Wednesday
October 12 and Thursday October 13, 2016:
Today (Wednesday), we
“slept in” till 7:30 am. The baggage had
to be put out the door at 8:00 am, and we had breakfast at 8:00 am. At 9:00 am, we then departed for a Rhine
River cruise! The hotel (NH Bingen) faces
the Rhine River and the view is absolutely outstanding. It looks even better in the early morning
light. After the cruise is over, we then
continue on our journey towards Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The cruise down the
Rhine River was one of the best things we’ve ever done on this tour! The boat was large enough and very comfortable
for us; there weren’t many other people on the boat with us; the weather,
though not very sunny, was acceptable enough; the boat ride itself was very
smooth; and, we got a free cup of coffee (some of best I’ve tasted in a while)
and a nice-tasting piece of cake – part of this cruise package provided by
Globus. Thank you, Globus! We appreciate your generosity.
After the cruise was
over, about an hour and a half later, we left for Amsterdam. Our baggage had already been loaded onto the
bus for us and our hand baggage was there too.
The rest of the day was spent largely driving. That’s where Vincenzo’s driving skill on
these long treks was so important. We
all have to thank him for being such a wonderful and careful driver and making
our tour so great. Thank you, Vincenzo
for your great driving skills and for being such a wonderful guy.
We stopped once in the
morning for a quick bathroom break, then later for lunch. But, our lunch “hour” quality and quantity
were reduced by the ultra-slow service of the food place, which meant we only
had a few minutes left to eat. The rest
of the time there was spent making sure we had our bathroom break, as
well. We’ve almost accepted it as a fact
of life when there are thirty or more people on a tour who all need to eat in a
relatively short period of time.
The afternoon brought
one quicker bathroom break for those who needed it, or whoever just wanted to
stretch their legs for a few minutes.
The washroom was a simple one – two stalls each for men and women, in
separate rooms. I almost walked in on
one of the women, Vicky, sitting on the can and I apologized profusely to her for
doing that. She hadn’t locked the stall
door when she went inside it to use the toilet.
The rest of the
afternoon was spent driving to our final destination of the day and of the tour
– Amsterdam, Netherlands. A final
excursion, of which I decided to become a participant today, was the walking
tour through Old Amsterdam’s Red Light District. I wanted to see if I remembered anything from
thirty-five years ago. As it happens,
some of it was familiar, but there were enough differences in Amsterdam as a
whole that it didn’t matter. That was a
terrific excursion! Afterward, we came
back to our hotel, the Roommate Aitana Hotel, and had dinner together there. It was a lovely dinner that I enjoyed.
Tomorrow morning
(Thursday), we have to wake up early (for me, 6:15 am), have breakfast at 7:00
am, but no baggage has to be put out the door as we are staying in Amsterdam
for two nights. Then, we leave for the
Canal Cruise at 8:00 am. This is supposed
to be a wonderful cruise through the natural canals of Amsterdam – one that I
also took part in thirty-five years ago.
But of course, things change.
We’ll see how this experience compares with that other one so long ago.
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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