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Welcome to the M/S River Aria, our home for the next 14 days as we float down the Rhine and Danube with 145 strangers.
First stop, Cologne.
They have a huge Gothic cathedral and it’s the home of ‘eau d’ cologne” (really!), and you can pull up to the side of the city and get off your boat and see all of it.
We will be going thru 66 locks and traveling 954 miles and making a lot of friends.
I am proud that I am a bit naive about life. I do know what’s out there, but I don’t have to think about it or embrace it.
Take the Red Light district…really?
And I have to inhale your second hand weed smoke?
The urinals on the street corners, now that’s a treat!
Ah Amsterdam. Let’s get to the boat and get underway!
…sorry, you can’t take pictures in the red light district
The houses in Amsterdam are either lining streets or canals. And according to our GPS, they are indistinguishable…turn left at Grachtengordel and you’re in the drink.
And all the houses lining the canals lean forward. At first I thought, in my limitless wisdom, that the houses over time settled. Nope, they were built that way to keep rain from coming into the windows. And there is a hook at the top of each 3-5 story home for bringing in furniture to the upper floors because the stairways are impossibly narrow and steep. does it work for groceries, pianos?
Greetings from Amsterdam, a beautiful country with so much history, but a sad place as all the churches (the big national treasure ones) are being used for secular reasons now.They aren’t even open to view. They have evolved not to need God. But God will show us His glory and He knows He can use us on this cruise.
We saw Anne Frank’s house, the Van Gogh museum and the Heineken Experience and did the all day pass on the tram (our own version of Hop-on-Hop-off bus, and cheaper). Oh yeah, and the Red Light district.
The river cruise we are about to embark on is my CELEBRATION cruise! Watch out world! It looks like we are the youngest on board, cept for the crew. And our Chinese waiter at lunch was from Escondido!
My heart and prayers are with you all (Isnt it great that God’s portable!). Miss you all, but having a really awesome time.
Amsterdam claims to be one of the free-est cities in the world. Let’s see, I’ve seen closed- down churches, a gay-tourist info kiosk, hemp stores, a creative condom shop, drinking legal at 16, and living room windows with naked ladies sitting in front of them, with red lights on the porch; a legal profession that’s even unionized!
Mind you, the town is very pretty, and easy to navigate, and a very busy place. It seems like every young person in Europe wants to come here for summer vacation. But if everybody can do anything they want, what happens to a culture that doesn’t stand for anything?
Well, if you have followed this blog over the years, you know I fall down a lot. It’s all of those old cobbles and tiles that get me down while I am looking up at all the scenery.
And if you ever had to pay attention to where you’re going it’s in Amsterdam! The whole country, for that matter, lives on their bicycles! So when I’m not dodging trams, or cars, or buses, I’m being run down by old ladies on bikes. One million have their own lanes and they have the right away over all other modes of transportation. This is your average “bike parking lot”.
Venlo is the location for the once-a-decade flower show in the Netherlands. It’s a really big deal! It is very close to the German border and over two hours by train from Amsterdam. I am very glad I don’t have to understand flowers and their language to enjoy the Floriade, but for everything else, well it’s Dutch (and greek) to me. We are enjoying the show, but finding the language hard to decipher.
When I am in a foreign country I like to visit their “grocery” store and see what is on their shelves and prices etc (Nothing can compare to our produce!). Well I picked up a great water bottle last night. Got back to the room and quickly poured a cup of replica rolex the refreshing…vinegar!! It was even near the bottled watered. I guess getting on the right bus is more important than understanding all the labels. It looked like water, really!
San Diego to Houston, Houston to Amsterdam. How did Newark get in there? Nothing like having the pilot come on over the intercom an hour out of Houston and tell us we have lost our navigation system and we have to land. Oh yeah, and dump fuel because we’re too heavy to land so soon!
This is our plane jettisoning a LOT of gas over Kentucky. Then we head to the coast and follow it up to Newark, New Jersey, where they think they can give us a new part or a new plane. We never flew higher then 13,000 feet or faster than 300mph. That is low and slow for a plane holding over 300 passengers. And we all got to stay in the plane while they gave us a new system.
Obviously we made it to Amsterdam and we had no further connections. We got train tickets to Venlo, ND and then a bus ride to our hotel and that’s all the stress I want for this whole trip!
The experience at Focus on the Family was PERFECT; just what the doctor ordered. It forced me to get my stamina back with the schedule we kept, we made some great new friends, and enriched old friendships. It was a wonderful April!
Now we look forward to a whole bunch of anticipation to our “Rivers of Europe” river boat cruise. From Amsterdam to Vienna on a ship that holds 150! I am trying to learn about the area, mostly Germany — Castles, middle ages, war trials etc. It’s kind of my “Jubilee” and victory trip over the trials of 8 months of Chemo and Radiation.
From Vienna we head to Barnoldswick, England to see friends and family and from there to a family reunion in New Jersey.
So hold on to your hats, here we go again. God is so good, and it is sooooo awesome to have my health back and that dark chapter of cancer behind me. The prayers, cards, books, and meals were so much appreciated. They got me through. Amazing!
Debbie and Steve leave Montalcino today. First stop: Milan.
Where did the time go???? From Milan we go to Bern Switzerland , then Interlochen, then Garmmesh, back to Venice , then Salzburg , then Munich , Rottenburg, Denmark , Sweden , home. We have to make calls to book the military bases that will house us when we are in Garmmesh, Venice , Munich and Rottenburg.
