Summer 2024 : How can sitting be so tiring?

That was an entertaining half hour! We don't follow football but we're aware of the Euro tournament that's on at the moment.

We decided to eat this evening in a local bar in Hook of Holland (The Harwich) and the footie was on the big screen. Georgia and Turkey were battling it out in the pouring rain somewhere in Germany. Once it got to injury time the Georgian goalkeeper decided to join the rest of his mates around the Turkish goal. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake - the whole of the bar erupted when Turkey scored their third goal - with the goalkeeper nowhere in sight.

The whole bar? There were four of us in there (including the bar person)!

The food and the friendliness of the place was exactly what we needed after an exhausting day. (And it was excellent value too).

We'd got to Berlin Haptbahnhof early after getting ready in record time. The two apps I use - OBB Scotty & DB Navigator - both said our train was due to leave from platform 3 in the bowels of the station, but the printed information on the notice boards said platform 14 at the top of the station. In the end, I decided to ask at the info desk - gleis 14 it was!

The train was a few minutes late arriving, but it soon made up the time. There were no issues whatsoever, and the train crew were happy & cheerful.

We had a compartment again - our sole travelling companion was a young Australian travelling round Europe - we discussed politics and cultural differences for quite some time.

Much later on (it might have been at Osnabruk) it transpired that he was in the right seat, but in the wrong coach - three Dutch gents turfed him out.

We made a quick cross-platform change at Amersfoort onto a very comfortable Dutch double deck express service.

My intention was to travel to Rotterdam Centraal and brave the metro from there, but looking at the map it was easier to get off the train at Rotterdam Alexander and get the metro from there. This avoided any changes, and meant a lot less walking than we'd have had at Centraal.

I discovered that my Kroo card would not operate the metro ticket gates - my HSBC Global Money card was fine for one of us, and I used my Barclaycard in panic! Contactless travel is great, but it's a worry if some cards aren't validated for the system.

It was a long ride on the metro but not as busy as I'd feared.

We are staying in the Hotel Amerika again at Hoek. The welcome wasn't as welcoming as before and the restaurant doesn't seem to be open on Mondays & Tuesdays, hence our football experience. The room is lovely, but it's accessed up the steepest stairs outside of a castle!

Frankly, today has been so tiring I don't care - all I want to do is sleep!

Tomorrow we're intending to go to the beach - weather permitting! (There is no plan B)