Now apparently, the clerks at the ticket desk at the Lille train station are not used to getting requests like, "Give me a ticket to somewhere, anywhere, as long as it's cheap", because they couldn't help me unless I named a city. Pushpinned to the wall behind the clerk was a map of europe, so I chose a city at random. "Give me the cheapest ticket to Rotterdam.". Well I had picked well because there was a very cheap ticket to Rotterdam via Brussels. I paid the woman and was on my way. The train ride to Brussels was short and uneventful, and I didn't get a chance to see more than the train station in Brussels before my connection left. I met some americans on the train and learned about the reputation of Rotterdam: voted the most boring city in Europe several years running; No wonder the tickets had been so cheap! Now one American told me that if I wanted to come to Amsterdam, instead, that he could hook me up with a place to stay. That sounded especially good since the sun was going down and I had no place to stay in Rotterdam. Now tickets are checked on board the train over here, and my ticket had been checked earlier; It was unlikely that it would be checked again before Amsterdam, my new friend Ron told me. I decided to chance it. So I let Rotterdam pass by without regret, and the tense hour-long illegal ride began. Time ticked by without incident until we reached the outskirts of Amsterdam - then, the conductor reappeared and started demanding tickets. When he finally arrived at Ron and I, he looked at us expectantly and I was about to give the lame excuse that I had gotten confused between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, but then his look softened and he said "Wait, I've already checked you two." and walked away. He had checked my ticket, but it said "Destination: Rotterdam" on it! It seems even the Dutch get confused between the two!