Well, um. Yes.
This is the exact conversation my boss and I had about a
week after we returned from our Baltic cruise and I subsequently asked for more
time off. Normally, I wouldn’t have
hesitated. The British are firm believers
in the two week annual vacation, so disappearing for a fortnight is nothing to
them. But I wanted to go in March which
is height of the accountant busy period and traditionally a big no-no for
vacations in my world. But, my biggest
client this year had decided that they wanted to file three weeks earlier than
normal (so the 28th of Feb) and my smaller client wasn’t going to
start until the end of March, so it seemed like the perfect time.
Plus, we had a great discount from the cruise company because
of the problems aboard the ship. You
guys know me well enough to know I can’t pass up a good discount! And on the bucket list of places to see in
Europe has always been the Norwegian Fjords (as is a trip down the Amalfi
Coast, but why would Adam let me plan a vacation somewhere warm when we could
have the chance to wear all the clothing we own on a single day to keep the
frostbite at bay??!).
So we did it. We
booked a two week cruise through the fjords, past glaciers, into the Arctic
Circle and went in search of the Northern Lights.
It was the same ship as the last cruise, but we opted for a
lower cabin so that we wouldn’t get quite as much sway through the North
Sea. After the last cruise and our Irish
ferry experience, we are well aware of the joys of sea sickness and wish to
never repeat it again. We also ticked
the box on the application to have the cruise without the Norovirus so that we
could have a slightly less exciting time on-board.
Maybe because going on an international trip has become
slightly routine in our lives (how blasé does that sound?!) or more likely
because Adam & I were both incredibly busy at work for the months of
January & February, we didn’t exactly plan anything to do with this cruise. Short of needing to be at Victoria Coach
Station at 11:30am on Sunday, go through the fjords and return in two weeks, I
couldn’t tell you anything about this trip prior to getting on the boat. This led to a very interesting conversation
at dinner the first evening when the gentleman next to me said, ‘are you
excited to go to Amsterdam tomorrow?’ and I replied, ‘we’re going to
Amsterdam? I thought this was a
Norwegian cruise.’ Adam quickly stepped
in and assured me we were on the right ship and we were going to Amsterdam then
due north through all the fjords.
Our arrival into Amsterdam was about two hours later than
scheduled (after the dinner incident, the type A in me found the ports of call
listing along with the times) because of the heavy shipping traffic through the
single lock that feeds many of the Amsterdam ports. As we’d made no plans, it didn’t bother us
too much; it actually allowed us to eat lunch on the ship prior to seeing the
city and still be back on board for dinner.
I did feel bad for some of our dinner table partners though. They had prebooked some attractions to
minimize their time in lines. Because we
were so late, they missed their timeslots and weren’t able to see what they’d
paid for!
Having been to Amsterdam before, there wasn’t a whole lot
left on our must see list. We felt right
at home with our greeting as we got off the boat.
From there we wondered through the canals and lanes of the
city all while managing to stay out of the Red Light District (see Daddy, it is
possible!).
I don’t know how many people live in the greater Amsterdam
area, but I have to believe that there are more bicycles in the city than
people. Everywhere you look there is
someone on a bike. Every railing you
come across has a dozen or so locked to it.
Outside of some shops, you’ll just see a bike chained to itself leaning
against a wall. The ‘parking lot’ at the
train station has to take the prize though.
How you find yours in this mess?
We also wonder if the canals and general moistness of the
land is starting to undermine the integrity of foundations in Amsterdam.
This building was leaning forward a good 6-8 feet at the top
compared to the one next door. I
couldn’t believe it was still standing!
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