Europe River Cruise - 2018: Cruising down the Rhine and Cologne

Oct. 15

We had a good first night on the ship, breakfast, and then a canal cruise of Amsterdam.  That was one thing Ellen and I had not done during our stay and we saw a lot of different things - old section of town, lots of little scenic canals going off of our canal, houseboats (next time staying in one of these), leaning houses, small houses, expensive houses.  

On the canal cruise

Lots of houseboats

Beautiful canals

Leaning houses

We got off of the boat and took a short walk to a very private courtyard where the Beguines lived - pious Catholic single women who performed good deeds but did not want to live in a convent and did not take vows.  This was a Roman Catholic enclave in predominantly Protestant Amsterdam for over 200 years from 1578 to 1795.  Today there are still only women living in this area.

Next we walked to the floating flower market.  Lots of bulbs were for sale but we did not think we could take them back to the states.  Besides, the deer would just eat the bulbs when they bloomed in Prescott.

Floating flower market

Beautiful flowers 

I did bring home some cheese

We took the bus back and the ship set sail on the Rhine.  The ship was so smooth and we had our big window closed, we did not even know we were underway.  

We saw a couple of windmills

We had a leisure afternoon.  I walked on the upper deck walking path and swam in the small pool.  Ellen took a nap.

Walking track is the brown area.

During our trip on the Rhine we went through one lock and 2 cargo boats passed us in the lock.

P

There was a Captain's reception where all the officers were introduced and then a lovely evening.  We sat with our new friends from Perth, Australia and had a wonderful dinner of lamb.  Afterwards we enjoyed the live entertainment in the Horizon lounge.

Oct. 16,    Cologne 

We motored all night and arrived in Cologne, Germany the next day.  We pulled up next to another ship and anchored to it.  We had to walk across their deck to get to shore.

Our ship on the right and AMAventa on the left-

This is our walkway across the AMA boat.

Getting ready for our Cologne excursion 

We had a short tour of the Cathedral area.  This is Germany's most visited building. The interior largely dates from the 13th century but it wasn't until 1880 that the exterior with its two 510 ft spires was completed.

Skyline of Cologne 

The Cathedral 

Our tour guide

The interior of the Cathedral 

Street chalk artist in front of Cathedral 

Ellen and I decided to walk back to our ship.  We walked thru old town which has a lot of sidewalk cafes. In fact, Cologne boasts of over 3000 bars and taverns.  They are famous for their beer.  

Cute houses of Cologne 

We stopped at the chocolate museum for some samples

We had a port talk with the cruise director when we returned.  It does not look good for traveling on the rivers since they are so low.  We will probably be on the ship 3 more nights and then hotels the last week.  At least they are offering compensation for the inconvenience. We are motoring tonight to Andernach, Germany.

Europe River Cruise - 2018, Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam around 6 pm, took the train into Central Station, and decided to walk to our hotel which was only suppose to take 10-15 minutes.  But the wheels on my suitcase came undone so I was dragging my suitcase the entire way.  We didn't know where the 5 Star B&B was, thinking it was a hotel.  We asked the restaurant next door to where the address said and they told of us where to go.  It was a room in a man's apartment.  I was furious at first.  There was only one double bed.  I said that I had requested two beds.  He then showed me a smaller adjacent room with a twin bed.  Ellen said it would be ok so I took the small room and she the larger and we had a big bathroom outside of our doors. We did have a good view of the Rhine.

That night we went next door and had some Indonesia food which was very good and a glass of wine.  

Oct. 12 - John fixed us breakfast in his quarters the next morning at 8.  Soft boiled egg, yogurt, breads, lunch meat and cheese slices, tomatoes, orange juice and fruit.  We walked to Central Station and bought a 48 hour tram ticket.  It was pretty easy to learn and trams ran continuously. We took Tram 2 to Rijksmuseum.  This is the Dutch National Museum which is four floors that leads visitors on an exciting chronological journey through art and history of the Netherlands.  The museum's collection has over one million objects, about 8000 of which are displayed. Including in this collection are works by famous people such  Vermeer and Rembrandt.  We walked all the floors and it took us about 2 hours.  Here are a few pictures of the displays in the museum:

Entrance to the museum

Rembrandt painting

A beautiful piece of furniture

Models of ships

Library

Once outside, we had to take a picture of the famous 'Amsterdam' sign.

We had a quick hotdog from a outdoor cafe and then went to see the Van Gogh museum, located very close to the Rijksmuseum. We stood in one line only to find out it was for those with tickets. We went over to the other line to buy tickets but it said sold out.  The lady at the ticket booth said only online and pointed to the website and password.  So we got our tickets and went in.  This was a very good museum because it dealt only with Van Gogh, his family, his life, his work, and the other artists he influenced.

Famous painting - The potato eaters

We almost missed the Sunflowers painting but finally found it. Sorry, no picture.

After a brief rest at our room we returned at night for dinner and a tour of the Red Light district.  

We ate fondue and salad at this restaurant 

Then we walked down the narrow streets of the Red Light district

Everywhere we saw red lit windows there were beautiful, skimpy clad women standing in the window. We saw 3 men takers.  When the men entered, the windows were closed.

Oct. 13 

Had another nice breakfast at John's.  We think that he sleeps on his couch when he rents the rooms downstairs.  At $170 per night he does pretty good.  He gave me some glue to fix the wheels on my suit case but it did not help. Time to buy a new suitcase.

We took the tram to Rembrandt square and took pictures of the lifesize figures of 'Night Watch' ( Rembrandt's famous painting) in the square.

We went to the Rembrandt House museum where he lived, worked, sold his art, and taught. He was one of the most famous Dutch painters who lived in the 1600's.  The house has been reconstructed so that it was as it was when Rembrandt lived there.  We enjoyed this museum because it focused on one artist.  

Rembrandt's bed

Replica of easel where he painted

Upstairs where he taught

The outside of his house.  Rembrandt originally bought this house for 13,000 guilders in 1639 and resided there until he went bankrupt in 1656.  The price of the house was the cause of his bankruptcy 

We walked thru a street market and saw a lot of interesting things to buy.  

Amsterdam is full of canals.

Of course I had to buy a new suitcase so we went to a large store, 'Primark'.  There I found an inexpensive suitcase and we took it to our room.  After a short rest at our room, we took the tram to Dam Square and had a nice lunch at an outdoor cafe.  

We walked to the Anne Frank House museum.  I had made reservations online or we would not have been able to go in.  This was a very moving and well done museum.  The Anne Frank house is where Anne was hiding along with 7 other people for 2 years during World War II.  The museum holds some personal items that belonged to Anne and her family.  No pictures were allowed in the house. 

A bust of Anne Frank in the square.

We stopped for the traditional pancake dinner.  We split a spinach, cheese, bacon, tomatoes pancake and then a caramel pancake for dessert. Yummy!

Here are some night shots of Central station.

And bicycles everywhere!

Oct. 14

Slept very good and had another nice breakfast with John.  He said he would drop us off at the port of embarkation at 11.  We dropped our bags at the boat and then walked back to Dam Square to see the Royal Palace. Paid $10 euros and this included an audio guide.  We walked thru the Citizens Hall -

Balcony looking out at Dam Square

Many dignitaries say in these bedrooms which at one time were office buildings when the palace was first built as a town hall.

After the palace tour we walked back to the boat where we will stay for 14 days.  Our room is A320 Panomara suite.  Here are some pictures of the boat and room.

Tonight we had a briefing and safety talk, then a wonderful dinner.  Now we are reading and ready to call it a day in front of a fireplace?