Sep 8, 2019 - September 7 - Saturday. Maastricht, Netherlands

September 7, Saturday It rained in the night, but the morning was simply overcast. We were hoping for dry weather because today we were going to Maastricht in the Netherlands to pick up our friend Frances from the train station. Frances was our neighbour when Marilynn, my cousin Darlene and I did a house exchange to Buitenpost in the Netherlands. She and her husband Piet were very good to us, taking us places and recommending things to do. We were glad that she was willing to take the five hour train ride in order to have a reunion. Our...

Sep 4, 2019 - Kinderdijk

In the wee hours, we passed through a couple of locks and were docked in Kinderdijk when we got up. After breakfast in the dining room, we met with our group for the walking tour; a local man named Kees ("case") was our guide. He was quite informative and injected both some Dutch and some humor. We toured a windmill after learning about water management and the windmills' role in that, including the old-school mechanics and materials. A miller must be licensed and live in the mill with his family. (There are only three female millers in...

Sep 3, 2019 - Joining the Cruise

After another good night (we recommend the hotel), I had breakfast. We packed, sent our bags ahead as instructed, checked out, and relaxed in the lobby until the bus to the dock was ready. As we boarded, we were offered lemon-scented towels to freshen up. Lunch was being served in the Aquavit Lounge while our staterooms were cleaned.

Sep 2, 2019 - A Day in Amsterdam

We had great sleep and woke to the TV alarm we had set. We enjoyed the included hotel breakfast buffet. We purchased our 24-hour tram pass and were dropped near the Westerkirk, around the corner from Anne Frank's hiding place. (Tickets are only available online and I purchased ours two months prior.) The tour was very informative, even for someone who has read a lot prior; an audio tour was included. It was not as heart-wrenching as I expected. Notable were the narrow, steep stairs and the postcards and celeb photos Anne glued onto the...

Sep 1, 2019 - Arrival in Amsterdam

We arrived at Hotel Movenpick, Amsterdam about 11:00 a.m., via Viking Hotel shuttle. Our room had been upgraded to top floor, with a great view of river IJ. It bustles with water taxis, ferries, and canal tour boats, as well as touring longships. We had lunch at 4,33 which is just around the corner from our hotel. (Sampler of mushroom soup, Dudok croquette, egg salad....Serrano ham w/tomato tapenade) I was not feeling well, and took a nap. We weren't able to do any sightseeing that day. Jet lag was pretty bad. We had dinner at Silk in the...

Aug 22, 2019 - Amsterdam - Day 2

We're trying to figure out downloading pix from our cameras. In the meantime we used our tablet this evening. Today we took a tour of the palace and strolled around until lunchtime. After that we meandered through the streets and visited a few stores. We went back to our room for a snooze. We decided on Thai for dinner. The pictures posted are pre/post dinner.

Aug 21, 2019 - Amsterdam, day 1

We left Chicago on Tuesday afternoon about 40 minutes late but arrived in Amsterdam 30 minutes early. We arrived on Wednesday morning. A big jump in time that we`ll gladly get back when we fly home. I had pre-arranged a taxi pickup at the Amsterdam airport. A good decision. The driver met us at baggage claim and helped us with our luggage. Our hotel is in the heart of the city. Our room wasn't quite ready so we checked our bags and walked to a local restaurant that was suggested by the concierge. We had a lite but tasty lunch. After an...

Jun 21, 2019 - Addendum

Last night as we wandered the city of Harlingen, we were approached by a curious young lady who led us to Le Tjollen, a seafood restaurant. She kept up a monologue switching from English to Dutch to other languages always assuring us we would like the food....especially the fish stew. We had seen the restaurant the previous evening filled to overflowing with a lineup. So Gord tried the fish stew...mostly salt cod but good and I tried the Norwegian lobster...5 very small crayfish...I doubt they had ever heard of Norway...but okay. From here...

Jun 20, 2019 - Roskilde, Hillerod, Bad Nieuweschans, Leeuwarden, Harlingen

We spent the evening wandering around the old historic center of Roskilde. We had discovered our hotel was right in the middle of the historical of the city. It was too late to enter the sights but we were able to at least see them. We found the ruins of St. Lawrence Church with its fountain and gardens. Further along we found an open square with a huge old yellow building. We think that it with its 3 large urns was the Lutzhofts Merchant House. Off to one side was a walled garden with a red bricked conference center ....At this point we...

Jun 15, 2019 - Kinderdijk

Saturday, June 15 Today we visited the Kinderdijk windmills. These windmills were built before electricity was born; their purpose was solely to pump water. The watermills were needed because the Dutch wanted land. The Dutch added land to their nation by reclaiming it from the sea. First they built dikes around an area, and then they started pumping the water out. Most of the land they reclaimed, however, was peat. So as they pumped the sea water out, the land sank. Which let more water in. So they had to pump more water out. And they...

Jun 14, 2019 - More Amsterdam

When we got up, the weather was gray but dry. After another great buffet breakfast, we packed our bags and took them down for transfer to the ship. We checked out and bought tickets for a canal cruise. At which point it started pouring! :-( So we pulled our raincoats out of our suitcases. After a little, it let up, so we walked over to the canal cruise location. Turns out there are many companies doing these canal cruises, so it took a while to find the right place. By the time we boarded it had quit raining. The 1-hour cruise showed us...

Jun 13, 2019 - Busy day

I finally got to sleep after 5:30 pm, and woke up when Larry got up at 7:30 am. We went to the breakfast buffet, which was huge, with a large selection of food and beverages and (according to Larry) chocolate muffins to die for. At 9:30 we met in the lobby for a Viking walking tour of the city. We had voice devices, so we could hear our guide even if we weren't very close. Nice. It was a good 2 hour tour. Part of it was in the area we had explored last night. It included history, architecture, as well as a general intro to the city. It...