seats for those, like me, entering the bus late. Knowing that I would likely have to share a seat and fearing the worst, I opted to save myself and Nick and sit next to him in the back row of the bus. At this point, I still hadn’t formally met Nick, and I think we were both OK with that. I left a seat in between us as he was next to the window and I was now in the aisle. When Betty got on the bus she looked at the one set of open seats, three up from the back row, looked at Nick and at me and then sat in the open seat. I could tell that she wanted more than anything to sit near her “friend” and the thought that I had encroached on her territory left her wounded, alone and jealous, but not enough that she would wedge herself in between us in the empty seat.

Most of the bus ride this morning I have been glared at by Betty with her mincing, dead pan saucer eyes. I could see the venom approaching and I did my best to ignore it. In the backseat with us were Catherine and Christy. Newcomers, Judy and Jimmy were two rows up from the back and a row behind on the other side from Betty. Judy and Jimmy kept to themselves and seemed bothered by the loud noise around them. Another couple destined for the front of the bus, or so it seemed.

The canal boat ride was a covered boat. I sat across from Glenn, who was quickly saying, “Here she is, Miss America”. Nice. In order to get decent pictures, you had to slide open the windows. As it was chilly and drizzling outside, Glenn wasn’t happy with the open windows and preferred them to be shut. Oh, sweet vacation. The local tour guide was much better than the TG and I found her to be quite entertaining. We then toured around Holland by bus, which was very similar to Holland, MI. We went through a diamond factory and I was able to get my son his much desired souvenir smashed penny coin.



After the tour, it was back to the bus, although no longer drama free. I became the target of Betty’s wrath. She nastily asked me through the seats where I was from. She said that she assumed I was from Canada because I was rude and obnoxious and she didn’t like me. She told me I was ruining her trip and that I needed to move to the front of the bus. Of course, most of her tirade was ensued in foul language. I had difficulty understanding her with her heavy slurring and accident and lack of enunciation. She proceeded to tell me I was the stupidest person she had ever met. Betty went on to tell me that I’m like the popular one and that I’m very persuasive. So persuasive that I don’t even have to say anything to others, they just follow. She made comments about my clothes and my hat, of course foul and nasty. She told me how nasty I was and how I preyed on the weak since she apparently overheard me at breakfast. I did my best to keep quiet, to not respond. I could feel my blood boiling and my social work training going out the window. I knew that to rationalize with her would be fruitless as she was clearly not right and likely completely intoxicated. I hoped that someone that I had befriended would jump to my aid, which didn’t happen. Most looked away or pretended to be sleeping. One was recording it. At no time did the TG notice anything that was happening. Finally after what seemed like a ½ hour, Cheryl from the middle of the bus went to get the TG.

By the time the TG came back all was quiet. I’m sure I was redder than a lobster. Jimmy proceeded to tell the TG that he didn’t know what had precipitated before, but that we/she mainly Betty was using foul language and it was inappropriate. The TG threatened that we would both be kicked off the tour if it persisted and then she went back to her perch seat in the front stairwell of the coach.

Needless to say, Betty didn’t stop. She proceeded to try to get my attention to see if we were OK. She thought that a good old nasty cat fight was good. Oh yeah, did I mention that she told me that was life was too short for me to be so mean? She proceeded to say it was only OK if I was dying of cancer. Was I dying of cancer? WHAT? Oh my. Betty also went on a tirade about Lord of the Flies. She then continued to ask again if we were Ok, which I said sure. I just wanted her to shut up and get out of my face. When I ignored her, she came into the aisle to get my attention since her calling out “Hat Lady” and “Hatter” wasn’t yielding a response.

From that point on I dubbed myself the "Mad Hatter" - either because I was angry mad or crazy mad, but nonetheless just mad! The hat of course was purchased for bad hair days and for rain - so as it turns out I wore it most of the trip. When I didn't have it on, people asked where it was. Infamous for my hat and being called Miss America, I suppose it could have been worse! To keep from further suspense - here I am, the "Mad Hatter". (And for anyone who may have read the prior hair blogs - can you see the Amanda Overmeyer highlight resmeblence? Yeah, me neither.)

Back to the trip...Finally, I couldn’t keep quiet. I told Betty what she had done the day before with her behavior, swearing, cussing about the TG, etc. I’m pretty sure I used a few expletives myself. Of course her response was that she didn’t know what I was talking about and didn’t remember yesterday. Jimmy then told her to sit down at which time she hollered at “Blue Shirt Man” and finally stumbled back into her seat. All the while, she kept glaring at me until the next stop. Of course, she accomplished what she wanted as I was so furious, I found it hard to enjoy myself with the others at that point and mainly kept my chatter and laughter to a low level, next to nothing.
At the next bathroom stop, Betty did not return. We were less than ½ hour from the hotel. The TG went to find her, returning saying that she had ordered a meal and didn’t know what to do about it. After an additional 15 minutes or so the TG assisted an almost limp Betty back onto the bus. Meanwhile, Tania – a vibrant, loud New Zealander from the front of the bus wanted badly to come to the back out of sheer boredom. I and others strongly urged her to sit in Betty’s seat and not move - hopefully forcing her up to the front of the bus. Tania, bless her soul, was willing to do so.

I had asked the TG to move Betty to the front of the bus to avoid further problems. I had no idea what level I would succumb to if Betty kept at me, and I didn’t want to find out. The TG sat her in the middle of the bus; however, within a few minutes of the drive, Betty staggered back to her initial seat. Betty was none to happy to see Tania in her seat and asked her why she was there and who told her to sit there. Tania wasn’t willing to move and Betty sat next to her. Betty proceeded to fill Tania in about how awful I was and how it was like “Lord of the Flies”. Finally, she passed out. Of course, TG was oblivious again of what was transpiring on the bus.

Upon arrival at the Zum Anker hotel in Germany, I learned that Tania and I were to be roommates. She was the single woman that I knew the least of. I liked her immediately. Something about her personality and contagious laugh, I no longer feared the prospect of sharing a room. Dinner was included with the tour tonight – fish and chips, overcooked salty canned vegetables and ice cream for dessert. Clearly not the German meal we were anticipating. The food left much to be desired. The information had advised that service would not be similar to the US, but that was a complete understatement. I’m pretty sure that Muriel and maybe a few others may have passed out in between dishes waiting for their food.

As the hotel is in the middle of nowhere, a group of us go out after dinner for a late night walk. It’s cold out and my gloves came in handy as I lent them out. It begins to snow, a first for many. We laugh and joke about my persuasive, popular personality and with my luck, I’m sure Betty was either in the bushes or a few steps away. We manage to finally get a group (nose) shot with all of us in it. Faces of the world - Australia, New Zealand, America and Taiwan. Ok, maybe not the world, but you get the point.

Tania and I stay up until the wee hours of the night chatting and laughing and do our best to finally get some sleep a few hours before the 6:30a.m. wake up call.

Me

So just a little more background information about myself. I'm not all that outgoing in social situations where I'm an outsider. I tend to be pretty shy and would prefer to stick with my comfort zone. I wouldn't call myself a social butterfly - although clearly my mom and my brother likely fall into that category - so maybe I have the genes.

I'm not one to approach people I don't know. I'm not one to go out by myself to meet new people. Not to say that I've never done these things, it's just not my common practice. I wasn't one of the popular kids and I'm not as an adult either.

I just needed to preface this before my blog about "Betty". Maybe it's about how one perceives another, which can be pretty inaccurate. Or maybe it's ones own personal inadequacies or use of substances. Regardless, "Betty's" views of me, where rather surprising and entertaining and all in all she was downright appalling ~ but that I would have to blame mainly on the substances that altered her ability to keep her mouth shut, increased her jealousy and her poor self esteem and self worth.

With that, I in my self-righteous, popular, persuasive personality am going to bed.

Friday, April 4, 2008 London-Amsterdam area, Holland

The alarm went off at 6:30a.m. and the luggage was due outside the door by 7:00a.m. At 6:50 I received a not so warm and welcoming call to get my luggage outside. Breakfast was continental and I suppose I was suppose to be seated, but I helped myself. I observed people that were seated in my dining area. I noticed one couple and assumed that they were American.

In the lobby, I noticed the same couple and asked if I could sit in an empty seat near them. This was Beverly and Robert from AK, which we would introduce ourselves later on the bus. We chatted for a while in the lobby while we waited for the bus. I noticed many others also waiting in the lobby - a mixture of couples, mainly middle-aged to elderly. There was a large group of "Europe 2008" which looked like a teen youth group trip - but they were not part of our trip. The young man that got on the bus behind me seemed to be traveling solo and his name was Nick, according to the check-in lady. When I got on the bus I met a man, later to be 85.5 year old Glenn, that commented on my shirt and said his tie would go well with it.

It was 1.5 hours to the ferry and Beverly and I talked most of the way with her sitting in front of me. We stopped once before the ferry and I had a chance to change money to Euros and observe some of the people on the bus. There was one woman in particular that looked my age that I noticed right away. Something about her. At the stop, she ordered a very large beer. Her face looked old and weathered although I thought she might be younger than me. She had dark skin likely from tanning machines. Her eyes were like saucers. She was the only one I saw drinking. The ferry ride to Calais, France was another 1.5 hours in duration. I moved around a few times on the ferry to avoid the people around me or the loud obnoxious Tom & Jerry cartoon that was playing with English subtitles. I watched people that were on the bus throughout the ferry. The woman that I noticed on the bus was the first to hit the bar. I later saw her stumbling around with an older man. I met Theresa and Sim, a mother and daughter that was celebrating her 21st birthday. Beautiful people, with large contagious smiles.

Back on the bus, I hoped and prayed that fate wouldn't have me "share" my room with that woman. That would be my worst nightmare! I hadn't noticed that there were other single women travelers as well. Apparently the other women had. As it would come to be, there were five single women - the woman (whom I will refer to as "Betty"), Christy, Tania and Catherine. On the bus, "Betty" had her own seat, as did I. She was several back on the other side of the bus. She slept most of the trip and blatantly ignored the tour guide, Katia. She even had her shoes off and put her feet up on the window and on the man's head in front of her! When she was awake, she was becoming more belligerent.

We spent hours in traffic and construction in Belgium. At the rest area, it was my first opportunity to experience paying for the bathroom! 30 euro, the first of many charges and the least expensive. The restaurant we stopped at was very limited in selection. I met Judy and Duane at dinner, a very nice couple from Minnesota. It was their first time to Europe as well and Judy was shocked that I was traveling alone. I was aware of Judy and Duane as they had introduced themselves to Tim and Trudy also from the US in the lobby before we left on the tour. I found them entertaining to watch/eavesdrop - although is it truly eavesdropping if you hear them when you aren't trying? After dinner we were back on the bus en route to Amsterdam. Taking pictures from a moving bus is quite challenging for me and my 5.0 mega pixels.

"Betty" was no awake. She was becoming very loud and obnoxious. I had a difficult time understanding what she was saying due to her accent. She was conversing with Nick behind her. She was cussing a lot and was quite disrespectful. She received a call on her cell phone at which time she started saying how BBBOOOORRRIIINNNGGGGG the trip was and swearing about the tour guide and how she could do her job. Off the phone she continued to chat up Nick. I heard her mention that she was sharing and if she had to share with someone she didn't like, could she share with him. A lump was in my throat. I felt ill, but this could be my reprieve. He could say yes and then I wouldn't be STUCK with her! Maybe there was hope yet! I tried to tune her out after she moved her seat to sit next to him. I did hear her ask inappropriate questions about his fiancee.

We arrived at the Schiphol Hotel in Amsterdam at about 10:15p.m. We were able to go out if we desired and the tour guide mentioned the "red light district". The tour guide hasn't been very impressive. She gives little historic information as I have experienced from past tour guides. She mainly gives directions which are often confusing and repeated many times. Robert and Beverly want to check out the red light district. The single rooms are announced first, and...I'm not one of them. I get my key and I head to my room. The hotel room is enormous! There is a very large bed and a huge room. There are two sets of toiletries including razor and shaving cream, toothbrush and paste and a comb! I wait for my roommate. I continue to wait. Finally, I head over to Beverly and Robert's room. I see the other three single women and they are not in my room. Christy tells me that she is sharing with "Betty". She asks if she can stay in my room if it is really bad. I tell her that I am heading out, but OK. Part of me, I didn't want to. If I was lucky enough to be the one to have my own room, why should I share? On the otherhand, had I been the one stuck with her, I wouldn't want it either.

I went to the desk to ask for directions to the red light district and there met James and Paul, whom I would later learn were brothers. They are from Australian although they look Chinese. Reminds me of my college roommate Chris that is American but his mother is Chinese. He hated when people assumed he could speak Chinese. They were fun guys and in their mid-20's. Rodney was also with them, although I struggled with wanting to call him Robert or Raymond most of the trip. Rodney was a pretty quiet guy, married and over in the area for work and/or conference. I never did talk much to him. They were heading to the red light district as well, so the six of us went together.

We met Katia in the parking lot and I informed her about the roomshare. She said that she would be changing the room assignments in the morning. There was also discussion as to whether or not she would be allowed to continue on the trip. Katia didn't seem to have boundaries and freely talked about guests on the tour with others.

The six of us headed on our adventure for the red light district. I didn't realize all that entailed. We had to get on the shuttle to the train station. We then had to buy train tickets - which I wasn't able to purchase on the self pay with my credit card (later learned because US credit cards don't have a special "chip" that others do!) so we had to pay more at the counter. We boarded the train and then got off at the right station - it was similar to the L in Chicago or the People Mover in Detroit. After the train we had to get on a bus, but we couldn't find where to purchase bus tickets so we walked instead. Rodney was the direction asker and would often ask people and we were told, "straight then left", repeatedly. No idea how far straight or when to turn left. We ended up walking past it and then turning around. I really thought that the guys would want to see some action, but they didn't. It was more just a matter of all of us seeing it and saying we had been there. The marijuana stench was strong walking around. The women in their lingerie looked used and tired. Completely unappealing, nothing like a Victoria Secrets ad ~ that's for sure. One window had two empty stools and bags of Doritos's were on them. I joked with James and Paul that had the women been there licking the cheese off the Doritos's I may have been tempted to pay the 150 euros plus....NOT. It was funny nonetheless. I couldn't get Robert to take a picture with Beverly under the neon "Sex Palace" archway to send to their adult sons. Beverly did take a picture in front of a mild window front of masks and such.

We headed back to the train station and tried unsuccessfully to use our 1-way ticket for the return! When we arrived back at the hotel, James, Paul and I walked to McDonald's across the street for some food. Seeing that only the drive through was open, we attempted to be a car, with James, "vroom, vrooming". Needless to say, we had to order at the window - maybe they were afraid we would order and run. They apparently had to kill a cow to make my plain cheeseburger, but the boys were nice enough to wait with me and then we went back to the hotel.

The hotel offered vouchers for 15 minutes of free internet usage so I logged on to email my son and check my emails. I learned that my great uncle's health had turned for the worse and hospice was involved and he would likely die within the next four days. My son had emailed me and several others asking if they had heard from me as he was getting scared. I emailed him as well as others and then ran out of time.

It was after 3a.m. when I got into my hotel room. I was glad that I didn't have a roommate, as it allowed me to be as loud as I wanted. I reorganized and picked out my clothes for the morning. I wanted to shower, but decided against it as I didn't want to wake any of the people in rooms around me as the wake up call was at 6:30a.m.