Amsterdam
I know that I have mentioned it before that our stateroom is directly above the hatch that is opened for the pilot to board the ship. This morning the hatch was opened at 4:15 AM and a short time later the pilot boat bumped heavily into us as I was falling back to sleep. Oh Well. The captain had mentioned that we would be going through a lock to get into the harbour, early in the morning ,so I got up and after a coffee in the Lido I stood on the front deck as we approached. I took some pictures which are on DW’s blog. Because Amsterdam is below sea level we actually lowered down in the lock and the lock gate was unusual as it slid back like a pocket door rather than open out or in.
After breakfast we walked over to the Central Train Station and bought day passes to the Ho Ho canal boats. There were three separate routes and we took one in the morning and the other two after lunch.
By late afternoon I was totally wiped and we headed back to the ship and I had a nap till dinnertime. After dinner we went over to the cruise terminal and logged on to their free wi fi and got caught up on blogs and emails.We could even Skype.
Tomorrow we spend the morning in Amsterdam probably walking through the shopping area. DW warned me that we would not be walking in the Red Light District. Today we got a great overview of the city and will use the information gathered for our trip here next summer.
