Our European Adventure, Day 3

Today was definitely not the best travelling experience. After getting up, we all trooped down to the dining hall in our hostel for continental breakfast. They offered multiple kinds of bread, meat, and cheese so we feasted on sandwiches. When I went up for seconds though, I made the mistake of thinking it was safe to leave my purse in my chair as the rest of the group was at our table. When I came back, my purse was gone. Not only did that purse include our travel vouchers for the day and my souveneir cash, it also included all of my credit cards and 370€ that belong to my school. Also included were my digital camera and passport. Gone. In the blink of an eye.

Even though it was only three in the morning back home, I immediately called my mom and we began cancelling my credit cards. After all the cards were cancelled, I was able to look up the US consulate and begin the process of obtaining an emergency replacement passport. Unfortunately, since all my credit cards and money were stolen, I was forced to borrow money to pay the $135 fee as well as the 6€ photo charge. My passport was done within hours.

With my new passport, I was able to file a police, politie, report on the stolen items, although I highly doubt it will do any good. My copy of the report is in Dutch too.

By the time everything was taken care of, it was 530pm and our day was nearing a close. We had missed lunch between me needing to run around town and everyone else napping, so we headed to Sara's Pancakes house to sample the local pancakes and waffles - a favorite among locals. While the pancakes were bigger than our heads, they were quite expensive, starting at 5.50€ each. Their thinness made them more similar to crepes too.

Dutch pancakes - maybe not the most appetizing picture

After dinner, we tried to track down a place that I could have money wired to in order to pay for our stay until we are able to get to Poland. We finally succeeded in finding a GWK Travelex at the Central Station that partners with Western Union. In order to find this, I had to sneak onto the tram by pretending to scan a card before walking on. Thankfully that worked since my travel card was stolen along with everything else.

It takes awhile for the money transfer to go through though, so we hopped on a sightseeing canal cruise that we had already paid for to kill time. The sights were quite pretty. The gables along the canals are beautiful. It's also interesting to see how small the buildings along the canals really are in the front because they used to be taxed on how much of the building faced the water. The water is actually quite dirty though, with lots of stuff floating in it.