Tag: Amsterdam

Embarkation Day

Saturday, September 16, 2023

So, we both went to sleep very quickly. I woke up about 6:00 p.m. I was surprised I wasn’t hungry. We could have ordered room service, but I guess I was still full from lunch. Chuck was still sleeping. I removed all the airline tags and tagged the bags with the ship tags. Was also glad I remembered my European adapter so I could charge my electronics.

I read until 10:00 and then went back to sleep. Woke up fifteen minutes before the alarm. Chuck was already awake. I didn’t toss and turn too much during the night, so I was grateful. Watched our ship, the Rotterdam, slowly make its way to the berth next to the hotel. Our home for the next 36 days.

We put three of our bags outside of our door to be picked up and delivered to our stateroom. We kept one rolling bag and our backpacks to bring on ourselves.

We went to the breakfast buffet that was included in the price of the hotel. I was fascinated by the huge honey comb that just oozed honey out of it. You could scoop it out and use it on the different breads or yogurt they had. They had all sorts of food offerings. The cold European selections – sliced meats and cheeses and the hot American selections – eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. Chuck got two eggs made-to-order, sausage, fruit, and a pastry. I got fruit, bacon and a piece of the thick dark brown bread that I discovered and loved the last time we were in Amsterdam.

The coffee machines gave you several choices. Chuck had the espresso, and I had a latte. You had to press the button twice to get a full mug. I also had a glass of blueberry juice which I had never had before. It was very good.

At 9:30, went to the HAL hospitality desk to verify with them about the number of bags that had been picked up to be delivered. I was glad that our numbers matched. The representative said we could walk to the terminal any time after 10:30. Our paperwork said our check-in time with the ship was 11:50 and boarding would be around noon. We decided to stay in our room until 11:30 as the chairs in the terminal lobby are usually uncomfortable so why sit there for an hour and a half when we could stay in a very pleasant room.

We checked out at 11:30 and walked over to the terminal. We quickly made it to the passport scanner station where we hit a snag. Chuck’s passport would not scan. Had to go to the main desk area. Turned out that his security photo was attached to my information and vice versa. Also his passport number did not match their records. First time those problems have ever surfaced. The attendant called a supervisor who was able to enter the correct information and we got our photos taken. After that, we never stopped walking until we reached our state room. Very easy.

We listened to the safety video that was playing on the TV as we unpacked our backpacks and my carry-on. After that requirement was finished, we went to our Muster Station to check-in and then to the main dining room for lunch.

We sat at a table with a couple from Florida and a couple from California. Pleasant company and a delicious lunch. Just be aware that if you order all appetizers, they will bring them all at once instead of spacing them out or bringing some of them for the main course unless you specifically tell them to do so. I didn’t order any appetizers, but one person had ordered several. I had the Cobb salad and Chuck had the Arctic Char (similar to salmon).

We went back to the room and the other three pieces of luggage had arrived. I told Chuck I could get the suitcases unpacked and would meet him at the Mariner’s reception at 3:00.

It was a nice reception. We were greeted by some ship officers and were offered wine, champagne, mimosas or orange juice. Also brought some hot appetizers. I ate one bitterballen.

Afterwards, we went back to the room to finish the unpacking and storage of the empty luggage. We met our room stewards – Anang & Pram. Pram looked familiar and I realized he was one of our stewards on our March cruise.

We went to the sail-away party on the Sea View deck. The DJ got us all up and dancing.

We went to the Lido for dinner and we each got the steak dinner. I added an order of mussels with mine.

We then spent time in the Rock and Roll Lounge and the BB King Lounge. We were happy to see several BB King band members who performed when we were on the South Pacific cruise and the Antarctica cruise. Found out that they would be staying on the Rotterdam until it arrived in Fort Lauderdale. Knew we would be in for some great music.

Travel Trivia

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

It is true that there are more bikes in Amsterdam than inhabitants. There are roughly 900,000 bikes. This is much more compared to 800,000 (a bit more) people, who live in Amsterdam.

Since 2014, there are around 185 Coffeeshops in Amsterdam, stretched out over the whole city. Coffeeshop is the name of their cannabis shops.

There are around 165 canals in Amsterdam, which are almost as many as in Venice with 177 canals.

One main attraction of Amsterdam is their houseboats. More than 3000 houseboats in Amsterdam and stretch out over their canals.

Amsterdam is a city which is built on poles. It is built on eleven million poles. The city is three feet or so below sea-level. The train station of Amsterdam Centraal alone needs 9000 poles to be supported whereas a normal house needs about ten. These wooden poles of 45 – 60 feet are placed in a sandy layer which is around 33 meters deep.

If a person dies in Amsterdam but doesn’t have any family, friends or acquaintances, then a poet will write a poem and recite it at the funeral.

The Red-Light District is well known for its red lights, however, there are also blue lights. When the lights are blue, there is a transgender woman in the room.

There is a cat boat in Amsterdam. Visit the Poezenboot. It’s an animal shelter where they have more than fifty cats.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the only airport in the world that has a museum. It is located behind passport control and the entry is free.

You can find swarms of parakeets in the Vondelpark. More than 4000 parakeets can be found here. They are not native to The Netherlands but were brought here as pets. A few escaped and decided that they liked Amsterdam.

*Trivia provided by Wikipedia

Amsterdam Arrival

Friday, September 15, 2023

The plane boarding was relatively efficient although it would go much quicker if they would just board from the back. Lots of stopping, with people struggling to get their luggage in the overhead bins. We took off at exactly 5:30.

The flight was fairly smooth with only a couple of bumpy moments as we made our way around Hurricane Lee. Everyone in the main cabin received a pillow, blanket, bottled water, headphones, and a sleep mask as soon as we sat down. Chuck and I had two seats together – he by the window, me on the aisle.

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy III, and we were served dinner about 7:30. Chuck had the chicken, and I had the pasta dish. We both thought the blonde brownie was the best part of the meals. Once the movie was over, I chose some soothing spa music from their music choices and put on my sleep mask. We both dozed on and off until they raised the cabin lights as we were nearing Amsterdam.

They served us breakfast of a hot egg and cheese wrap with a side of fruit. I chose orange juice and Chuck chose coffee. We touched down at 7:20 Amsterdam time but it was a long taxi to the terminal, so we were not disembarking until about 8:00 a.m. Of course, my body was still six hours behind, so I felt it was 2:00 a.m.

The last time we landed here, we were right at the terminal. Today, we had to walk down some steep metal steps from the plane onto the tarmac and then get on a tram that took us the rest of the way. However, the tram dropped us off right at the customs hall which was convenient. I wondered how they got the people who needed wheel chairs down to the tarmac. Maybe they replaced the steps with a ramp.

This Customs procedure was much smoother than the last time. Last time, we ended up in a big crowd in the terminal as the airport officials were only allowing a few people at a time to go downstairs to Customs and there was no organization about it at all. At least today, we were all in an orderly line, and it only took about 20 minutes to get our passport stamped.

We found our luggage at the carousel and went into the Arrival Hall. We finally spotted two men holding Holland America signs. There were also other cruise lines picking up people – Avalon and Viking. Both of them doing river cruises.

We waited about 20 minutes for our van driver to arrive and he took us directly to the Movenpick Hotel which is the hotel that a number of cruise lines use as their preferred hotel for their guests. Today, a Norwegian ship was docked where our ship will would be docked the next day. Really can’t get more convenient from hotel to ship.

Of course, our room was not ready since it was only 10:00, but I got some information about embarkation tomorrow from the Holland America representative at the hotel – included breakfast at 7:00, bags you want delivered to the ship out of the room by 8:00.

We had the hotel store all of our bags and we proceeded to walk into Amsterdam. Our route took us along the river and then through the shopping area of the train station which was pretty interesting. We walked down one of the main streets past the palace and then past stores and restaurants. I bought some crackers at a little grocery store. Of all the food the ship provides, they never have crackers to go with their cheese. Seems weird to me.

I was soon feeling more fatigued, and my phone battery was getting low, so we made our way back to the hotel, stopping once to watch the river cruises load passengers and other action on the river. We ate lunch in the hotel bar splitting a club sandwich and having two beers each – total of 39 Euros. Never had a club sandwich that included egg salad as part of the layers. Our fries were served with both mayonnaise and ketchup for dipping.

Our room was finally ready at 2:30. It was on the 18th floor and the view just breath-taking. But as beautiful as the scenery was, I was ready to take a long nap face down in the comfortable bed.

Travel Trivia

The Netherlands

Dutch men have come out on top as the tallest people in the world in multiple studies throughout the years, at an average 6’0”. The women were also found to be tall, with an average height of 5’6, losing as the tallest only to women in Latvia (5’6 ½”). Average height of U.S. men (5’9”) and women (5’4”)

The Wilhelmus is the country’s national anthem. Although it did not become the official anthem until 1932, the music dates back to approximately the year 1572, making it the oldest melody used in a country’s anthem. The origin of the lyrics is uncertain, but it is said that the words are at least 400 years old.

Carrots are known for their distinct orange coloring. However, they weren’t always this way. Dating back to the 10th century, the vegetable was originally white or purple. William III of England, who was often known as William the Orange, helped the Dutch gain independence from Spain in the 17th century. According to folklore, Dutch farmers turned their carrots orange as a tribute, and the new color became more popular than before, and continues to be the Netherland’s official color today.

The Netherlands is known for its tulips. However, tulips are not native to the Netherlands, but instead Turkey. A period known as “Tulip Mania” in the 17th century gripped the Netherlands, where the price of bulbs rose and fell. Tulips only became synonymous with the country after World War II when the Dutch used the bulbs as a food source. Today, the flowers have become a large part of Dutch culture, and tourists travel to the country every year to visit the Keukenhof tulip gardens, the largest flower garden in the world.

People are often confused about whether to refer to ‘the Netherlands’ or ‘Holland’ when talking about the country. To clarify, the Netherlands consists of 12 provinces, and Holland is an area that is made up of two provinces: North-Holland and South-Holland. Historically, Holland was the area that contributed the most to the Dutch kingdom’s economy and wealth; thus, becoming a common name to indicate the entire country, although used incorrectly. However, in January 2020, the Dutch government officially dropped its country’s nickname, ‘Holland’, referring to itself as the Netherlands, in an effort to rebrand its international image.

*Trivia provided by Wikipedia.

VOV: Rotterdam, Netherlands – Day 1

Monday, July 25, 2022

Regular pre-dinner activities. Played a couple of slots and listened to the pianist in the Ocean Bar. We ate in the main dining room tonight. I had lamb chops and Chuck had roast beef. Another great meal.

HAL was showing the BBC Movie: Planet Earth II with the Ocean Bar band doing the background music. I’ve seen it on previous cruises and while I like it overall, I don’t like the scene where the snakes are trying to get the baby lizards as the lizards run for the safety of the rocks. Too much Mother Nature.

The piano bar singer had the night off, so we listened to the Ocean Bar pianist and then made it an early night in anticipation of our early tour to Amsterdam.

I got up at 5:30 and watched some of the scenic cruising down the canal as we headed to our port of Rotterdam. The ship’s bow was open to passengers, but I did not go up there. The canal was busy even this early in the morning.

We passed the Holland America Volendam ship which has been temporarily taken out of service in order to shelter Ukranian refugees. It is the sister ship of the Zaandam. They are the only two left of this size in the fleet.

We docked right next to the Erasmus Bridge aka Swan Bridge.

Our breakfast was delivered at 6:45. I’ve been impressed that the delivery has always been on time. Everything that is supposed to be hot is hot and everything cold is cold. I just wish there was a little more variety to the menu. However, it is wonderful not to have to stand in line for breakfast when you have an early tour.

Our HAL tour today was titled “Full day Amsterdam on Your Own.” The tour description was

This transfer may suit you if you would like to explore on your own. It consists of a motor coach ride from the ship in Rotterdam to central Amsterdam.

You will be dropped off at Museum Square, where the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the most famous shopping street are all located. The coach escort will provide you with city maps and information and will advise you of the pick-up time for the return journey. You will have approximately five hours to shop and explore on your own.

Notes: This tour is available only to guests whose cruise does not begin or end in Rotterdam. Guide service, taxi transfers, entrance fees and lunch are not included in the transfer price. It will be your responsibility to be at the pick-up point at the given return time. An English-speaking escort will be aboard the transfer motor coach to answer questions en route. Travel time to Amsterdam is approximately 1½ hours each way. Traffic can be unpredictable. The driver will do his/her best to keep moving safely. Your patience is greatly appreciated. Delays occasionally extend tour duration.

We enjoyed Amsterdam so much when we visited in 2019 that we wanted to see it again. We figured taking the HAL bus would be easier than trying to find and figure out the train station location and schedule in Rotterdam.

Our first clue that we had chosen unwisely was the stop and go traffic trying to get over the Swan Bridge. What should have been no more than a 5-minute drive took 20 minutes. Bicyclists were flying by us in their lane, not to mention the joggers that waved at us as they ran by us in their lane.

The escort tried to keep up a running commentary as we slowly made our way through the snarled traffic of Rotterdam. Once we finally made it out of Rotterdam, we were able to pick up some speed.

We passed by several towns – Delft – famous for its ceramics; the city of Hague where government including ambassadors and the Royal family reside, and Leiden – home of the oldest Netherlands university and the birthplace of Rembrandt. In the countryside, you could see the canals were higher than the farmland reminding you that a lot of the Netherlands is below sea level.

We briefly stopped for a photo of an old windmill. I was more interested in the nearby stork and the two tiny horses. We are going to see several windmills tomorrow.

As we got close to Amsterdam, the escort said we would be parking near the Amsterdam train station. Since the description said we would be parking in the museum district, people started complaining because they had tickets to museums and the museums were still under a time system. If you missed your time window, you didn’t get to tour.

He said he was sorry but there was no bus parking in that area and busses had to park at the train station area. He said it would be easy to catch a cab to the museums. As people didn’t count on that expense, they were not mollified. Poor communication between HAL and the people that run these bus shuttles.

We didn’t care where the bus parked because our plans didn’t include any tours. We were just going to wander back to the area of the Banks Mansion. It was the hotel where we stayed in 2019. But this time, we would take streets we hadn’t walked last time.

We assumed that the bus would leave Amsterdam later than published since we were so delayed getting out of Rotterdam. Wrong again. The bus was still going to leave at 3:00 which cut down the time spent in Amsterdam by an hour. More grumbling from the passengers. I just know some people headed directly to the Shore Excursions desk to register their feelings as soon as we got back.

Since the ship wasn’t leaving until tomorrow, there was no danger of missing it, but they were sticking to the departure schedule. Some people talked about just staying and catching a train back to Rotterdam. Since we had no idea what the train schedule was like, we opted to still take the bus back.

There was a lot of construction near the Amsterdam train station and the workers did not want the bus to stop there to let us off. The escort had some heated words with the workers until they relented. I am sure the escort did not want to hear any more grumbling from us if we had to go to a different spot.

Once we got off, the escort pointed out the cab area to those who needed it, and then walked the rest of us to the designated pick-up point at the Victoria Hotel. It was so crowded in this area because people were swarming in and out of the near-by train station – many dragging luggage with them. It was chaotic and claustrophobic. We were glad to start walking away from it.

With the help of Google maps, we meandered down different streets and along the canals. Periodically, we would stop at an outdoor cafe for a refreshment and to people watch.

Unfortunately, at one of these stops, Chuck left his backpack that contained all of his and some of my rain gear. When we realized he didn’t have it, we rushed back to the cafe to where we were sitting but it was gone. I assumed gone forever and had already started thinking about where we could replace the items.

However, fortune smiled upon us and the waitress who had waited on us came out of the restaurant, spotted us, and said that she found the backpack and it was behind the counter inside. Though she said she didn’t want any compensation, I pressed it upon her and thanked her profusely. While the stuff inside the backpack wasn’t valuable, replacing it would have been a very big hassle.

Soon it was close to 3:00 so we started back to the Victoria Hotel. I needed to use the restroom and didn’t want to use the one on the bus, so I went inside the hotel hoping for a lobby restroom. Of course, you couldn’t access it without a key. I went to the desk and told him we were meeting our tour group here and could I please use their restroom? Sometimes it pays to resemble people’s grandmothers because he said he was supposed to stay “no” but he would make an exception for me.

I assumed the ride back to the ship would be much smoother because the escort said they would take a slightly different route when we reached Rotterdam, avoiding the bridge area. I have got to quit assuming. We hadn’t made it that far down the highway when we came upon a 5-car accident that blocked both lanes of traffic. The cars were a mess, but we saw people walking around and there were no ambulances, so I hoped there were no injuries.

We were an hour late getting back to the ship but at least we got back safely.

This morning we had been let out off the ship directly into the bus parking lot from the gangway on level 2. However, to enter the ship this evening, we had to go around to the front of the building and enter like we were embarking – through security screening and up the ramp to the ship on level 3. There were a number of crew members and guests using the free WIFI in the port lobby area. I didn’t blame them. The ship’s Internet has been abysmal.

As it was now nearing 6:00 and we hadn’t eaten much since breakfast, we were definitely ready for dinner.

FLOWER from AMSTERDAM

Travel Trivia

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

The extensive distribution system including rail, roads, and waterways have earned Rotterdam the nicknames “Gateway to Europe” and “Gateway to the World.”

During World War I, the city was the world’s largest spy center because of Dutch neutrality and its strategic location in between Britain, Germany and German-occupied Belgium.

During World War II, the German army invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Adolf Hitler had hoped to conquer the country in just one day, but his forces met unexpectedly fierce resistance. The Dutch army was forced to capitulate on 15 May 1940, following the bombing of Rotterdam on 14 May. The city was almost completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe.

Rotterdam has the tallest residential building and tallest office building in the Netherlands.

Snert is the Rotterdam term for pea soup.

Rotterdam is also known as the “City of Architecture”. It has the highest number of architectural firms in the Netherlands.

*Trivia provided by Wikipedia and Holland America documents.

Tuesday, June 18 – Nature is the Teacher of the Arts

We had no booked plans for today so we did not set the alarm. I had considered a tour to the Netherlands countryside but all the tours were 8 and 9 hours long and I just couldn’t make myself book them. Not with a 9 to 10 hour flight tomorrow.

We got up around 8:00 and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. The woman behind the grill made us omelets. In addition to the omelet, I had a latte and fresh squeezed juice, bacon, and a thick slab of the brown bread I like so much.

It was another beautiful day we decided to walk to the zoo. Google maps showed it being about a 20 – 25 minute walk so we knew it would be about 45 minutes for us. Most of our walking had been in the central district. This walk took us over to the art district so we saw a number of galleries. It was a nice shady walk.

The zoo was nice with lots of shade and large green spaces that people were just sitting and enjoying the sun. I could see if you had a yearly zoo pass and worked near there that it would be a nice place to come on your lunch hour. We walked along the exhibits on the outer edge and then when we got back to the front, we walked the exhibits in the interior of the zoo. In addition to all of the animals, this zoo also had an aquarium, a butterfly atrium, a bird atrium, a planetarium, a reptile house, and an insect house. We skipped the last three. The only place I felt crowded was the aquarium.

Once we finished walking around the zoo, we started walking back to the central area so we could stop at the currency exchange place. We first stopped at a little café for lunch. We found a table in the shade outside across from a park and people watched. We split another order of bitterballen. We also ordered a club sandwich to split. Interesting thing about their club sandwich. It was served open-faced. The meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato were layered but there was no top slice of bread. We just cut it in half and I basically ate each layer separately. It was a large sandwich.

It took us longer to reach the exchange than Google predicted because we had to stop twice on canal bridges to wait until they raised/lowered them for the larger boats. But once we got there, Chuck got some Euros for his weird pound note. They didn’t give him any hassle per se but he felt he didn’t get a very good exchange rate. However, at this point, anything was better than nothing. We will save the Euros for our trip to the Mediterranean next year.

Once back to the hotel, we did some re-organizing of the luggage to meet airline requirements. We borrowed a luggage scale from the front desk and weighed the pieces that we would check. They were both under 50 pounds so we were good. We still need to do a better job of not taking so many clothes in the future.

We participated in the happy hour again and then walked up the street to one of the restaurants for dinner. Again, it was so shady, we sat outside. I had a shrimp and mango salad. The mango was so sweet. Chuck had chicken. We were too full for dessert.

I had purchased a round-trip ticket with the airport shuttle service so they would be arriving at 9:15 tomorrow for our 1:00 flight. We called it another early night. Tomorrow could be stressful.

I miss the towel animals. ☹

Amsterdam Zoo Trivia –

The zoo name is Artis, short for Natura Artis Magistra (Latin for “Nature is the teacher of the arts”),

It is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands and one of the oldest zoos of mainland Europe.

Artis has a library on the history of zoology and botany. It contains 20,000 books, 3000 manuscripts and 80,000 animal prints.

Monday, June 17 – Cruising the Canals

We had to leave the ship but our vacation is not quite over. We got up and got ready by 7:00 and were able to go to the main dining room for a leisurely breakfast. Typically, we have to go to the Lido and get something quick as we need to be off the ship and on the road. I like the leisurely breakfast better.

We sat with the Dutch couple again. His sister was picking them up. They only had an hour ride to be back home. They would be going to work tomorrow (better them than us). They have another HAL cruise booked for May to Norway. Maybe we’ll sail with them again one day.

At 7:30, HAL started calling the groups. HAL lets you stay in your stateroom if you want to do so until the time you are called. Most ships make you get out by at least 8:00 and wait in a lobby area. I like to stay in the room but I know the room stewards would like for you to get out so they can clean it before the next group gets on. We left the room and went to the Ocean Bar to wait when the group before us was called. It was only 10 or 15 minutes until our group number was called.

We presented our ship card to security one last time and left the ship. We started walking down the port corridor. I was surprised there was no custom line. There were people in strategic areas just pointing the way to the luggage pick-up. We found our two pieces of luggage easily and then were pointed to the door. We exited and were asked if we needed a taxi. I said we would need one to our hotel downtown. The porter signaled and a taxi pulled up.

Only hiccup in the taxi ride was that he started to go down the road that was next to our hotel only to find the road was blocked by machinery and the road was being dug up. He had to back up the narrow road. I don’t know why there wasn’t a sign barring any thru traffic. Weird. We watched a number of cars doing the same thing. Of course, they bicycles just barreled on through, riding on the sidewalk if they needed to do so.

I couldn’t believe how fast and easy the disembarkation was. We were at the hotel before 10:00. I knew the room wouldn’t be ready but they checked us in and held our luggage. Chuck had received a weird pound note while in Belfast. It didn’t look like our other pound notes. The ship wouldn’t change it so he wanted to go to a bank or a currency exchange place to try and get it changed to Euros. He was afraid he was going to be stuck with a 20 pound note souvenir.

The hotel clerk pointed us in the right direction and Google maps picked up the route. We went first to the exchange place and it didn’t open until 11:00. We went next to a bank and they wouldn’t exchange it.  At that point, instead of back-tracking to the currency exchange, we decided to walk to the canal tour company headquarters.

It was a beautiful day. Sunny and in the 70’s. We found the company and purchased our tickets. They took us through most of the canals and we listened to the pre-recorded commentary through headsets. Our tour boat was low enough to go through the canal openings with no trouble. We did get to see the bridges opened for some of the larger ships traveling the canals. I didn’t realize that the houseboats lined up and down the canals were permanent resident homes. They lease the spot and have to pay for utilities. It was interesting. The real estate in Amsterdam is very expensive so houseboats are an alternative.

The canal tour was nice and relaxing. It might be nice to take a river cruise one day.

After we finished with the tour, we ate at the restaurant next to the tour headquarters overlooking the canal. It was nice so we ate outside. We tried the bitterballen – round balls of deep-fried gravy and cheese. Really good but you had to be careful biting into them – the gravy with cheese was very hot. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and Chuck had a hamburger. We split an order of fries. They served the fries with a big scoop of mayo on the side. I tried dipping the fries in the mayo like the Dutch do but I did not care for it. They mayo didn’t taste like our mayo either. I got one small packet of ketchup and used it on the fries.

A Dutch couple sitting next to us, I guess heard our accents, and asked how we were enjoying Amsterdam. We told them how much we liked it. They lived outside Amsterdam and had just come in for the day because the weather was so nice and it had been so bad all week. We told them we had had nice weather in Amsterdam prior to the cruise also. They said we needed to come back more often if we were going to bring nice weather.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a souvenir place, so I could get an Amsterdam Christmas ornament. It is ball-shaped with tulips painted on it. We were tired so decided not to go back to the currency exchange but would try it tomorrow. As it was close to 4:00, our room was ready. This time the room was on the ground floor overlooking the street. I was worried that the street noise would keep us awake but we didn’t have an issue with it unless a police siren was on.

We went back to the lobby at 5:00 and participated in their wine and cheese happy hour. We were too full from the late lunch and the cheese for any dinner. We called it an early night.

No towel animal tonight. ☹

More Ship Trivia –

Average Ship Speed for this Trip: 12.7 knots

Miles Traveled for this Trip: 2628 miles

Eggs Consumed on this Trip: 33,600

Bridges as far as you can see
Bridge made famous in Diamonds Are Forever

Sunday, June 2 – Two Tours was Too Much

With the help of a couple of Tylenol PM to squelch the beginnings of a headache and neck pain, I slept hard until 5:30 this morning. The bed was very comfortable, no noise from the street, blackout curtains to make it dark, and a very cool 21 degrees Celsius made this exhausted woman happy.

Took me a few minutes to figure out the espresso machine in the room and the rain shower head for the shower. The breakfast area was very nice. A woman made us each an omelet. They had a machine that squeezed fresh orange juice. Had another area with various breads, cheeses, dried fish (salted herring?), salad, and fruit. Interesting items that people have for breakfast. We stayed with the traditional omelet, bacon, and fruit. The coffee machine ground beans for good-tasting coffee. The coffee cups were small so it took several cups.

I forgot to mention that we met several nice people sitting outside the café – a young couple from Milan, a couple from Israel, and another couple – he was from Amsterdam and she was from Scotland. He had very interesting tattoos all over his neck, shoulder, and on his bald head. I wanted to take a picture but I figured he would think it was rude.

Today was another beautiful day – sunny with a very nice breeze. Using Google map directions, we walked 30 minutes to the meet up point for our first walking tour of the day. Our guide was Robbert (spelling is correct) from The Dam Guides. I found the company on TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic. Surprisingly, we were the only people on the tour today so it was nice being able to have a conversation with him as we visited the various points of interest. We learned a lot of history about Amsterdam – how the city was formed, the different religious influences, the rise and fall of tuplip commodities, Napolean’s occupation, the Nazi occupation, and how Amsterdam has become known for its inclusiveness and tolerance. It was a 3 hour tour and even though we stayed in a few block area, we walked a lot from point to point. The tour ended near the Anne Frank house (tours are a 2 month waiting list) and Robbert pointed us in the general direction of the Banks Mansion.

I tried using Google maps but I couldn’t get my data to work and I had a weak WIFI signal. We were hungry so we found a sandwich shop and ate some lunch. I was frustrated with the data signal because I had signed up for TravelPass through Verizon which was supposed to allow me to use data when I didn’t have WIFI. Finally found an information store and used their WIFI to map us back to Banks Mansion. We followed the canal and were back in about 15 minutes.

I got on the phone and called Verizon. Embarrassingly enough, it was operator error. I failed to change a setting on the phone from “block roaming” to “allow roaming.” Once I had changed that setting, the data worked fine.

We rested and enjoyed the wine and cheese offerings again. I had signed us up for the Red Light District tour that evening beginning at 8:30. The meeting point was the same so we had another 30 minute walk to the spot. This tour was led by Mark, the owner of The Dam Guides. Again, we were the only 2 people. He has a law degree and also works as an advocate for the sex workers (the term they prefer to use). The Red Light District was much larger than I had anticipated. I thought it was one street. No, it was several streets. There were stores, live theaters, peep shows, and, of course, the main draw – women (or men dressed as women) in the windows. (Think Bourbon Street on steroids). Many of the women Mark knew because of the legal aid work he does. They waved to him. We never saw anyone in front of the windows negotiating a price with the women. Mark said had we been there on Saturday night, we would have seen a lot of buyers.

We learned that the sex workers are unionized and they do not own the shop windows where they work. They rent the space from a corporation that owns the buildings and the corporation provides security, etc. They work either the day shift or the night shift and the rent is based on which shift it is – night, of course, being the most expensive. Our guide said that the current government is working to reduce the Red Light District. Tour groups going through will be banned beginning January 2020 and some buildings are being bought for other uses. There was a strong police presence and Mark said there were also a number of police in plain clothes. In addition, there are a number of round structures on the sidewalk. They were walk-in urinals so men (and women) would not pee in the canal and possibly fall in. Eeew.

It was an interesting tour. In retrospect, we should have waited and done this tour when we got back from the cruise. Two walking tours in one day was too much. Had I known how big the RLD was, I definitely wouldn’t have booked it. The walk back in the dark was somewhat spooky although a number of restaurants were still open so the streets weren’t deserted. We had a rain shower earlier but we were inside and luckily it didn’t rain on us walking back. We would have taken a taxi but the taxi drivers said the distance was too short for them to bother. Really? No money is better than some money? Okay, we will keep our Euros.

We were back to the hotel a little after 11:00. Embarkation morning was going to come early.

Random Facts about Amsterdam:

  1. Dutch are the tallest people in the world. The height of Dutch man is around 6 ft and 5.6 ft for Dutch women.
  • The cleanest and safest tap water is located in Amsterdam. They have the best water in Europe.
  • Amsterdam is a city which is built on poles – eleven million poles. The city is a placed a meter or so below sea-level. The train station of Amsterdam Centraal alone needs 9000 poles to be supported whereas a normal house needs only 10. These wooden poles of 15-20 meters are placed in a sandy layer which is around 11 meters deep.
  • There are 1281 bridges in Amsterdam, 80 can be found within the canal ring. The most famous bridge is the Magere Brug or Skinny Bridge. When you’re standing on the corner of the Reguliersgracht and Herengracht you can see 15 bridges at the same time. You do have to stand on the side of the non-even numbers and count the bridge where you’re standing on as well.
  • Amsterdam has more canals than Venice and more bridges than Paris. The canals are not stagnant like the ones in Venice so they do not have a smell.
  • Most canal houses are very small at the entrance, the reason for this is that they only had to pay taxes for the size of the facade of the house. That’s why everyone built high and long houses. You can find the smallest facade in the world at Het Singel 7. It is only 1 meter wide and barely wider than the front door. As the house goes back it rapidly increases in width.
  • Amsterdam has the highest concentration of museums per square meter of all cities in the world.
  • Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the only airport in the world that has a museum.
  • You can find more than 4000 parakeets in the Vondelpark. They are not native to The Netherlands but were brought here as pets. A few escaped and decided that they liked the parks of Amsterdam.
Napoleon’s Castle – Still Used Today
Houses are Crooked
All lampposts have crowns.
Robbert and Chuck admiring the painting while Goliath looks on.
Buildings too narrow to move furniture inside. Must use outside pulleys. Look at top of middle building
Re house is narrowest house in Amsterdam. Occupied by 2 adults and 3 dogs.
Statue honoring sex workers.
One of the tamer establishments. (Pictures of women in windows prohibited- union rules).

Friday, May 31 & Saturday, June 1 – Travel Day(s) from Hell

Don’t think I have ever experienced pre-cruise travel days as stressful as yesterday and today. If the hotel had not had our reservations, it would have been the trifecta in bad luck. However, the hotel is great but I digress.

Going back to Thursday night. I was shutting down the computer once I had finished the first day travel blog and was hoping to get a good night’s sleep before our trip began the next day. The time was 9 pm-ish. I looked up and saw our cat Pumpkin on the back deck sniffing the grill cover. I jumped up almost spilling the laptop to the floor, yelling “there’s Pumpkin, there’s Pumpkin.” Why all the commotion over a cat. Well, Thursday was day 11 that Pumpkin had been gone and presumed dead. We had not seen him since 9:30 pm on a Sunday evening. We had stopped calling for him throughout the day, scouring the neighborhood, leaving the garage door cracked for him to come in, etc. I had stored away his toys and cat tree and just that day had given is uneaten catfood to some neighbors who feed strays. We were overjoyed to have him home. He was thin but appeared unhurt.

But, I had a lot to do. I contacted the cat sitter again so she could take care of him while we are gone. Friday morning, we had to go to Walmart to stock up on food and litter for him. Hated to have to leave him on Friday after just getting him back but it would have been so much worse if he had showed up on Friday night and there would have been no one to welcome him back and he would have had no access to food or water.

We got to Groome’s transportation in East Ridge at 2:30 for the 3:00 shuttle. I started to have a bad feeling about Friday afternoon and getting to the Atlanta airport. I started wishing I had chosen the 2:00 shuttle instead of their recommended 3:00. This is the first flight we have taken in many years that was late at night. Typically, we have taken the shuttle the day before, spent the night at an airport hotel, and flown out early the next day. Nice and easy.

My fears were answered when the HOV lane shut down right before the downtown connector. The driver’s GPS signaled that he should get off the interstate and go through downtown. That, too, was a nightmare as we caught all the downtown office people getting off work and hit every red light. It was so frustrating to see that we were only 10 miles to the airport but we couldn’t get there. All the people on the shuttle had international flights except 1 woman whose Houston flight was to leave at 6:15. We got to domestic at 5:40. I wonder if she made her plane.

We got to the International terminal at 6:00. Two hours before the flight was to leave instead of the 3 that the airport recommends. And, boarding was to start at 7:00. My stomach was in knots by now. I thought we could breeze through security because we has TSA precheck. Nope. They closed at 5:30? Why? People fly all night long. They need that line. All the precheck got us was we didn’t have to take our shoes off and could keep the liquids in the bag. The security line was huge.

Finally found our gate and we shoved down a McDonald’s meal and then there was the announcement that the plane was still being serviced so we would start boarding at 7:30. Also, my Delta App showed Chuck’s bag was on the plane, mine was still “processing.” OMG, we put them on the conveyor at the same time. What is happening?

Finally got to board and we took off about 8:30. We were in Delta Comfort which gave us a little more leg room. I didn’t mind the seats but if I had a do-over I would have gotten a little farther back in Comfort. The lights of the galley were annoying. They did provide food, a sleep kit – pillow, blanket, sleep mask, and ear plugs. All came in handy. We both dozed on and off all night. We were woken up at 3:00 am for a continental breakfast because we were going to be make our landing into Amsterdam which is 6 hours ahead so it was 9:00 am there.

Disembarked the plane at 10:30. Followed the signs to baggage claim. However, we were stopped by a large crowd that had gathered in the area that fed into passport control. There was no lines, nobody telling anyone what was happening. It was a huge mess. I could finally see a sign that said it was very busy downstairs (passport control) so they were only letting a few at a time go – mostly European passport holders who could use self-assist kiosks. Finally, we made it to the front of the mob when they finally said everyone had to follow them to a different gate and use a different set of passport controls. Nightmare.

Took an hour to finally get through having our passport stamped and now we had to keep walking for baggage claim. Of course, now we are in terminals B and C and our luggage arrived at terminal D. Finally had to ask an airport official what carousel had our bags because we didn’t even see Atlanta listed. Once we finally made it to Carousel 17 in the terminal D area (where we should have been able to go through passport control), I could see very few bags still going round and round. I saw Chuck’s bag and we got it. Mine – nope. I sweated out 5 or 6 more minutes and then I saw mine. Hooray!

Of course, we are now one hour late for our shuttle. I did have an email that said if we were late just to let the organizer know and they would put us on another one. We were allowed to board one of the two 12:30 shuttles. The driver was very frustrated with the traffic. Seems Amsterdam does all its roadwork on the weekends and only in the Summer. Highway traffic was snarled so he had to take the backroads (Atlanta all over again) with bicycles, small cars, and scooters zooming around us. I did find out that “shit” is pronounced the same in both Dutch and English as our driver used it many times.

The Banks Mansion is in Amsterdam Centrum which is downtown across from the canal. Beautiful day with people walking and bicyclists everywhere. At that point, I would not have been surprised if the hotel had lost our reservation. But, we were fine and the room was ready. So thankful to drop everything off in the room and brush my teeth.

The room is small as compared to most American hotel rooms but it is very nice. It overlooks the canal so I watched the canal tours for a while. The lounge area has a complimentary bar with beer, sodas, and water. The room’s mini-bar is also complimentary.

We both were extremely tired but knew we had to keep going to orient ourselves to the new time. We walked up and down the streets around the hotel mostly people-watching. So many people. People don’t wear bicycle helmets. Not even the small children who are riding in baskets on the bikes. Did I mention those bicyclists just fly down the road ringing their bells to make people get out of their way? Geez.

Came back to the hotel a little after 4 and had their complimentary wine and cheese offerings. They even offered bowls of Pumpkin soup although I am not sure how it goes with wine and cheese. Nevertheless, it was good. We spent a good amount of time talking to a very nice couple celebrating their 50th anniversary with time in Lisbon, Amsterdam, and Paris. They were from Florida.

I came up to the room and pressed my clothes for tomorrow and then we went wandering again. Sat outside a café and people-watched. Finally, at 8:00 Amsterdam time we came back to the room to go to bed. Chuck is already asleep as I am finishing up.

Breakfast is from 7 – 10 in the morning and we need to leave here no later than 9:45 to meet our guide who will give us a walking tour of Amsterdam tomorrow. I hope the bed sleeps as comfortable as it feels.

A very stressful 2 days but I am hoping for better days in the weeks to come.

Hustle and Bustle of Amsterdam
Taking it Easy on the Canal
Wine and Cheese to Help Take the Stress Away