Day at sea and evening in Amsterdam

 We have a lazy morning as we're not getting into Amsterdam until 6pm. The skies are overcast with sunny breaks. And the North Sea is calm as a mill-pond! A light breakfast, then Karen and I walk around the decks for a while. About 19C. Still lots of wind farms and some oil rigs. Lots of freighter traffic. After catching up on some work I went to the "Excom Q & A" where senior officers answer questions from the guests. Always really interesting. Then Ian and I went to a beginners Salsa lesson. It was fun, but I think we'll need more instruction before hitting the dance floor. Then time for a light lunch followed by some work on the blog while I listened to a port lecture I had missed. By that time we were approaching the coast of Holland, so I went back up on deck.

The route into Amsterdam is really interesting. We went through a lock big enough to hold us, a river barge and a small freighter. Then about a 2 hour cruise up the river to the port. This is a mainly industrial area, lots of factories and a few residential areas. The weather is so nice I went for another swim, I was the only one in the pool and hot-tub. After getting changed Ian and I went up to the Livingroom to get front row seats as we cruised into Amsterdam. So much traffic of all kinds! The NCL Prima passed us heading out to sea. We only came about 1/2 way up her! As we approached Main Station area there are lots of River Cruise ships moored. I spotted Viking, Ama Waterways, Avalon and Tauck amongst others. Our captain did an incredible maneuver to bring us to the dock, doing a 180 turn in tight space.

We had an early dinner at the Italian buffet as we had an evening canal cruise booked. Quite a big group going from the ship, and we're on 2 canal boats. Each table for 4 had nuts, cheese, a bottle of water and 3 bottles of wine! And no, we did not drink it all. A lovely experience, cruising the canals as it grew dark and the lights came on. About 1 1/2 hours in total. There were lots of people out enjoying the evening, on house boats, in restaurants and bars, or just sitting beside the canals. Lots of 20-30 somethings. After 10pm by the time we're back, and we're ready for bed.










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