Day 5- Uterecht/London

This was a really long travel day- we woke up early in the morning at our friend Rose's apartment (which was amazingly nice and had 4 whole stories with a rooftop terrace and everything!). Hostels are fun, but it was a nice change of pace to have a room to ourselves, a big clean bathroom and a computer that we didnt have to pay loads to check our email on! She usually rides her bike for about an hour in the cold to work, but since we were there she took a bus with us to the train station and then showed us where we needed to go to get back to the airport in Amsterdam for our flight back to London. It was really good to see her again and then we said goodbye on the platform and waited a few minutes for our train to arrive. Well, having been on the train for maybe 15 minutes or even more, we realized we were at a stop that neither of us thought we ought to be passing through- luckily about 80% of the Dutch population speaks english and a man in the seat next to us had been listening to our conversation and told us we had actually gotten on the wrong train! Apparently it was the right platform when Rose dropped us off, but then it was changed by announcement over loudspeaker, and of course being in Dutch we didn't realize! So, we had to get off at the next stop and wait on the outside platform for the right train to come by- it was cooooooooooooold but it also started snowing big, fluffy flakes so I didn't really mind! Nyssa and I both took pictures of eachother frolicking around in the snow and acting like little kids, as the locals watched and shook their heads. Finally we get back on the right train and to the airport with lots of time to spare, because we have had some really close calls in the past! However, because of the snow, the big screen with all the flights kept popping up more and more 'delayed' signs, until about 75% of the board was in red! We were getting pretty nervous because we had plans to go to a show that night with friends at a certain time, but luckily ours only left 30-45 mins late, as compared to others that sat on the runway for some 5 hours! We got into London after a jam-packed 45 min tube ride from the airport, and luckily our next hostel was really close to the stop and easy to find. We pretty much jjust threw down our bags and put on more deoderant and were out the door! We met up with our friends Helen and Bonnie, who we had travelled with through Central America. We were running a bit late so had a classy dinner at Subway, then went to see JOseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was a really really great show! Nyssa had seen it before elsewhere but I never had- I was pretty impressed that they could make a several hour long really fun and entertaining musical out of a short religious story! It was really colorful and really loud, and in a packed house too, according to our Brit friends because the new guy playing Joseph is 'really fit.' (aka studmuffin in american english) It was actually pretty bizarre- while we were in the hallway during the intermission we recognized a guy we met while we were all in Nicaragua! Not someone on our tour, just a random guy we ran into in Nicaragua and then again in Honduras I think- PLUS he was sitting directly behind us, PLUS his friend that he came with actually knew our friend Helen! Crazy! After the show the two of them joined us in a fancy bar for a drink, then we headed home since we wanted to wake up early the next morning and do lots of sightseeing with Helen and Bonnie. And Nyssa is writing the next day(today), but I just wanted to add that this morning in the hostel I had not a cold shower, but an icy freezing rain of death shower! It was sooooo cold I could only bear to wet myself , then get out for soaping and shampooing, then literally psych myself up for going back under the spigot to rinse off! I thought it was gettign warmer towards the end, but then realized no, in fact, I had just gone numb and could no longer feel the coldness. It was intense. Anyways just wanted to throw that tidbit in! More later!