Second day in Amsterdam

After a good night's sleep we woke up to another beautiful day in Amsterdam. We had our breakfast and decided on what the day's plans were. We hadn't organised anything at all but, as someone had said to try and fit in a visit to the Zoo, that's what we decided to do. After a quick look at the map, we set off on foot and took a leisurely walk to the Zoo thinking that we'd only stay a little while.  How wrong were we!!  It was just a wonderful place to be on such a warm and sunny day, so much so that we spent around six hours just wandering around, looking at the vast amount of animals and birds etc., and having lunch. The aquarium too was absolutely wonderful. It really is a fantastic place to see so, if you have time in your schedule while in Amsterdam, I would recommend that you try to fit in a visit.

I took loads of photos and have posted the best of them here. It is obvious as to what most of the animals are, but there are some I don't know the names of!

Lioness

Zebra

Giraffe

Penguin

Aquarium

Aquarium

Aquarium

Baby elephant

Red panda

It was so hot that the meerkats were lying flat out trying to keep cool!

Lion

Heron - I have never seen so many herons in the one place!  They were everywhere!

Baby pelican

We then took a slow stroll back to the hotel after our visit to the Zoo and rested up before going out for dinner that night.  I took this photo on the way back to the hotel.

We found a nice Chinese place and had a nice meal there before wandering back to the hotel via a couple of bars for some refreshments and 'people watching'!!  These are some photos I took before getting back to the hotel.

Arrival in Amsterdam

We arrived into Amsterdam into beautiful weather and the first thing that struck me was the amount of bicycles that I could see!  There were hundreds of them parked up all over the place!!

Bicycles on the dockside

Anyway, after breakfast we arranged to have our cases taken up from the cabin and we went outside where staff assisted us to get a taxi. As I said earlier, we had booked our own extension to the holiday on our own, so our transfers were nothing to do with Viking. The taxi that arrived for us took us to the Radisson Blu Hotel and the total cost was 46 Euros. The drive there was quite a short one but, as we had arrived quite early, our room at the hotel wasn't ready for us, however they happily stored our luggage for us and we went out to explore our new surroundings.

As it was such a glorious day, we took the opportunity of taking a trip on one of the canal boats which worked out as 15.50 Euros for a one hour sail, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  However, before that we decided to pop into a cafe for a rest and a cup of coffee but, I expect you've guessed what we done!!  We actually ended up in a cannabis cafe!!  We did get some strange looks from other patrons, however the staff were lovely and we sat and had a coffee before leaving again on our travels.  I must stress that we did only have coffee though and decided not have some of the 'special cakes' that were on offer!!

On our canal cruise we saw that there were bicycles all over the place.  They are just parked everywhere.  all sorts of bikes, every colour under the sun and some very old ones too!!  We even spotted a multi-storey bicycle park!!

As you can imagine I was a bit snap happy in this photographer's paradise, and I took loads of photos, but I will include just a few here to give you an idea of the sights you can see from the canals.

After our cruise we had a light lunch and then we made our way back to the hotel to check in. I took some photos as we walked back to the hotel and came to the conclusion that it would be almost impossible to take photos in Amsterdam without getting a bicycle or some sort of two-wheeled vehicle into the picture!!

How to take your dog for a walk in Amsterdam!

Girlie scooter!

We were allocated twin room No. 635 which was on the 6th floor and overlooked the reception area of the hotel.  It was a nice large room, especially after the cramped conditions of the cabin on the cruise, but it lacked storage space.  Hard to believe I know, but we had more storage space in our cabin on the boat!! However, it was still a nice room and it had the following facilities: over-bath shower, shaving mirror, hair dryer, toiletries, iron and ironing board, safe, fridge (stocked and electronic), TV, tea and coffee making facilities.  There was an ice machine just outside in the hallway.  Now, about the safe - it was in the most stupid place.  It was situated very high up so that a smaller person certainly wouldn't have been able to reach it to enter in the numbers on the keypad. I was able to reach these, but I couldn't see the bottom of the safe and when it came to clear it, I had to stand on a chair and hold a torch inside to make sure I hadn't missed anything! I just wonder how many before before us have inadvertently left articles inside on checking-out of the hotel. There was also a step into the bathroom which was a tripping hazard. There were no drawers in the room and only a limited number of open shelves for storing clothes apart from some hanging space. I have never been in such a poorly designed hotel room anywhere in the world!  Having said all of that, check-in was easy and the staff were friendly and helpful. We requested extra pillows for the room and they arrived literally only minutes after they were ordered. Here are some photos of the room.

After getting the cases unpacked as best we could considering the lack of storage space, we had a bit of a rest then went back out for another walk around. Here are some photos taken during our walkabout.

Colourful 'cafe'

Bicycles of all shapes and sizes and colours!

That's certainly one good thing about the streets here - there are no hills!! Around tea-time we found an Italian restaurant where we had a nice meal and then walked some more before heading to a bar for a nightcap and then it was back to the hotel at 11 p.m. as we were pretty tired by then!

Nightcap!  Cheers!!

The Netherlands and Kinderdijk

We had sailed during the night and were still sailing when we got up for breakfast in the morning. We sailed through some very pleasant countryside, but it was now very flat and we guessed we were now in the Netherlands.  After breakfast we went up onto the deck in an effort to sport the first windmill of the day, and there was a flurry of activity with cameras when we saw the first one!

Big wheel

First windmill spotted!

Second windmill spotted!

Small boat on still pond

Replica of Noah's Ark

Somewhere on the banks of the Rhine!

There was also plenty of free time during this sail to start getting the packing done as this was our last stop before arriving in Amsterdam. The weather was a little cloudy but, by the time we started sailing and then docking at Kinderdijk, the sun had come out, there was blue sky and it grew very hot indeed!  We docked around 2 p.m. and our shore excursion was scheduled for 3 p.m., however you could leave the boat if you wished to do some shopping at the tourist shop just a short walk from the mooring point.  I chose to leave to take a few photos but came back on board in time to leave with the main groups for the tour.

The reflections were wonderful

House close to where the boat was moored

Some of the windmills

It really was hot around this time and even the guide seemed to struggle in the heat!  In fact, I'm pretty sure that the tour was cut a little short as it did seem somewhat rushed with little time to stop to take in the views. However, it was an interesting visit to see the windmills, especially when you are allowed into one of them for a look around. I'll do a separate post with some photos taken inside the windmill. We also started to see lots and lots of bicycles around and learned that you have to be very vigilant in order to avoid being knocked down by one!! Here are some photos taken during our walking tour:

We left for the sail to Amsterdam around 5.30 p.m., due to arrive the following day to disembark around 9 a.m. Here are a couple of photos taken up on deck after dinner:

Sunset under the bridge

Not the most picturesque sunset, but the colours were nice!

We also learned about the tipping system on board.  They use the 'envelope' system so that you can place what you think is adequate into various envelopes and then hand them in to the reception. We did read somewhere that the suggested amount is 12 Euros per person per day, but I think that is rather high, so we placed what we thought was a reasonable amount into the envelopes (one for staff and one for the entertainment director) and handed them in to reception where we also paid our bill. After that, it was on to the Captain's Dinner which was very enjoyable. After dinner we had a drink in the bar and then went back to the cabin to finish off the packing.

Tomorrow would be the start of another adventure!!