Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Saturday 20th.
My plan for the last morning in Amsterdam was to do some window shopping/just looking around but the morning dawned with very heavy rain, so down to breakfast and then back to the room to finish packing, finally the clouds broke, the sun came out and the rain all dried up. So off I went just wandering aimlessly around, finally coming across a street market that went on and on, tent after tent selling only plants and winter bulbs, my regret was that I was unable to buy any to take back to Australia, but I did find a Christmas shop that was to die for and yes I did get some Christmas ornaments after all it is not very far away and you can never have too many.
Finally making my way back to the hotel and completing check out and waited for the driver to take us to the River Boat, boarding the boat was effortless and while waiting for our luggage to be delivered to our room we had welcome drinks and eats. Our cabin is spacious with an outside balcony and inside, a scection with two lounge chairs to sit by the window to watch the scenery go by if the weather turns nasty, bathroom is also very generous more than I expected.
The boat only carries about 160 passengers , has a top deck with a pool/spa and plenty of seating, a main lounge area that has all day food provided, bar and continual coffee and tea, two restaurants, one down stairs and then on the top floor a fine dining room which only seats 24 and this always consists of a 5 course dinner, this is where we had our first meal and the food was magnificent, at the end of the night all I wanted to do was go to bed
Sunday 21st
As the boat is still tied up in Amsterdam this is the first day of our guided tours (which is totally optional) upon arrival we received a choice of 3 options and we picked to go see a dutch village in the countryside called Zaanse Schans, this is a living working community that dates back to the 18th century and this has been relocated piece by piece and placed in a cluster since 1961 to preserve the cultural and industrial heritage of the region, we were shown how clogs were made both now and then, visited a cheese making house and the idea was also to taste the cheese but this turned out to be a nightmare as by this time other tour buses and people had arrived and became too crowded so we got out of there fast and just wandered around the village looking at houses, museums, and windmills. Leaving the village we had about an hours drive through the countryside as by now the river boat had left Amsterdam and was now in the river waterways and at one point we meet up and rejoin the ship, once on board, the ship then entered the first of the many locks, this was fascinating to watch the boat go through the lock, stop and the water flow through and the boat rises with the rising water level and then the gates open and the boat leaves the lock.
Tonight was the Captains welcome dinner and during the meal we left the Netherlands and entered Germany.
- comments
Michele Sounds like you're having a wonderful time Bev. How's Pete enjoying it? Clog making is fascinating, did you buy a pair? I remember watching the boats pass through the locks on a number of occassions while l was there. It was awesome! Reading your blog puts me right back there......LOVE IT!!
Laurel Sounds like you are having a lovely time xx