Wednesday October 10 (LHR to Amsterdam + Museum & Canal Boat)

As my taxi was due at 4 am, I set my alarm for 3.30 but woke up at 1.30 and could not get back to sleep. I hope I did not wake anyone up although I did disturb Rocky who was asleep on the sofa downstairs! It was a cool morning but the stars were out indicating a lovely day ahead.

I was ready by 3.50 but the taxi did not turn up until 4.28, to be exact! He made good time as roads were clear and even the M25 was quiet! We arrived at Terminal 5 exactly at 5 am and the taxi driver helped me inside right to special assistance. Once my bag went through I even had time to grab a coffee and croissant for breakfast so I could take my meds.

The guy who was taking me only had a temporary pass so the woman on security held us up unnecessarily for ages, grrr! He also had to be accompanied by a colleague with a permanent pass. The plane left from gate C52 so we had to catch the train from building A where we were. We made it just as the last groups were called up to board!

We sat waiting to be pulled out from the gate until ten minutes past departure time, we were ninth in the queue to take off, eventually leaving the ground thirty minutes late, lol! The sky was turning a beautiful shade of pink as the sun started to rise although it was somewhat misty.

The flight only took 45 minutes of air time but it was a further 20 minutes of taxi time before we reached our gate. I was met as per usual and taken to the baggage collection area. 

We had to wait for the best part of half an hour from leaving the aircraft before the baggage arrived at the carousel! Then I was taken to where me had to meet the Crystal Cruise Rep and once we did it was all plan sailing, so to speak!

There were a few others on the coach and it was about a thirty minute drive to the Crystal Debussy, our home for the next ten days. it was also back to being driven on the right (wrong) side of the road, lol!

We saw the different modes of public transport, trams (light rail), trains and buses, cars are not allowed inside the city centre any more. We also saw zillions of bikes, Amsterdam has to be the cycle capital of the world, lol, they were everywhere! Cycle lanes are provided and pedestrians have to be very careful crossing the road as there are the cycle lanes then the other traffic lanes, even the managed crossings people have to be alert!!

We arrived at the boat and our luggage was taken care of so we just boarded, had our tickets scanned and went up a deck to the Palm Court. There was finger food, coffee, tea and alcohol available, lol! I had a Latte, some smoked salmon and an almond croissant. I chatted to a couple of Americans from Boston, Loren and Harry. There was a group of six Americans next to them.

There were a number of people already present, many Americans with some Asians and a few Europeans could be heard. We sat around waiting for our state roomes to become available. 

I detected an unusual accent on one of the staff, Sally, she was form South Wales, lol, so I told her I trained at Glamorgan College in Barry, we had a good laugh about that! it also turns out she loves Napier and also worked for Royal Caribbean! Life is full of these seemingly trivial coincidences, I love it!! 

It was not too long before I could go and unpack my bags and then prepare for the afternoon excursion I had booked. I met my butler, Octavian, and later mt suite attendant, Oana. The suite is rather nice and I found a few of the controls to play with, lol! 

We do have TV with some limited live channels and also some movies to watch, if I ever get bored! 

I went out to explore and found the swimming pool, it is at the front of the boat and on deck 3 (Crystal), just above me on deck 2 (Seahorse), so it will not be very far to go!

It is quite small but covered in with glass to view the boat's progress. there are also some chairs outside to enjoy the sun! Deck 4 (Vista) and top deck is totally open with tables and chairs as well as plenty of rugs thrown around.

As excursion time approached, I grabbed my camera and wandered out to the coach. The room key card is scanned every time a person leaves or enters the boat. We were welcomed to the coach, there were two different tours so we had to make sure we were on the correct one.

Our tour was to the Rijks Museum and a Canal Boat tour. By this time the sun was very warm and it was another gorgeous day.

There were over thirty of us on the tour and we had three guides to accompany us. As we drove to the museum the lead guide told us much information about Amsterdam, the history and today. 

The whole area was originally marsh land and the whole of the Netherlands is flat with much of it under sea level.

The country has often been called Holland, but that is actually the name used for a couple of provinces North and South Holland! 

She also referred to the different modes of transport and explained that an underground Metro was fairly recently opened. This presented many challenges due to the marsh and took ten years to construct, it was also very expensive, not surprisingly! 

She talked about the different ages of the houses and the fact that they are all made of brick, they used the marsh itself along with other items, to make the bricks. There were no forest areas for wood. Some houses are made of stone or have stone ornaments at the top, these were built by very rich people.

We arrived at the museum and were divided into three groups. We headed inside and were shown where to meet at 4.45 pm for the boat trip back to the cruise boat. 

We were going to explore the second floor for about 45 minutes as it houses the Great Hall and the Gallery of Honour. 

We would then have plenty of free time to explore other areas. The museum is designed along the lines of a church, hence the stained glass windows and benches like pews etc.

Our guide pointed out the murals on the walls as well as a couple of items of interest on the ground, the signs of the zodiac and a depiction of the four divisions of the day! 

There were so many paintings with different subject matter all by dutch painters although there were influences from other countries. 

Many reflect the wealth and influence of the Netherlands throughout history through such firms as the Dutch East India Company and so on. The import of spices was one of more important activities that led to a growth in wealth for the merchants involved.

There is much symbolism involved in the paintings, for example a woman who was depicted wearing red shoes was a prostitute, anyone painted in black was very wealthy and so on. 

For weddings, the bride and groom wore black and paintings were always produced showing the individuals, there were no group paintings. 

One artist painted backgrounds dark so that faces etc would be shown in light, this was to bring out some feelings and show character. There was a huge variety of subject matter and styles including many showing 
the Italian influence.

There are many Rembrandts in the museum, including the well known Night Watch, but only one Van Gogh, a self portrait. this is because there is a separate Van Gogh museum, such was his importance. 


Not being a keen art fan, I did not know any of the other artists, much to my shame!

There is also quite a collection Delftware, I had heard of this, lol! Chinese ceramics used to be very big in the Netherlands but this tailed off so Delft pottery was developed locally and many of the designs were based on the chinese designs. I took a huge number of photos but the blog will only get a selection!!

When we were left on our own I wandered down a floor to see the painting of Waterloo, also on display was a replica of a ship as well as some weapons. 

I did of course want to see the Van Gogh and by then I could not really absorb any more. I headed for the cafe on the ground floor and enjoyed a cup of coffee while resting my feet.

We all met up and crossed the road to meet up with our canal boat ride. I went down the back where there was a small outside area so I could get better photos. 

These tours are one of the nicest things you can do in Amsterdam. We passed such a variety of interesting sights lots of older houses, of course, as well as the newer area which used to be a Jewish Ghetto and was very run down with no-one living there.

We saw many stone decorations at the top of the houses as well as many houses with five windows, both of these indicators of wealth! 

Many of the houses also have poles at the top, this is for furniture as many of them have very, and I mean very, narrow stairs. this is one reason why IKEA is so popular! 

We also saw many leaning houses, often only the next door house is holding a house up. This is because the houses were built on marsh land and many are gradually sinking. There is not much that can be done apart from pouring concrete in the basement.

We continued to travel along and some of the canals are very narrow. 

Of course we had to meet a boat going the other way at one of the narrowest and it need some tricky manoeuvering plus hitting a tunnel wall, lol, in order to pass. 

There were so many pretty views along side canals, under bridges as well a the many narrow side streets. 

We also passed many cafes, bars, restaurants and groups of people simply enjoying the sunshine by the river. Very few houses have gardens and the river provides somewhere to sit, chat and even have a drink, lol! 

We savoured the smells of different foods cooking as well as the odd whiff of marijuana, lol! The lovely late autumn weather had certainly brought people out!

Our pilot took us on a detour that meant we passed Anne Frank's house, it has a black facade and also a flagpole outside. 

We also saw a wooden swing bridge that will raise to allow boats to pass through. 

Towards the end we entered the Amstel river, which is very wide, important and extremely busy playing a big part in transport, many ferries take people across the river, there are barges taking goods up and down the river, local sightseeing canal boats and then all the cruise ships as well as many small private boats.

I also learned that, much to my surprise, motor scooters can also use the cycle lanes but they have to have blue number plates indicating that they do not go over 30 mph. Those with yellow plates can go faster and are not supposed to use the cycle lanes.

We docked along the river and it was about a five minute walk back to our boat. I was quite tired by this time but we had our boat safety drill at 6.45 pm. this went off very well and there were some announcements to listen to as well. The captain sounds as if he is Italian. We then went down to Palm Court to be advised about some of the changes that have had to be made and a few other things.

i was then able to go to my room and I ordered a steak from the main dining room menu to eat in my room, phew, I was far too tired to get dressed up for dinner! I went to bed qute late as I was working on some of my blog and downloading photos.