Jul 3, 2018 - Where we started....

July 3 Tuesday Had #8 luggage tags which got us off the ship about 730am. Got through immigration. Played the great luggage hunt game, found a kid with a a baggage rollee, hailed a cab, and we were off to the airport. The cab was 80 euros and a 35 minute ride. Think we got ripped off but too late now. The $64 fee from ship looks like a good deal NOW, 15 minutes waiting for a check in machine, 20 minutes waiting to check our bags, 32 minutes to go through security ,where all four of our carry-ons needed to be gone through by hand. Dick had...

Jun 21, 2018 - Medicare, Final Bill, $10 t-shirts

June 21, Wednesday We are back where we started in Amsterdam. Must get our new sea cards from guest services, settle up our onboard bill, go to immigration at 9am, and special dinner for those staying aboard. Got our new cards in 10 minutes, our on board bill was a credit balance of $343. I won $150 playing Bingo and the next cruise drawing for $300. So we got money refunded. Tomorrow I can put it towards our UK ship board expenses, which will consist of water, a 12 pack of Diet Coke, and bingo possibly more of those $10 t shirts we have...

Jun 9, 2018 - The Ship of Fools

June 9 We made it onto the ship, Brilliance of The Seas, without incident. Went to dining room manager to have our tables & time changed so we could all eat together. Luggage arrived, were happy to have air conditioning, and not an open window.The bathroom door does not get hit by the room door. Things are good. Went to dining room for first meal. Looked for our table 305. Met a nice couple from Nebraska, at the table for 8. Wondered why Mary didn’t show up for supper. Don went and looked for her. We decided she must still be napping....

Jun 8, 2018 - The Bus of No Return

Day 6 Today at 830am we boarded a bus to tour Zaandam. Arriving in Zaandam we were an hour behind schedule because of Friday morning traffic. It was raining and off we walked to see the historic windmills. These windmills sawed wood, turned plants to dye, crushed everything from nuts to mustard seed, and could produce oil, and acted as pumping stations. If a world wide power outage the Dutch would still survive. Tulips are not indigenous to the Netherlands. They were brought in from the Middle East. In Marken we watched a demo on how...

Jun 8, 2018 - Delft, Maastricht

The last two days have been busy in the hotel. There is an international rugby tournament this weekend. We have met players from Hong Kong...male and female...the Chech Republic, and a team in blue. The breakfast room was crowded. We had a nice drive through a part of Amsterdam we hadn't seen on our way to the motorway on our way to Delft. It was cool and cloudy. Comfortable. In no time at all, it seemed, we were on a ring road around The Hague and in Delft. The Hague looked like a big busy city. Delft was smaller. Parking was easy to...

Jun 7, 2018 - The Pancake Morning

Thursday June 7 Oh happy day. We all slept 10 hours and are ready to head out of the hotel in search of Breakfast. For some reason, unknown to me, we went to a place called the American Pancake House. The waitress promptly told us what the difference was between American & Dutch pancakes. Dutch pancakes are more like crepes and American are thick and stacked. The group had picked a variety between the two. My Dutch was almost 15 “ across thin and naked, ready for syrup which as close as we could tell was sorghum. Dick was the only one who...

Jun 7, 2018 - Zaans Schans, Edam

Today we did a day trip north from Amsterdam. First we drove the short distance to Zaans Schans to a windmill museum. At one time 1000 windmills worked here. But they dwindled to 20 after the Age of Steam by 1920. On 17 March 1925 De Zaansche Molen was founded to preserve the mills for future generations to see. What we found here is a delightful old village from times gone by, 13 working windmills, each with a name, a large grassland, a few canals and volunteers. And although educational, definitely touristy. Everything costs....10 € to...

Jun 6, 2018 - Amsterdam

So today we took tram #17 to Central Station. Amsterdam is a city of almost 900,000 people. There are lots of streets as well as canals. There are many apartment buildings but as one gets closer to the center, there are fewer. There are more single buiildings close together....all with gables. Some gables are rounded, some are stepped, some are square. There is little space between the buildings. Streets are narrower and canals closer together and many canals are crescent-shaped. First we took a 1 hour canal cruise. Not once did we repeat a...

Jun 5, 2018 - Het Loo, Apeldoorn

As Keukenhof Gardens are closed...tulips are finished.....we decided to go back to Apeldoorn to see King William III and Queen Mary of Orange's Garden. Yes...Gord went Back! This was not far, only 40 kms. Last year we watched a special on this garden. It was modelled after Versailles but is a much smaller version....and it is definitely Dutch. The palace is undergoing major restoration and the Queen's Garden is piles of dirt but the King's Garden, the Upper and Lower Gardens were amazing. First we found out that what I thought was the...

Jun 4, 2018 - Pack Mule Journey

Today we were dropped off at the Orlando airport by a driver who claims to live in a place with no electricity or water. Has a new IPhone the he charges on the car battery . Water is produced by the cystrand mention of gathering rain water. Must stay off the grid because of his Navy intelligence clearance. At the airport we got TSA check approval and went through the short line. Dick for the first time did NOT get searched, puffed, or wanded. I had my carry on run through security twice and then searched. The item they were concerned about...

Jun 4, 2018 - Utrecht

We left Slaphurst and drove via motorways to Apeldoorn but Het Loo was closed so we drove through the park and left. We went to Utrecht. Our first impression of this university town was unfavorable. It was expensive to park....over 4 € per hour...and cigarette butts, tissues, paper towels, leaves etc were everywhere. Some of the buildings and statues were neat. Signs were few and far between. Eventually we found the tourist info bureau, got some good directions, and found a place to stay. It is clean, in a residential part of town and a...

Jun 3, 2018 - Bremerhaven

Bremen is a city of over 560,000 people. The Old Town is on an artificial island with water all around. This a.m. we drove north to Bremerhaven on A27 turning off to drive into Bremerhaven...a little city with an old heart and lots of modern buildings. We headed to the German Immigration/emmigration Building. It is now an interactive museum. We took on the persona of a character and followed them through their voyage to United States. Gord was Manfred Schnetzer and I was Hertha Nathorff. We learned about their successful lives in Germany...