Grand Bus Tour. 10th stop: church.

Duchess here, coming to you from Amsterdam, presenting the Grand Bus Tour.

Sunday morning was church. Thank you, Tori, that was very useful. Mom and Dad had picked an English-speaking, International church called Crossroads, just 6 miles away. But if you don't have a bike or car in the Netherlands, things get a little difficult. We left at 9:45 to get to an 11:30 service. We were told it would take just about 53 minutes. Ah, but not if you're the Greens. We more than doubled that. We are extra special that way.

We first had to find the store that upped our bus cards, but the place in mind ended up needing a local credit card. Which we haven't got. 10am. The bus stop was right next to the store thankfully, and we had no problem catching the bus. We rode to the next bus stop...30 minutes later we saw our bus pull up. Yes! So we are on the bus. Dad told us all together we had 5 buses to catch. So each bus ride didn't feel long enough to get out a book, but long enough for you to daydream, then feel disgruntled as you swipe your card off and step into the cold.We decided to stop at the Sckipol airport- which was thankfully one of the stops, because we knew we could get our cards upped (more money on them) there. Mom had 26 cents left on her card as she stepped off. Half an hour we walk out of there, after trying to do it on our own on some new-fangled machine, then getting a pretty Italian behind the desk.

11: 20am. We then got misdirected as to which bus to catch. It was a cycle. Dad would go up to the bus driver and ask him, The guy would say, "Bus 300". next one, "117", then, "45", and finally, "no I assure you, it's #300." And so it was. It only took us 30 minutes to get it. And #300 pulled out right as we confirmed it. Go figure. 5 minutes, another one pulled up. There was this ad on a big screen right in front of us that by the time the bus was moving, we had even the dutch words memorized. 11:45am. ok. we only waited 15 minutes at the next bus stop, at which point we learned we only had 4 buses to catch total! So this was our last one! Luckily, on all these bus rides I had plenty to think about...the night before we watched Monte Cristo, and it's one of my favorite movies now. Finally we get to the bus stop, hop off, walk around the corner and the mega church comes into view. We about broke into Handel's Hallelujah chorus. Daniel and I changed from our tennis shoes to church shoes, and we walked in. 

12:15pm The only seats were at the back, and you had to walk in front of half the church to get there. So we awkwardly stood at the side, for the remaining ten minutes of the service. :) Alot of people walk into church when the music plays. We did. Just the music after the service. We kind of blankly looked at each other after the service, all feeling the weight of the inevitable. Dad said," Why don't we all go talk to someone, or stay here for a couple of minutes?" A couple of guys from the seminary were there, the boys' ping pong partners, so we talked to them. I talked to a 60 year old Eastern European guy who invited me to come to his house, and told me about his newspaper. I didn't initiate that conversation. 

12:45pm, The Trek Home. The Lord must have seen us in our plight, because the first bus arrived right when we got there, as did the second one, and on the second one, a lady overheard dad talking with the driver, and told us an easier way of getting home. Sure enough, We got off where she did, and we were a mile away from the seminary! From the church, home, it took us 20 minutes to get home. Unbelievable. And the lady who helped us was a Christian. After making a stop at Lidl (sort of like Aldi), we were home at  2pm. Four hours fifteen minutes. 

Thus ends the Green's Grand Bus Tour.

 At last, foooooooooooooooooooood. 

Just leaving Crossroads, which met in this school.