Went shopping

I went shopping with a friend and her 6-year old daughter to buy birthday presents for their younger daughter/sister.
We went to the town of Groningen. When friend goes into town, she parks her car at a free parking lot at the edge of the city center and takes a special city bus from there. I just park the car in a parking garage in town. She thinks her way is cheaper. I thought so too. Turns out that it makes no difference financially. Only her way is much more exciting.
Because wow... the bus drivers of the city buses apparently think they are Nikki Lauda.

These buses are extra long. I believe you would call them an articulated bus. With a harmonica section halfway which makes it a very flexible vehicle. About every 15 minutes one arrives at the bus stop near the parking lot, waits until it is brimful of people and then the chauffeur pushes the pedal to the metal. And I'm not kidding.
All seats were taken when friend, daughter, I and about 20 other people arrived at the bus stop, so we had to stand both on the way into town and later that afternoon on the way back to the parking lot.
'Hold on tight', friend warned me. 'The kids love this bus ride.'

When all the people who were standing in the bus were involved in quite an intimate physical relationship and we couldn't be pushed closer together, the driver closed the doors and went into Nikki Lauda-mode. He took every corner at full speed and red traffic lights were ignored for as long as possible, maybe they turn green when you're almost there... you never know, until he realized that they stayed red and hit the breaks at the very last minute. We, who were standing, clung on to each other for dear life. Six year old had fun.
'I... can... see... why... she ... likes... it', I said catching my breath, 'it's like a roller coaster ride.'

The light turned green and OFF we went again... full speed ahead. It was quite the experience. 'They all drive like mad', friend smiled. 'Hang on, left turn coming up...'

In fact... has anyone of you seen that Harry Potter movie? With the night bus? Same driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FArmRa092H0

Anyway... when we arrived in the city center, the driver opened the doors and we all stumbled out. Weird to feel solid ground beneath our feet.

'I'm hungry', six year old said.

'Okay, we'll grab something to eat first (it was lunchtime)', friend said. We happened to be next to a churros stand. 'Let's share a portion of churros and make a plan de campagne', I suggested. Which is what we did.

'I need to pee', six year old said.

'Okay, we'll go to V&D (large department store) and you can go to the toilet there', friend said.
The toilets in V&D are on the fifth floor, top of the building. We had to shop for things there too, so we circled down again, browsing almost all floors for birthday presents and other necessaries.
About two hours later we were back on the ground floor again.

'I'm thirsty', six year old said.

'I'm thirsty too', I said. Friend agreed. Fortunately V&D not only have a restaurant on the fourth floor, but also one on the ground floor. So we had some sandwiches and drinks and visited the perfume department to try out some nice smells.

'I need to pee', six year old said.

'She's kidding, right?', I asked friend
'Unfortunately not', friend said.
So we went up to the fifth floor for the second time. And took a straighter route down after six year old had done what she needed to do.
And then we finally saw daylight again. It was a beautiful day. And extremely busy in town. We wrestled ourselves through the masses to find the nearest toy shop to score the specified toys on the wishlist.

And then we had to take the rollercoaster bus ride again to get back to the car.
This time we had to shuffle through to the harmonica-part of the bus. Which was even more exciting. The floor turns under your feet when the bus goes around corners. Whoohoo....!!

I'll just park the car in the parking garage in the town's center next time. Thank you.