The prep
I must admit, Iceland has never been on my radar. I like warm weather. Why would I go to a cold climate in the summer. It never made sense to me. However, being the guy I am, and having dragged my spouse to Africa not once but twice, I figured I owed it to her. Africa is the one trip that keeps on giving, for me at least. Long after returning from Zambia and Botswana last year, I spent months creating my trip photo album, not once but twice. I wanted the large size I had been using, but the company I use would only print in the smaller sized books for within Canada. I learned this after having made my book. I then went to their American site, which did do larger book prints, and recreated the whole book over again. The book was over 250 pages because it was an incredible trip. Even after spending so many hours pouring over photos for the book, I still love going over my photos, creating files of my favourite wildlife shots, cataloging the different animals and birds I had photographed, etc. I relive that trip over and over. I can't say other trips have had the same effect on me, and I have my doubts that Iceland will. However, after having booked this because of a cruise deal offered last year, I am looking forward to it now.
This was to be a trip with just my spouse, but soon other family members joined on. We booked the cruise from Amsterdam to Iceland, via Norway and returning along the United Kingdom east coast. Being Dutch, we look forward to returning to our roots in The Netherlands, and, having missed out on a planned trip through Europe a few years ago because of COVID-19, we decided to add a short trip down the mid Rhine River in Germany, a stretch which features quaint little towns and many old castles. Therefore, after settling in Utrecht for several days, (Amsterdam was too pricey, especially during Gay Pride Days), we planned to do a few family visits before boarding our ship in Amsterdam, a short train ride away. After the 14 day trip, we (I) planned to take the train to a small town in Germany where we would spend the night, and then the next day take the local ferry, which crisscrosses the river from town to town. This would allow us to not only experience this beautiful stretch of river on the water, but get off wherever we want to explore a town or visit a castle. (That was the theory anyway.) We would stay in a beautiful old town beside a castle for one night before taking the train to Cologne for a day, and then returning to Utrecht for a few more days. This was significantly less expensive than the boat cruises offered by the big cruise companies. This required three separate reservations at the hotel in Utrecht, accommodations at either end of the Rhine stretch, and a night in Cologne. With three months to go, all accommodations were booked and more recently all the trains we would need were booked as well.
With less than two weeks to go, it is now time to begin seriously considering what clothes to bring. Europe could be hot. I have read many warnings to bring warm clothes for Iceland, especially when going on a whale watching and puffin search by Reykjavik. Maybe it won't be so cold. A volcano blew up 30 kilometers from the capital yesterday, and molten hot lava was flowing. This could be a challenge.
Stay tuned for the reports from Utrecht in a few weeks.
The Action
July 25 & 26
After some last minute work on booking reservations for restaurants on the ship that we had credits for, we were ready to go. Tuesday, July 25 snuck up on us and there are always those highly important jobs that need to be done at the last minute, such as making sure the house is clean just incase we get a burglar when we are gone, he might think we were slobs. Of course, if we get robbed and he, or she is tired we want to make sure the bed sheets are crisp and clean and what would people say if the robber stole our car and it was not spotless? There were also minor jobs like giving plants water, etc.
We were up at 5AM for our 10AM flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam, via Toronto. Despite all the recent news reports about delays and cancellations at the airports because of staffing issues, things went very smoothly. Our check-in was faster than ever and our flight to Toronto left a few minutes early. It even arrived in Toronto early. The same was true with flying to Amsterdam. The only thing was that it left us with a longer layover. Staffing may have been an issue in Toronto, but this fairly mediocre airport was busy, and dirty. Garbage cans were full and the washrooms were disgustingly dirty. We had booked an aisle and a window seat on both flights hoping that the middle seat might be open. No such luck. Both flights were fully booked. The woman in the middle on the longer flight to Amsterdam exceeded the width perimeters and so I got to sit thigh to thigh with her. She did spend some time slumped asleep in my direction, reducing my space further. I got little sleep despite getting only four hours sleep Monday night. Apparently though, while it felt like I did not sleep at all on the flight, while I was leaning against the window with my eyes closed, my glasses were quite askew like I might have gone on a little trip for a while.
The reason I like traveling is that you learn so much. Take our arrival in Amsterdam. We had booked a hotel in Utrecht, a beautiful little city a 30 minute train ride away. After picking up our luggage and proceeding to the adjoining train station, I had to figure out how the brand new payment system worked, where you can pay by credit cards with chips in them much like the local sky train in Vancouver. To get to the numerous rail lines and trains, you had to go down one of a number of escalators leading to the specific track you needed. I didn't know if I had to tap in before going down the escalator or if you did it on the train itself. We went down the escalator and asked a fellow waiting by the tracks. He said I needed to go back upstairs and tap in there. I should go to the ticket attendant. I went up and left my spouse with this man. I quickly found the yellow post where you tap in, and after confirming with an attendant nearby, I tapped us in and returned. I caught the tail end of this man's account of how he breeds german shepherds, which are now in Thailand while he is away, and how he wants to get a husky. He suggested I should go do the tap in before our train arrived, unaware that I had left and done this while he had my wife cornered. Somehow the discussion morphed into healthy living and good diets. He admitted he was not a doctor but relies on Wikipedia. He asked if we consumed alcohol, and we admitted we enjoy our wine, although I somehow did not mention we had bought the drink package for our upcoming cruise. He proceeded to explain the purpose of the liver and that anything more than one drink once a month was too much. He begged my wife to avoid alcohol and just look forward to that one reward at the end of the month. She explained that she enjoyed having a drink and was chastised for not thinking properly. Very education, but we were also very relieved to have our train arrive. Everything else went smoothly. The weather was off and on, with patches of blue sky and warm weather followed by short periods of wind gusts that felt very cold. Oh, to wear a jacket or not!
For lunch we enjoyed our first kroketten at a little restaurant in the large mall where our hotel was located, across the street from the main train station. We spent a few hours roaming the old town of Utrecht, with its quaint narrow streets with old buildings, and many eating patios. The old church steeple we enjoyed on previous visits was fully entombed in scaffolding and barely in the lounge area visible. After meeting up with our family members who were doing this trip with us but took a later flight, we went to our rooms to relax before dinner. We lied on our bed and within a few minutes, were both sound asleep. Getting up for dinner was difficult. We returned to the old section of town and had a light dinner with drinks on a patio. Unlike previous visits to Europe, when credit cards were discouraged and you could have problems if you had no cash, this time we saw many places advertising that the accepted "pins" only for payment. That included credit cards with chips built in.
After dinner we had a rousing get-together in the lounge area of our hotel as each person started to fade. By 10PM it was over.
July 27
Despite the lack of sleep the first two days, I slept like a log last night, until 5AM. Then I was awake until finally deciding to get up at 6:00. Today was a rainy day. This was very unfortunate. We had packed on the basis that we would have several days of summer weather where shorts and sandals would be appropriate, before having to don warm clothes for Norway and Iceland. I don't want to get my long pants dirty before heading north.
After an excellent breakfast, which was included in hotel price, we relaxed for a few hours before I accompanied my siblings to go visit my 94 year old aunt. Due to detours because of track maintenance issues, we took 1.5 hours to get there, a distance of only 57 km. The tap in and out using Visa worked well. We spent a few hours with my aunt. We walked back to the Harderwijk train station, 10 minutes or so away and got caught in a rain shower. Despite it now being rush hour, we managed to find seats on all three legs of the trip back to Utrecht. We arrived back to a happy hour that was in full swing by the three who did not go with us to Harderwijk. There was wine and various snacks in our room, and dinner was delayed until 7 PM, when we went to eat in the hotel. Some ordered bitterballs, which the menu described as 8 balls. In fact, each got 10 balls. All but two of them got eaten. Tomorrow is another visiting day, but this time with my spouse's relatives and hopefully it will be dry and warm.
July 28
I was up at 6:00 today, but only after lying awake for an hour and a half. The sky was overcast and it had rained again, with a forecast of a few showers today. However, given the need to preserve my cool climate clothes for Norway and Iceland, I took a leap of faith and wore shorts and sandals. After another great buffet breakfast, we were off. Myself, my spouse and her sister, for a visit to my wife's cousin and her friend, Corry and Jetje in Berlicum, near S'Hertogenbosch, or Den Bosch as it was generally called. The train connection went well except we missed our bus by a few minutes. We hung around the train station for 50 minutes before catching the bus to Berlicum. The bus also used the tap on-tap off system so payment was easy. We spent the day there until heading back to Den Bosch at 3PM. We wandered around the centrum and explored the old cathedral before heading home. The temperature was very comfortable for shorts, and in the afternoon the sun poked out and it became warm. The shorts were a good call! Besides the three of us, the rest of the family had gone to visit a friend for dinner in Soest, so we stayed at the hotel for dinner. For the record, I ordered a crispy chicken salad because I wanted something light after the lunch and delicious "Bosche Bol" in Berlicum. (Den Bosch is home to Jan De Groot's Bakery and this chocolate covered cream puff which has the most wonderful, rich dark chocolate ever made.) Ordering salad for a meal happened once before many years ago in my working days. It was a good day, but of course there is always the pressure in Berlicum that they want you to come back, especially after hearing we would be in Utrecht for a few days after our cruise. We are now pros with the train and bus travel. We nonchalantly pass our Visa card over the card reader without even looking down, as if we have been doing this for our whole lives. I even had a backpack where I had my camera in, so I looked like a local rather than a tourist. Sometimes we almost forget we are in Holland with all the English we hear spoken around us.
July 29
After an uneventful 28 minute train ride to Amsterdam Centraal station, we found our way to the route Google mapped out for walking to our cruise ship, The Rotterdam, which we could see docked. It was a 20 minute walk made more difficult with some of the cobble stone. The terminal was surprisingly quiet. We arrived at 12:15.Checking in went so smoothly that we were done in no time at all. We had booked a room on the first deck along with my sister and BIL. Our other sister and sister-in-law had booked a balcony suite. When my BIL checked in, they learned they had been upgraded as a gift from (?). We were now in the bowels of the ship alone. Our room was great however. It was a family suite with a large window, had a sofa bed plus bunkbed in the ceiling, lots of space, two bathrooms, one with just a shower and sink, and so much closet space we didn’t use it all. My BIL had requested wedges be placed under his mattress so he could sleep partially upright. He also used a cane. This may have caused the upgrade to a handicap suite with large balcony, large seating area and bathroom which could accommodate a wheelchair. I must admit to a tinge of jealousy when I heard they had been upgraded when I had done almost all the work on planning this trip, including excursions, etc. However we were quite satisfied.
Part of the attraction of this cruise was the perks we received including a drink package, money for excursions, onboard credits, free wi fi, and tips and gratuities covered. Though we would never come close to our daily drink limit it was nice not having to think about it. We began our cruise with krokets from the Dutch Cafe. Clearly the staff was new because when ordering, we had to point to every item on the menu on the wall. A nap was soon in order before we joined the sail away party on the Lido deck as we sailed through the Amsterdam harbour and to a lock before sailing out into the North Sea. Seeing the industrial side of the city gave a new perspective. We pre-booked dinner at The Tamarind, a specialty dinner which was part of our package. It was Asian. I had crusted barramundi, a white fish which was very good. We booked our dinners for 8pm to avoid a late afternoon rush, but this also meant missing the evening shows, which we were not too concerned about.
July 30
After another short night of sleep we had breakfast on the Lido. The weather forecast for much of this trip had looked bleak, with showers most days, but today was nice, though cool for midsummer. We did our walking around the promenade deck and then sat out on the Lido for some time. Then it was back to the Dutch Cafe for lunch. Jo and I enjoyed a pannekoek with apples, ham and strop. This restaurant was not large and was always busy. After a nap we enjoyed several trivia games before dinner. Dinner reservations was an issue. The ship had a new system that allowed you to book only three days at a time. You could not reserve a table for the whole cruise as we used to do. We took the late seating, so could not specify which table we wanted, so every night we had to train new waiters. Since our group represented 3 staterooms, there was confusion the first few nights about seating us together. Tonight we did not all arrive at the same time so we were seated first and the others were placed at another table on another floor, right by the kitchen door. We waited some time before getting a text from the others asking where we were. Very disorganized. The others had complained about their table and got moved to one only slightly better. We finally found each other. Being seated late, we were generally one of the last to leave, so we ate while tables were being cleaned and prepared for breakfast all around. Not very welcoming. The most amazing thing was ordering drinks. We generally all ordered a glass of wine before dinner, but a waiter would deliver only a few glasses. The rest on his tray were for other tables. They could come around 3 or 4 times before all six glasses were delivered. Bizarre that an order would not all come together, especially since 5 glasses were the same item. This being “dressy” night, more men were wearing at least a buttoned shirt and slacks than on our Alaska cruise, but still many wore jeans and made no attempt to look nice. We ended the night at the piano bar as we would do most nights. It was always well attended.
July 31
We arrived in Bergen, Norway this morning. It was a fairly nice day with clouds and sunny periods. It got warmer in the afternoon. We walked to the old town area, which required going over a hill to the small harbour on the other side. Some found it a bit of a hike and BIL did not come along due to his back issues. We explored the waterfront shops and market area and then met up with BIL at Magic Ice, an ice bar nearby. We had pre-booked tickets for noon. It was not busy but only accommodated a few people or groups at a time. The barroom was -5 degrees and the bar was made from blocks of ice. There were ice-sculpted figures and scenes in the centre and on the walls. We were given a hooded coat to wear, which just fit over us like a poncho, and gloves. We got a signature drink, a mixture of wine and some thing else I forgot the name of almost immediately. The glass was also made of ice. We enjoyed about 35 minutes drinking and taking pictures. There was a 45 minute limit to how long you could stay inside. It was beginning to feel cold on your butt when we left. It also took a while for the fog to clear on my glasses, but what a fun experience. Since Norway is not cheap, we walked back to the ship for lunch. After lunch a few of us walked back to old town to take a funicular up the mountain for a bird's eye view of the city. On the way my sister took a spill. I hear her yell "Oh no" and then saw her stumbling forward for several feet before hitting the ground, her head seeming to bounce off of the sidewalk. She did recover and carry on but she had a bruise on her temple and got a black eye. She also got a deep gash in her hand from the fall. The ship medics took care of her late, at a steep price. We did go up the funicular, after walking around for some time trying to find where the bottom of the line was. The views were very nice. By now it was too late to go to a fortress nearby because the ship was leaving at 5PM and we had to be on board by 4:30. Bergen was quite a cute town. Like previous days we joined the trivial contest before dinner. Dinner seating was a little more organized but we again were one of the last tables to clear at the end of the night. It continued to baffle us how drinks are served, with all of us getting wine at different times, despite ordering it together. After dinner we went to the piano bar but the late session was “all request” and included many songs that just were not fun sing along type of songs. Many people left early.
The best night of the trip so far! I slept until 8 AM. We
docked in the town of Molde, Norway at 8AM. After another leisurely breakfast we
went ashore. The town was right outside our dock. It was very small and there
was only one store open this morning. We were soon finished sightseeing and
returned to the ship for bosche bols and coffee. After lunch a few went back to
town for shopping. I stayed on board. We did another trivia contest and took in
part of the piano bar’s first session before heading to dinner. Despite
requests to be seated with the same waiter we had last night, we were seated
somewhere else. Having different wait staff every night did not allow you to
get to know any of them and therefore we all agreed that there was little
incentive to provide additional tips at the end of the cruise. Dinner itself
went OK, although I found my chewy pasta to be less than lukewarm. I had little
choice of menu items because there seemed to be a run on beets, and many dished
included this non-edible vegetable. The late session piano bar was better than
the night before, with a few more fun songs. The captain announced that there
was a high chance of seeing northern lights tonight, sometime between midnight
and 3 AM if the sky cleared. We stayed up and I checked outside at 12:30, but
it was bitterly cold and totally cloudy. Off to bed then.
Aug. 2
This was a sea day. We also gained an hour because the
clocks were turned back. This morning Jo and I went for our massage. We had
booked a comfortable 90 minute couple’s massage, but got a Swedish deep
massage. This was my first ever massage. At times I wondered why people pay so
much money to feel pain. Overall however it was good. We will see if I do it
again in 69 years time.
The day was for the rest uneventful. We took in 30 minutes
of a show at the theatre before heading off for dinner. We continue to be
baffled by how three people can order the same wine and only two get delivered
with the third coming some 10 minutes later. It is now 11:30PM and it is still
light outside. Tomorrow we gain another hour sleep.
Aug. 3
I went to bed when it was still a little light outside. We
gained another hour as we set our clocks back and we were encouraged to get up
at 7:30 to see the ship entering the Akureyri fjord where there was a good
chance of seeing humpback whales and other wildlife. I was not going to let the
lure of invisible whales hook me again, and decided I would stay in bed.
However, this morning I woke up early to the sound of my spouse gasping for her
last breath of air. Turns out she was just sleeping, but the sound pierced
through the ear plugs I quickly employed. I dozed after that. It was 4AM when I
first woke up and it was already light. Somewhere during the night there were a
few hours of darkness. I got up at 6:30 and we did go on deck for the approach
to the fjord. I did see a few plumes of mist from a whale that no one else saw,
but like usual, the expectations of wildlife proved false. We arrived in
Akureyri and went on an excursion. We bussed around a mountain into deep green
valleys with many waterfalls. The scenery was stunning and not what I expected.
The mountains were mostly jagged and bare on top, with green groundcover and
some mostly deciduous trees. We saw sheep wandering around everywhere. With no
threatening predators, farmers let their sheep, a very hardy species, roam
freely all summer. In the fall, before major snowfall, they gather their sheep
with snowmobiles and quads, or on horseback. We also saw Icelandic horses,
short, sturdy looking beasts with thick necks. We crossed over lava beds. We
spent a few hours at the Myvatn Natural Baths, a large thermal heated pool
outside. Temperatures reached 100 degrees F. There were strict rules. Everyone
had to shower naked before getting into their bathing suites. (Ask my Jo whether she and other women complied.) Water stations
provided water which you were encouraged to drink frequently. Time in the pool
was limited. The temperature outside was only about 12 degrees despite the sun
poking out of the clouds. The pool was set among barren ground and craters from
old volcanos. Steam vents released some of the heat from the water.
After the pool, we drove another 45 minutes or so to a
waterfall, Godafoss. It looked like a mini-Niagara Falls and was very pretty. We
returned to town via a tunnel which went right through the mountain for 7.5 km.
At dinner time, I did see a fluke of a whale through the dining room window.
What a great day! Despite the many forecasts of rainy weather in Iceland, we had what locals described as the best summer weather you could hope for. (12 degrees in mid summer is the best???) But we were grateful.
Aug. 4
Another excellent day by Iceland standards, no rain and 12
degrees. We arrived in Isafjordur at about 8 AM. This was a very small town at
the end of a relatively short fjord. The setting, like most of the Iceland
coast was beautiful, with sheer rock mountains on either side. I was struck in
the last few days how the shoreline so far was almost all like this. Bare rock
mountains with green slopes further down and flat tops, like giant mesas. We
had no plans for the day so walked into town for a while. There was little to
see so we returned to the ship for lunch and relaxed on board for the afternoon,
joining the usual trivia contest at 4PM and 6:30PM. There are a few groups that
compete every day and somehow answer over 90% of all questions correctly. Not
sure how they do it but we don’t stand a chance. For dinner we enjoyed a
pre-meal glass of wine, or at least most of us did. Jo was wearing a white pair
of pants and a glass was knocked over, not by me, and she was soaked in red
wine. She had to leave and get changed. We did joke about this for several
days. No one wanted to sit beside the unnamed perpetrator. (Ha, ha) Sleep continues to be an issue. I get very tired at night and go to bed by
midnight, only to be awake before 6AM. I had one or two good long sleeps.
Aug. 5 Reykjavik
We woke up in Reykjavik this morning. Our room always faces
the dock so we have to draw our curtains. I had ordered a ride from the ship to
where our excursion began this morning. Over the next two days we found that
the drivers were not real friendly, and barely said a word. Perhaps their
English is limited and they are uncomfortable, but it felt strange for a
country that now boasts tourism as its number one industry. Our trip began on a
small boat with about 12 other people, going out to view puffins. 20 minutes
from the city we came to an island hoping to see some puffins and other
seabirds. In fact, we saw hundreds of them, nesting along the slope of the
island, flying in and out to sea, floating by, etc. Skuas and guillemots were
there too, harassing the smaller puffins and stealing their fish catch. It was
beautiful to see these colourful birds. We spent a few hours having coffee and
hanging around the dock before we got on a larger boat, for a whale watching
trip. We saw a lot of puffins in front of the boat but only three minke whales.
The weather held out. It was overcast but eventually the sun came out for a
while and it was dry, another great Iceland day. We stood at the prow of the boat, so toques and gloves were very welcome additions to my wardrobe.
We stayed overnight in Reykjavik so we had until 2:30 today
to further explore the city. However it was dark and rainy. We took the hop on
hop off bus to tour the city. We found the souvenir store, (not many around and
very expensive), and stopped at a church but for the rest, due to weather, we
were not to interested in. The city did not impress me at all. Buildings were
mostly boxes, colours were drab, and it just seemed like an uninteresting and
depressing place to live. A highlight came at dinner however. We all ordered a
glass of wine before dinner and they all came at once, on one tray. That has
not happened once on this trip. We congratulated the waiter.
This was a sea day. Nothing real interesting to report. The usual, ending up after dinner at the piano bar hoping that one or two of our requests at the all request session would be played. Mysteriously, the same songs seem to be requested and played day after day. Each night they leave with a stack of requests that I am sure get filed in the garbage. There was a group of people who always managed to get seats right by the piano and madly wrote song requests. I suspect their requests mostly included slow ballads and Dutch love songs. One of the singers/pianists I think was not Dutch, but did learn to sing some Dutch songs. These always got a rousing response from the crowd, who sang the choruses, or at least half of the crowd did. The other half had no idea what was being sung. Real good sing-along songs were few and far between. However, the two people were extremely talented.
Aug. 8
This was an unscheduled sea day. We were supposed to go to
Lerwick, on the Shetland Islands. It looked like a very nice area with stunning
coastlines, ruins, ponies of course, etc. We were to tender in. However, due to
a wind storm threatening to arrive today, the captain canceled the stop
yesterday. We were disappointed but what can you do, eat and drink I suppose.
We did just that, with a few laps around the ship to boot. I am slowly getting
accustomed to the time changes, and now can sleep to close to 7 or 8 o’clock,
if my snoring partner allows.
I am not a proponent of conspiracy theories, but… For the past few days we have seen these white birds fly past our windows when we are on the Lido Deck or walking the promenade. I thought they were white boobies which I have photos of, so I did not try hard to take pictures. I learned last night that they are actually gannets, which I have no good picture of. They look very similar to boobies. So, today I took my camera with me on my walk in order to get some photos. Suddenly, no gannets in sight all day! Keep in mind as well that Iceland has lots of whales including frequent sightings when entering the fjords. We saw only a few. Tomorrow we dock in Invergordon where we were told bottlenose dolphins are often sighted as you enter the harbour. Nope! Evidence seems quite clear to me now that birds, whales and dolphins, aardvarks and even British hedgehogs are all against me.
Aug. 9
We arrived in Invergordon, a town about an hour bus ride from Inverness, near the famous Loch Ness. We had made no arrangements so walked off the ship looking for the train station to go to Inverness. We found a express coach bus instead that was a better alternative. We arrived in town about 11o'clock and wandered around for a while photographing the old streets and churches. We thought we would do the hop on hop off bus to see the main sights. We learned that the bus only came around once an hour and made seven stops. That meant that it would take seven hours to see it all, and you would spend an hour at a sight you may only need 10 minutes to see. We decided there were only two locations we really were interested in, so we would do one, the local Castle overlooking the city, and see from there. We needed to be back on the ship by 4:30. We got on the bus and it drove two blocks, then stopped for stop One, the castle. We could have walked here in 5 minutes. But now we were stuck here for an hour before the next bus came. The castle was covered in scaffolding, and was fenced off as a construction sight. A bit of info we would like to have known before we started. We spent the time in the shops in the area. We then caught the doubledecker bus for the rest of the tour. Most of us decided to sit on top, which was open, after all, this was August and we were no longer in Iceland. We froze to death! I tried taking some pictures but it was hard to focus with tears in my eyes. The one site Jo really wanted to see, Urquhart Castle, was not on the tour and was too far away to now go to. We returned to the ship a little disappointed.
Our dining experience continued to be an adventure. With different servers every night, there was always something. I found most of the time the food was cold. Wine serving continued to interesting. We had one server on the Lido Deck, Rinto, a Indonesian became almost our personal helper on the Lido. My sister in law often got up very early and was one of the first on the Lido. Rinto would have her coffee ready and they chatted a lot. Whenever I came in for breakfast he would call out "Hi Gerry", and would arrange for freshly squeezed orange juice and Americano coffee. In the evenings he oversaw an area of the dining room. He told us that even though creme brulet was only on the menu one time, it is always available if you ask for it. However, some servers insisted there was none and others were reluctant to check. I always had to chase after the servers to get an order of Americano coffee because after they took my food order they never checked back to see if there was anything else. My sister likes very strong coffee so would order an Americano coffee with an espresso coffee in it. It was never made the same way more than once. Our dinners often took almost 2 hours to complete, so we never could make the on stage show or the second set at the piano bar.
Aug. 10
Today we tendered in to South Queensferry, a little town near Edinburgh. We
had to tender in and then walked up this hill for 600 meters to get to the
train station. The train to Edinburgh was less than 30 minutes. I am convinced
that Europe is raising an army of monsters that will cause havoc in the world in the years to come. The kids on the boat, a surprisingly number of them, are loud,
undisciplined and disruptive for us seniors. Parents are oblivious to their
kids rolling around the floors, crawling on chairs, yelling, throwing tantrums,
etc. They run around the bars including piano bars at 11PM. The same was true on the Edinburgh train, although Jo saw it differently
because she saw a little hellion that reminded her of her youngest grandson. I
heard him half way down the train car. My grandson is nothing like this!
Edinburgh was a zoo, a beautiful zoo but wall-to-wall people. Outside of Edinburgh castle they erected temporary bleachers for the international military tattoo competition that is a big event which goes on for most of August. Our SFU bagpipe band won an award several years ago. It ruined the setting. You could not even enter the outer court of the castle unless you had tickets for the castle tour. We are Dutch. We do not pay for such things. There was also a fringe festival and some other festivals going on. All you could do was shuffle with the crowd up and down the Royal Mile, a beautiful historical stretch of road that winds up the hill to the Edinburgh castle entrance. The only escape was to pop into a Scotch Whiskey bar that features whiskey sampling. My sister-in-law, a lover of whiskey products was so excited. There was a wall covered in every whiskey you could think of. We did sample two whiskeys and then stayed for tapas as our lunch as well. It was so nice and quiet inside. I had my first blood pudding, and veggie haggis. I see no further need for future offerings of this stuff, but I did eat it, unlike the snails and assorted red beet concoctions the ship keeps dumping on our dinner menu.
We had planned to visit Jo's cousins today, but we were not able to get in contact with them so we had a free day. After breakfast a few of us took the train to Amsterdam to walk around in the Dam area before finishing with a lunch of krokets and chicken satay, washed down with Amstel beer at a sidewalk cafe by the square. It was mostly sunny and probably 25 degrees. A most pleasant time. We returned to Utrecht to meet up with a friend of the family who came to visit us for dinner.
Aug. 15
Today we traveled to a small town called Rudesheim, along the Rhine River in Germany. It was warm but overcast but got darker as the day went on. We took the train to Cologne. We had several delays along the way in Germany, which ended up making us 40 minutes late arriving in Cologne. The short scheduled connection from the station we arrived at, and the larger centraal station was now gone. we found another train for the one station hop, and then got on the train which would take us to Koblenz, where we changed trains to go the final hour ride to Rudesheim. We were now an hour past the time we had booked but there was no problem taking the same train route an hour later. By the time we arrived at Rudesheim, it was pouring. We had no idea where to go. I had some info on my laptop, but for the next three days we had packed as light as possible with backpacks and left our suitcases in Utrecht. I did not have my laptop. Wandering a round a little and asking locals we soon found our hotel, Zur Lindenau. It was a great little place in the cutest little village. The streets were cobblestone and narrow, with room for only one small car. The shops often had little Dickens-like signs hanging outside. After finding a open restaurant to get beer/coffee and a dessert, apple strudel of course, we wandered around and did some shopping. We made dinner reservations at a restaurant the hotel manager recommended so we had a few hours. Some of us took a gondolier up to a monument of a Germanic ruler from the 1800's. The rain had stopped and it was now mostly sunny. The restaurant had humungous portions of schnitzel but I fortunately, on the recommendation of our waitress, had a German sausage with mashed potatoes. After dinner they had a trio of old guys playing music with a synthesizer, oboe and electric violin. We did not expect much but they were great. They played popular songs that people could sing along with, mostly in English. We ended up staying all night and some even got up to dance before stumbling home. We were all very pleased with this unknown pretty little village.
Aug. 16
We started the day with a bang. I took a shower and when trying to turn the water off, I found myself with the handle in my hand. It had broken off. I could not shut off the water. Luckily I was using the hand-held shower head, so I could put it down and direct the spray to the drain. Even though I am not a morning person, I had enough sense to put clothes on before going to reception to report the problem. Seems this happens more often because the water causes corrosion. A plumber was called. We went for breakfast and learned that in order to fix the shower, they had to shut off water for the entire building. Therefore the kitchen could not wash dishes, make coffee, etc. That was a good thing because it caused them some urgency to get it fixed. No toilets worked either and I had a few things to work out before going out. All worked out and we headed for the pier a few minute walk away where we were catching a boat that goes down river through the most scenic part of the Rhine River. This stretch had an average of one castle per each 2 kilometers. All along there were quaint little old towns with very old churches, and castles nestled into the cliffs, often overlooking towns. We booked to go as far as a little town of St. Goar, and were able to hop off at any village we stopped at. We would have time for only one stop, since there were only two boats going down the river today, an if you missed the second boat, you would be staying in that village until morning. We chose a most scenic place, Bacharach. Soon after we left the pier, the rain stopped, the clouds started to part, and before 11AM it was a sunny, hot day. We walked around the town for a short while, (we had less than 2 hours before the second boat came), and had lunch on a terrace. It was beautiful. We caught our boat to continue the last part of our journey to St. Goar. Then tragedy struck. There were two towns at the end of our cruise, St. Goar on one bank, and St. Goarhausen on the other. St. Goar was on the opposite bank from Rudeshein where we had started. Our boat always spun around to dock, as the exit was on one side. The map showed us going to S. Goar first, where we would get off, and then ending at St. Goarhausen. As we approached I heard the announcement, in German and English, that we were approaching St. Goar. We got off and tried to figure out where to go. (Remember, my info was on my computer which I did not have with me). We saw a castle overlooking the town on the other side. However, based on the map and what I heard, I was sure that town was St. Goarhausen. A few tried to convince me that we were in St. Goarhausen. After a bit, I confess that I lost my cool, even in the heat. I threw up my hands and walked away. My sister and I, who had also done research on our trip, found a local store and asked where we were. The woman said this was St. Goarhausen and St. Goar was across the river. I admit I had to crawl back to the group, that was waited, and confess that I was wrong and they were right. I felt bad for losing my cool and later bought rounds for everyone when we got to our accommodations. We could catch the local ferry that crossed back and forth between the towns every 20 minutes or so. For a few Euros we got to St. Goar, and assumed that the castle on the hill was where we were staying. However the walk would be too much for a few people in the group. We looked for Tourist Info to see about a shuttle or taxi. We could not find it, even though it was on the one main shopping street and we had got directions from some locals. We were told however that was a bus that went up there every 30 minutes. We found the bus stop and did get up there, a drive of only about 5 minutes. The accommodation was amazing, a converted castle that was started in 1245 to provide security for collecting fees from people using the river. It transitioned many times over the centuries, from fortress to residence. It was attacked several time by Spain and France but stood, though a large part was destroyed. During the Reformation, Reformer Zwingli stayed here. It had amazing views over the river and the two towns. However, it was also a maze. Twice we got lost trying to find our room or getting from our room to the veranda for drinks. We ended up in dead ends. However, it was fantastic.
We ate at the dining room for dinner. It was a very high end restaurant where the server suggested we make our order and then she could pair up what we were eating with the best wine to match. We declined and most of us chose to take a red wine, regardless of our food choice. The menu was designed in typical fashion, where you select a starter, then a main entrée followed by a dessert. The mushroom soup alone was over $25 and that was cheap compared to some of the other items. I found that despite the fanciness, I was hard pressed to find things I really wanted. I settled on the soup and a pork tenderloin dish, with coffee for dessert. I don't dare see how much that cost me but it helped that we were treated to wine. Did I enjoy this meal more that other meals we had at 20% of the price, absolutely not. I guess I am just too unsophisticated. During dinner a storm blew in. The skies got dark and the rain pelted down. You could not see across the river. We were treated to quite a display of lightning but we also had to have the windows closed, which made it a little warm.
Aug. 17
We had breakfast together in the castle before my sister and BIL left by taxi for their trip back to Utrecht and ultimately flying home the next day. After exploring the castle ruins, I convinced the others to walk down the hill to the town, rather than spending 3.5 euros for the few minute bus ride, which would not go into service for a while yet. We found a path through the trees and were down in no time at all. There was some shopping done and when I went to where we were told the Info Centre was (we also found out it was closed on Wednesdays, since I suppose Wednesday tourists are very knowledgeable and don't need help), and there I saw a red 'E" sign with a dot on top. Beside it was a glass window over a door. On the window was etched, 'Tourist Information'. A bike stand beside the door also had the 'e' sign. Seems this is the German version of 'i' which most places use. This was all just steps away from the start of the street where we began looking for the info office. How we could all miss this is amazing. After a bite to eat on a sidewalk terrace we left St. Goar by train for the two hour ride to Cologne.
Cologne was warm when we got there, and again we were at a loss where our hotel was. We knew it was within a block or two of the Dom, the massive cathedral which stands beside the main train station. Even after finding maps at the Tourist Centre and trying to follow there, we could not even find the street names. (I learned later that some street names change, like a main street that had 5 different names depending on where you were) . We new directions from a person at the info centre we found it very quickly. It was a 3 star hotel, so very basic. We would have looked directly at the Dom, except for a building under reconstruction between us and the Dom. Below our window was a pub/restaurant which was very noisy. The noise did stop after 11pm so was not a problem.
We spent the evening looking at the cathedral and then having a drink nearby. I did develop a new crisis. For days now I lived in my Keens sandals. They were now getting very ripe! When I took them off, the smell filled our hotel room. Since I packed lightly for our three nights away from Utrecht, I had no other footwear. I tried washing them with whatever I had available, which was hand soap. When wet, the sandals gave off black water. I washed them and put them out to dry.
Aug. 18
I was awakened to the sound of construction next door at 6:45. I slipped into my still damp sandals and as I walked, soap suds oozed up between my toes. As the day wore on, the bad odor returned.
We returned to the cathedral for a second look and then decided to take a one hour boat tour to see some sights and determine where we might like to go to later before heading to the train station. The trip was not very excited and we did not see much extra, but it was a nice day for a boat ride. We wandered around a bit, ate at a patio across from the cathedral. It was obvious that we were paying for the view as well as the food. I had a nice apple and cinnamon pannekoek and a chocolate milkshake. The women had fancy drinks with their food. I went to the washroom and saw toilet stalls that had clear glass doors. A lit freaky. However, when you turn the lock, the door becomes opaque. We explored the old town of Cologne but the others were struggling from heat, tiredness and sore knees and ?, so we returned to our hotel to have a few small beers and retrieve the backpacks we had left there. Some were seemingly anxious to go to the train station so we went, found our train platform and sat there for an hour. Our train was 15 minutes late. We left after 5PM. I was beginning to see a pattern in Germany. Finding our reserved seating on our ICE train to Utrecht was easy, despite how long the train was. I was a little uncomfortable because I did not dare lift my feet up for fear of my stinky sandals, so kept them firmly on the ground, and even put my backpack over them to hopefully keep the smell down. The train was delayed by over 30 minutes because of problems with a freight train on our tracks. See a pattern? The first thing I did when we got to our hotel was to take off my sandals and put them out of the way somewhere to air, and wash my feet. It was a relief to have other shoes to wear.
Aug. 19
Our last day in Holland. We discovered that I had not booked for breakfast to be included on this reservation, and it would have cost 20 euros each to eat in the hotel so we decided to find something to eat in the mall. It was 8:30. Almost every restaurant, including McDonalds was closed as were all the stores. I ended up at Starbucks for the last breakfast sandwich they had. Our meals costed half of what the hotel charged. We visited a local market and did some souvenir shopping before heading by train to Baarn, where we were picked up by my cousin and his family. We had a great visit for over 2 hours. We both felt that despite how long it was between visits, it was not an awkward visit. We enjoyed catching up. Then it was time to pack for flying home tomorrow. My sandals got a double-bagging!
Our train travel taught me one thing. Dutch and German passengers are very loud on trains. They do not know how to talk softly. And, we witnessed at least one child tantrum per day in public.
Aug. 20
The weather yesterday was dry but still a little cool for mid summer. Today it was going to start to warming up a little. We had picked up some buns from the nearby grocery store so that we could quickly eat breakfast in our room before walking to the train station. The buns I bought, cheese danish, probably would have tasted good warmed up a little for lunch, but this morning they were just plain dry and hard to swallow. The walk to the train station was only about 6 minutes and we were soon ready to say goodbye to Europe. Check-in and security went very fast. There were no lengthy line-ups and we were almost two hours early at our gate. We had booked an aisle and a window seat in the hope that the middle seat would be vacant. No such luck these days. Flights all seem to be very full and we had a fairly large man sit between us for our flight to Toronto. Near the back of the plane I did hear a child cry a few times. Par for the course. In Toronto, Customs went quickly to my surprise but that was not true at the gate. There were flights leaving around the same time at adjoining gates. Our plane was late because it was parked in the International section and had to come around. What!? I could not see why it would take so long until we taxied out for our flight. I have never taxied so slow. Of course long before boarding began, people started lining up at the gate, despite requests not to do so. The first class people took forever to check in. Everything seemed to be slow motion. Meanwhile, people at the gate beside us also started to line up. Why do people do this? Is sitting in a cramped seat for 8 hours not enough. Lets get in as soon as possible so we can sit even longer, and then jump up and block the aisle when us peons get in because by now they want to go through their oversized bags for the second or third time. It was confusing because there were lines for 1st class, 2nd class and 3-5 class, plus similar lines for the other gate. It was not clear which line was for which. I did not want to end up in the wrong city. Jo and I wagged our heads at all these eager beavers that ignore all instructions. With so many people, announcements were hard to hear. Jo said she heard they were now inviting all passengers to line up so we did. When we got to the front and got cleared the attendant said she was observant and knew that we were jumping the gun, but let us through anyway. No! Now we are one of those people!
We were pleased to see that the window and aisle seat were in a section where there were only two seats along the outside, so we had no seat between us. The flight went smoothly. We did have a two year old boy several rows ahead of us that screamed and threw tantrums for long periods of time. That made the trip complete. We even found that, despite the heat wave that had hit Vancouver this past week, it was rather cool when we got there, like most of our trip.
In retrospect, it was a great trip. Seeing Iceland was a good experience. The length of the cruise and the length of the trip were about right. We were ready to go home. Next trip should be much warmer.
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