{"id":12188,"date":"2017-08-20T17:14:56","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T21:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=12188"},"modified":"2017-11-27T18:53:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:53:48","slug":"amsterdam-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=12188","title":{"rendered":"Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday – August 20, 2017<\/p>\n

It was a rough ride last night on the ship as it cruised south from Norway to Rotterdam. \u00a0The wind was blowing 45 knots and the inky sea churned with large waves topped with whitecaps. \u00a0The outside decks were closed to passengers for their safety. \u00a0Our stateroom creaked and shook as it rolled side to side. \u00a0Walking was a challenge and we had to hold on to railings or walls in order to move around the ship.<\/p>\n

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Sometime during the night, the Rotterdam left the wild ocean behind and turned into the calm Maas River. Everything became quiet and serene. \u00a0It took several hours for the ship to slowly move up the river to its namesake city: Rotterdam. \u00a0This is the half-way point of our cruise. We have traveled 4487 nautical miles from Boston. \u00a0Tomorrow afternoon the ship will leave Rotterdam and begin our journey westward back to Boston.<\/p>\n

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I awoke at 5:50AM and was surprised that the ship wasn\u2019t swaying. \u00a0I had set an alarm for six because we had to catch a 7:30 bus to Amsterdam. \u00a0We were ready in plenty of time to board our bus for the hour-long ride to one of our favorite cities. \u00a0We had been to Amsterdam twice before and we knew there was a lot to see and do.<\/p>\n

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On our last visit, the Rijksmuseum was closed. \u00a0It had been closed for major renovation for several years and reopened last year. \u00a0The Rijksmuseum is a world class museum on a level with the Louvre or the Metropolitan in NY and I was eager to see it.<\/p>\n

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The building looks like a giant castle with ornate turrets and interesting features. \u00a0Inside and down one level, there was a central glass covered reception area. The cafe overlooked this area and the gift shop was below.<\/p>\n

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We wandered around for a while admiring the collection then went to the Dutch Masters\u2019 galleries. \u00a0The museum had a wonderful collection of Rembrandt\u2019s paintings. \u00a0It also owns several Vermeers which were on exhibit.<\/p>\n

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After we walked around for a couple of hours we were tired and took a coffee break in the cafe. \u00a0We realized the weather was sunny and warm so we decided to leave the museum and enjoy the outside. \u00a0We took the exit on the other side of the museum to see one of the wonderful Amsterdam canals. \u00a0Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people on bicycles were out riding around on a lovely summer day. \u00a0There was a busy arts & crafts fair and international food market around a pool.<\/p>\n

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We had fun looking around, snacking, and walking through the market. \u00a0There were lots of local people and tourists.<\/p>\n

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As it approached two o\u2019clock, we went back to the bus stop for the ride back to Rotterdam. \u00a0It was a pleasant ride through the countryside. \u00a0After resting in the bus, we wanted to see some of Rotterdam, so we walked across the Erasmus Bridge to see what was on the other side. \u00a0There were beautiful views of the city and the M. S. Rotterdam, our ship.<\/p>\n

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We walked a little way and discovered the outside section of the Rotterdam Maritime Museum. \u00a0They had a wonderful collection of antique commercial ships in the harbor which were in excellent restored condition. \u00a0The wide variety of ships and boats was amazing!<\/p>\n

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Across the harbor there were many large old boats tied to the piers which people lived on. \u00a0Further on there was a restored Lightship which was used as a restaurant.<\/p>\n

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We discovered a \u201cwater taxi\u201d stand and joined a short line of people who were waiting for the next taxi to go to the \u201cNew York Hotel.\u201d \u00a0We knew this was near our ship so we hopped on. \u00a0The young woman driver collected our fare of five Euros each and we sped off down the river. \u00a0We learned later that a Water Taxis was the fastest way to get around Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

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The DHG Water Taxi depot was near the original restored Holland America Line building which is now the New York Hotel. \u00a0The new Cruise Terminal was built up the street from the old building. \u00a0The Holland American ships still dock at the same place near their old headquarters. \u00a0There was more than a little bit of nostalgia attached to the original building.<\/p>\n

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It was a short walk for us to our ship. \u00a0We rested up for a while, had dinner, and walked on the top deck to take night pictures. \u00a0What a fantastic city Rotterdam is!<\/p>\n

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Sunday – August 20, 2017 It was a rough ride last night on the ship as it cruised south from Norway to Rotterdam. \u00a0The wind was blowing 45 knots and the inky sea churned with large waves topped with whitecaps. \u00a0The outside decks were closed to passengers for their safety. \u00a0Our stateroom creaked and shook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising","category-holland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13373,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12188\/revisions\/13373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}