Week 14 - All Around Holland

We spent the entire week in The Netherlands, specifically South and North Holland. It was a week of "What pretty town are we in today?" I loved it.

We were in Veere on Monday. It had a cute little downtown and we did a bit of shopping, picking up their local pastry called bolus before heading back to the ship for lunch. I think there was an extra excursion that afternoon so two of the tour leaders took the people who didn't go on that on a nature walk. There was a windmill, of course, and beautiful flowers but there was also a cool dock thing to cross a creek that had to be pulled across with ropes. We had a talk on sea salt before dinner and sailed at 7:00 to the next stop.

Tuesday was windmills first thing in Kinderdijk. It has 17 windmills around a series of canals and is such an attraction that each boat can only stay 2 hours at their dock. We toured a windmill then did a boat trip around the canals and learned all about them. Foolish me thought they were for grinding grain when in fact they're actually for pumping water. Go figure. When our 2 hours was up, we sailed away to our next stop - Schoonhoven. After lunch, Rene took us on a walk around town. Not a tour with info just showing what was around. We found a wonderful yarn shop and had fun chatting with the owner and clerk. The owner bregrudgingly sold me a mini skein that she'd dyed and I bought yarn to match it so will make souvenir socks. We also bought yarn at a Bernina sewing store that I noticed had a bin of yarn on the sidewalk as we walked by. Anne found licorice in a grocery store too. It was a fun town and we enjoying the shopping. Then, you guessed it, it was back to the boat to hang in the lounge and then eat dinner.

We were in Gronchem on Wednesday, which was the day you could take a trip to Rotterdam, which had been the plan in the tour documents but the leaders dissuaded us from going, saying that it was just a big modern city. Only a few people went. Anne and I enjoyed the walking tour in the morning and then there was a last minute mini excursion that afternoon to do a cheese tasting and tour another windmill. We did the cheese but skipped the windmill in favor of shopping. We found a small craft store that had some yarn (I pity purchased a single skein of 6 ply sock yarn) and I found my favorite Lion Bars at a discount store so was happy to add these to my cereal purchase. With my 2 European food faves found, I was thrilled. We had passed a cat on our morning walk so headed that way and found a bench to knit on. Anne left to go biking and I mosied towards the cat, who was still outside and came right to me for pets. Loved that. Hanging in the lounge and dinner followed. I was loving this trip!

Enkhuizen was Thursday's town and it was a chilly, dreary day. We did a walking tour, as usual, in the morning and after lunch, we took a ferry to a museum of Dutch life that was on a nearby peninsula. It was brutally cold out there with windy whipping around. Siri said it was 46 but when I asked for the feels like, it was 32. Yikes! We walked around a bit but it was just too cold to deal so we practically ran to the ferry and went back to the ship. Much better. Chatting in the lounge and some knitting warmed us up.

Grand Circle Tours and Overseas Adventure Travel are all about learning and discovery so Friday was our home visit. We broke up into groups of 6 and we went to a woman named Julie's house. She was lovely and gave us her take on life in The Netherlands while serving us coffee and Easter chocolates. She ended with a Dutch thing - alcoholic pudding served with whipped cream and fruit. We walked back to the ship and headed out.

We were sailing during the day so we could see the Naviduct. It's a lock that raises boats above a highway. Yes, you read that right. It was hard to get a picture that shows it but here's the best I could do, taking it from the top deck of the ship as we sailed over the highway. We sailed for the rest of the afternoon so there was an interesting tour of the galley and plenty of time in the lounge. With a beer most afternoons, I'd drunk more in a week than I normally drink in 6 months. There was wine with dinner most nights too. We docked near Amsterdam in Haarlem and had a talk about the Dutch royal family before dinner. 

Saturday was tulip day and there aren't sufficient words to describe it. We started at Annemieke's to hear about her youth program based around tulip farming and to pick some tulips of our own. Next stop was Keukenhof, which is an enormous tulip garden that is something to see. It was Easter weekend and so a mob scene but the flowers were worth it. The colors were breathtaking and absolutely everywhere. We spent the whole afternoon there and it was amazing. Here are a few pics. Because Sunday was Easter, we had the Captain's farewell dinner when we got back. It was a magical day.

We started Easter Sunday with a canal cruise in Amsterdam. I had expected most stores to be closed but that wasn't the case. The one I cared most about was Stephen & Penelope - Stephen West's yarn store. It was buzzing with customers and had lots of gorgeous yarn. I showed some restaint and only bought 3 skeins, 1 of which was a gift. We grabbed lunch in a cafe and then headed to the meeting point for the bus back to the ship. We had packing to do and had a lovely Easter lamb dinner and lots of chocolate everywhere. We had to say goodbyes to some of our friends who would be leaving for the airport in the wee hours. It was hard to believe the cruise was already over.

What a great week! I am a total convert to river cruising. You unpack once and settle in and then you wake up somewhere new every single day. You get to know people and have a great mix of seeing places (our average steps/day was 12,800) and relaxing. The food is all included and delicious. There's no down side to it and I can't wait to do another. Now to get through the next day when we'd be still here while everyone else was flying home. No extensions next time. : )