The key to it all

This weekend I am minding YoYo, Denise´s cat. Sunday I´ll travel back to Lisbon and my love, to enter the final few weeks of our European stay!

Getting into Denise´s apartment proved a not undaunting exercise ... I traveled from Oma´s to Amsterdam by train, lugging my suitcase and bag along, in very slow and delayed fast trains, and was to pick up the keys to the apartment from the TomTom company in central Amsterdam. Denise´s friend Simone, who works at TomTom, and had minded the cat the days before, had left the keys to the apartment at reception. before going to London for the weekend.

Hot and bothered I managed, with a few detours, to get to the company which is in a new area just to the side of Central Station (but I had never been there...). It wasn´t until I arrived home I realised I had only one key ... and there was definitely a downstairs door to get through before arriving at Denise´s 7th floor penthouse.

I managed to slip in, in the wake of a kind lady who was entering a different area of the circular building and wriggle my way through gates to reach the floor and the door. It took the rest of the evening and morning, Denise´s neighbour whose husband wasn´t there and had taken her spare key, and their next-door neighbours (who happened to be ´famous´ Dutch actor Marnix Knappers and his partner) to get hold of an extra key allowing me out of the building by 11 a.m. on Saturday ... and then spent the afternoon visiting Waterstone´s bookshop and relaxing at Cafe de Doelen enjoying hot chocolate, tea, apple cake and chats with my friend Jacomien, who dropped round.

I was also planning to see my friend Bertie, and wanted to spend some time with my friend Peter, but unfortunately ran out of time. Next time! Early morning tomorrow to get to Schiphol airport...