Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Travel Day – OKC to DFW, DFW overnight to AMS
OKC to DFW was uneventful besides the fact that AA separated us, moving us to opposing side window seats, which is no big deal because it was just a 40 minute flight. We were about ½ hour late leaving DFW for Amsterdam. This is the first time that we have flown Premium Economy, and it was well worth the additional $ for a wider, more comfortable seat that reclined more than the seats in Economy and had a footrest. We were in the bulkhead seats that I specifically chose because there would be no one reclining in front of us. This did prove to be a bit bothersome when a few people thought there was enough room in front of us to use it as a turnaround point. We highly discouraged that by placing our stuff on the floor and leaving our footrests extended. Seriously folks? That would be like trying to change aisles through a regular row, not likely to happen!
We left DFW at 4:30 and it was a 9 hour flight. I had downloaded a number of movies and since my normal bedtime is midnight to 1 am, I decided not to force myself to sleep and only closed my eyes for maybe an hour toward the end.
We arrived in Amsterdam and landed only ½ hour late, but it took forever to taxi to our gate. Once there, we were one of the first to deplane, but made the mistake of going to the bathroom instead of going through customs first (amateur mistake but I thought we had to collect our luggage first before going through customs – lesson learned). We spent about an hour in the customs line and while they had the AI machines that scan your face and your passport to allow you less time in customs, they were covered up and not in use.
After we retrieved our luggage, which was already on the carousel, we decided to grab a sandwich at the airport. From there we made the LONG trek through the airport to the UBER pickup point only to find that our phones, while showing 5G, would not allow us to connect to the UBER app. Instead of struggling with that, we went to the taxi stand. Our flight landed about 8:30 in the morning and we finally made it to the hotel around 11:30 –
Thursday morning.
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Arrive in Amsterdam
The taxi deposited us at our hotel after noon. We checked in and immediately hit the bed and set the alarm to get up in 4 hours. We stayed in the hotel this day and just chilled before calling it a day and trying to sleep at around 10pm. (There is a 7 hour difference between home and Amsterdam). I managed to sleep until about 2am. I played on my phone for a couple of hours and then went back to sleep around 4 am.
Friday, August 23, 2024
Amsterdam
This was going to be our full day to explore Amsterdam. I had picked out the Rijks Museum which the hotel information said was less than 3 miles away. We put the information into goggle maps while we were using the hotel WIFI, got Jeff an expensive European breakfast that consisted of a slice of bread, butter, one slice of undercooked bacon and about 2 tablespoons of scrambled eggs – he can’t say that I didn’t warn him.
We made a stop at a grocery store along the way to get Jeff some caffeine and check out the already made items to possibly have for dinner.
Amsterdam is a city of commuters … who all own a bicycle! When I say that your head had to be on a swivel when you got to an intersection, that is not an exaggeration. Not only do you have to watch for cars, you have to watch the bicycle lane (they have the right away, or think that they do), and you have to watch for the light rail and other pedestrians. We also found out that motorcycles use the bike lanes. It seemed that we were continuously pulling one of us out of the way. About ½ way to the museum it started to mist fairly heavy. I touched the back of my jacket and it was past the damp stage and working on the wet stage. Oh yes, did I say that it was windy? The wind put Oklahoma to shame. In hindsight, it was probably a Godsend, because the hotel information was NOT correct. Less than 3 miles to reach the museum turned into 7!
We passed some beautiful canals and the bridges over the canals which were outfitted with loads of flowering plants. There were a few boats tied up on the outer canals but when we got closer to the city center the boats got bigger and people were living on them – commonly referred to as houseboats 😊.
We finally made it to the museum and the line queued up was long. We found someone and were directed to the museum gift shop to purchase tickets. When we returned to the queue, the line was much shorter and we didn’t really have to wait. Once inside we didn’t have bags or purses so we got to skip the bag search.
The museum is housed in an old palace. There were 4 story buildings on each side and the middle was connected by a 3 story open atrium. The exhibits were along the outsides of the building.
The first floor had the information center and café in the atrium area and along the outside was special collections on one end and artwork from years 1100-1600 on the other side. The special collections had fashion, guns, ship models and oriental inspired artwork. The 1100-1600 included a lot of church artwork, sculptures, monstrances, and paintings.
The second floor was 1700-1800 and 1800-1900. It was interesting to see how the Dutch painters style changed from the 1100s to the 1900s. There were some very talented artists with impressive paintings. I had no idea what artwork was housed here besides the fact that it focused on the Dutch artists. I was so surprised when we entered one of the rooms and from across the room spotted the Vincent Van Gogh self portrait (probably because there was a mob of people around it). I was also surprised by how small it was – about 8 x 10, not including the frame.
The 3rd floor was 1600-1650 and 1650 to 1700. The paintings continue to get more and more interesting. The tone seems to have gotten darker but richer and the attention to the smallest detail was amazing. The highlight of this floor were a couple of paintings by Rembrandt with the star of the show being the “Nightwatch” – Another famous painting that art lovers have been admiring for a long time. While I have seen this painting in my art classes and books I was blown over by the true size of it. It was probably 10 foot by 12 foot. Unfortunately, the museum is undergoing a project to remove the top layer of varnish from the painting which isn’t allowing the true colors to come through. The painting was stretched out, not in a frame and had a contraption built in front of it that allowed for the workers to do the restoration work.
By this time we are getting hungry and the crowds have grown. Jeff, bless his heart, I know he isn’t really interested in these paintings, but he patiently followed me around and let me marvel at the priceless works of art that were here. Oh, and did I mention the diamond? It was 36 carats, the way it caught the light would take your breathe away, and it was housed in a non-descript plexiglass looking case in a room full of paintings. Everyone was walking right by it.
After we left the museum, we split a hamburger and fries at a place close by and paid 3.50 Euro for about 6 oz of still water. Plus, these people don’t do ice. I think lunch came to about 33 Euro.
Then we began the 7+ mile trek back to the hotel. Why didn’t we call a cab? Well, although our phones showed that we had 5G, we could not access the UBER app or get any data (and yes, we were on data roaming). Oh well, the exercise will do us good AND the return trip is always faster, right?
We did make pretty good time and stopped at the grocery store and found Dr. Pepper, some chips, and bottle of wine.
We got within about ½ mile of our hotel and had taken a wrong turn. Met a nice lady on the street and although she hadn’t heard of our hotel in the area, looked it up on her phone. She told us where to go, but it still didn’t look familiar. We stopped at another grocery store and Jeff went in and got directions. We successfully made it back to our hotel with a blister on Jeff’s toe (I was unscathed) and ended the day just shy of 15 miles. I WILL NEVER HEAR THE END OF THIS FROM JEFF. He said it was the most he had ever walked in one day!
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Board Nieuw Statendam
Thankfully, the hotel had WIFI and I was able to get an UBER to take us to the ship. Our boarding time was anytime before 1:30 and as early as 10. It took us about 25 minutes to drive there. We unloaded right in front of the terminal, lined up to drop off luggage and went upstairs to check-in. We’ve cruised enough that we get priority so we went to the front of the check in line, no issues there. Next was xray and then we were directed to go ahead and board the ship. No waiting, no sitting to queue with a group, we were on the ship and headed to our room to drop off our carry-on bags.
Next stop was Lido to grab some lunch and sitting at a nearby table was Mary and Pat, who we met on the rainy South Pacific cruise (AND had made plans to meet up with them on this cruise). We visited with them and then went to the dining room to make our dinner reservations. After a lot of back and forth we settled on a table for 4 at 5pm. Seemed early, but it is our table for the remainder of the cruise. We like to have the same waiters every night and first seating makes sure that we can make the early shows.
We were scheduled to leave port at 3pm. Well, that came and went. They were still bunkering fuel but when they finished, we still didn’t leave. Then the captain came on the speaker and said that some protestors had chained themselves to the locks that we have to go though to get to the North Sea. They were waiting for the authorities to deal with the protestors – who by the way, were protesting cruise ships. Apparently they have no idea how much money these cruise ships bring to their communities. We finally started moving towards the locks at dinner time and hit the locks about 7 pm.
Dinner was …. Dinner was cruise food. If you’ve cruised, you know. Nothing special and dessert usually isn’t worth the calories. We finished the evening with music trivia, a set at the Rolling Stone lounge with a great band and listened to a few songs at BB Kings.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
At Sea
Monday, August 26, 2024
Alesund, Norway
In typical Norwegian fashion, we were welcomed to the country with overcast skies, and a heavy mist that turned into outright rain, but only when we happened to be outside – our guide referred to it as a Viking Baptism.
This town is home to the world’s longest tunnel – 15.3 miles (but we only heard about it)! The town population is 45000. In the Great Fire of 1904, the majority of the town was destroyed by a fire that started in the town center at a factory in the middle of the night. There was only one casualty – a woman that had been rescued but went back to her shop to try and retrieve some things and was overcome by the smoke.
French & German architects were hired and the town was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style with mandatory spacing between the buildings and they had to be constructed of concrete, not wood, like the original town.
The fjords and harbor are visible from atop Mount Aksla, which takes 418 steps to ascend. The steps are numbered so there is no way you can argue with how many there are!
Jeff wanted to know when we left for our excursion if we needed our rain gear. It was only misting when I looked outside. Another uninformed, incorrect decision was made, and one that he will never let me forget (insert shoulder shrug here).
We were here from 10 to 5:30 and did a 3 hour Holland excursion, which included town highlights and then the remainder of our time was spent at the Atlantic Sea Park. The largest saltwater tank in the Sea Park holds 2 million gallons and the water comes directly from the sea. Outside exhibits included seals, otters and penguins – which we didn’t get to see because the wind was blowing the rain sideways at the time. The other tanks included lots of different types of crabs, cod, haddock, anemone, lobster, octopus, starfish and sun stars. Unlike typical Holland excursions, we actually had the right amount of time to explore the aquarium.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Trondheim, Norway
There were no shore excursions available from the cruise line for this small town which was easily walkable. The highlight was Nidaros Cathedral which was built over the burial site of St. Olaf II who became the patron saint of Norway. The literature says the cathedral was built FROM 1070, but I have no doubt in my mind that it probably doesn’t even begin to resemble what was built at the beginning. It is the world’s northernmost Gothic cathedral. One of the pictures (below) includes an altar from the 1000’s – it’s red, so you can easily see that the style is much different from what is presented today. This is the traditional site for the consecration of all new kings of Norway.
From here we wandered through the cemetery, along the river, and through the popular shopping area. We got about 12,000 steps in today and while we started off in long pants and jackets, it didn’t take us long to ditch the jackets and wish that we’d worn shorts.
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
At Sea
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Honningsvag, Norway and Scenic cruising the North Cape
We booked the local “public bus” for our trip to the North Cape, which was at least half the cost of the Holland excursion and with all the same sites, stops, museums and films included.
This is Europe’s northernmost point and the Cape itself sits 308 meters or 1007 feet above the Barents Sea and the landscape is treeless. This is the place where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Arctic Ocean. While we didn’t have the full effect of the midnight sun, it was daylight until 10 pm.
Honningsvag is the northernmost municipality and although Norway ruled that in order to be called a “city” they had to have over 5000 population, Honningsvag was grandfathered in with a population of 2400 (which is less people than are on our cruise ship!).
The church in town was the only building left standing after WWII.
While the day started off with rain, by the time we got to the North Cape it had stopped. We had very pleasant 51 degrees – and that’s in August above the Arctic circle! And yes, we saw reindeer!
Friday, August 30, 2024
Tromso, Norway
I had a walking tour laid out and we were going to go the aquarium, but as soon as we left the ship it started raining. So, we turned around, went back to our room and took a nap instead.
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Leknes (Lofoten), Norway
On our excursion today, we first stopped at a traveler’s stop (for RVs) as a scenic overlook, which wasn’t very scenic. Then we went to the Viking Museum where we listened to a presentation about the Viking “long” house and viewed a replica of it. From there we drove through the countryside until we came to the small town of Henningsvaer Village, where we visited a gallery with local artists and then were afforded time to do some retail therapy. BUT, Norway being the 2nd most expensive country in the world, we choose to leave their goods there for someone else to purchase.
Sunday, September 1, 2024
At Sea
Monday, September 2, 2024
Lerwick, Shetland Islands, UK
No real excursions here besides driving you through the countryside and showing you cows, sheep, Shetland ponies, and gardens, so we opted to take the scenic walk along the coast. Our travel director said going one direction was very steep so we opted to go against the grain and did the route backwards. While it was steep for us, it wasn’t as steep as coming from the other direction. There was a nice, old cemetery that we spent time in reading the old headstones, a gorgeous overlook of the sea with steep cliffs and hearing cows from across the water. We watched 2 ladies who were exercising their border collies and enjoyed viewing people’s gardens along the way. It was overcast but not too cool. Glad I had a jacket on but glad I wore sandals – that type of day.
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Portree (Isle of Skye), Scotland, UK
Our tour today was to Dunvegan Castle located about 45 minutes from the port. It is the estate of the MacLeods. It was drizzling when we arrived (you shouldn’t be surprised!). We opted to view the castle first and it was amazing. We wound through all the rooms on a one-way trek and then we continued on our self-tour through the gardens. The drizzle had stopped and while it was still windy, the gardens were lower and not as windy there. The flowers were lovely and we found a couple of waterfalls. Most of the flowers we saw we also have in the US. There was one tree that was really interesting, it was called a Monkey Puzzle tree.
The castle is considered one of the greatest Hebridean castles and the only Highland fortress to have been continuously occupied by the same family for over 800 years. It contains at least ten separate building periods ranging from 1200s to 1850s.
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Invergordon (Inverness), Scotland, UK
Our tour wasn’t until noon so we got off the ship and walked around town a bit. Not much to see. There were a few shops and we did manage to find a few cans of Dr. Pepper which made it back on the ship and are now being rationed out.
Our tour today was to Dunrobin Castle. Mary was so looking forward to this tour but unfortunately wasn’t feeling well today. Pat went with us.
The castle today was nice and looked more like a castle from the outside but the inside couldn’t hold a candle to the Dunvegan Castle we saw yesterday. The gardens were nice but didn’t have very many flowers. There was a falconer in the garden grounds giving demonstrations but it was windy, trying to drizzle (really!) and it was a steep climb down, which meant a steep climb back up, so we decided to view them from the back wall of the castle, which BTW overlooked the sea.
Dunrobin castle resembles a French chateau and has been continuously occupied back to the 1300s. There are 189 rooms. It was used as a naval hospital during WWI and a boys’ boarding school from 1965-1972. It is on the east coast of the Northern Highlands and overlooks the Moray Firth.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
South Queensferry (Edinburgh), Scotland, UK
Did you know that the national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn?
We’ve been here before and did the Edinburgh Castle on a previous cruise ship tour. This time we decided to venture out on our own. We tendered into the port at South Queensferry, then paid to take the local bus to city center in Edinburgh. There was a really helpful worker on the pier and asked if we knew what we were going to see. I told him that we planned on going to Holyroodhouse Palace. He got out a map and highlighted to best way to walk – so helpful!
Once we got off and got our directional bearings, we headed for the palace. It was downhill all the way … and you know what that means … coming back it will all be UPHILL! Our guy that gave us directions told us which bus we could catch to get back up the hill when we were finished.
It was probably a 25 minute fast walk to get to the palace. We bought our tickets and picked up our free audio guide. They didn’t allow us to take any pictures inside – pretty sure so that they could sell us their colorful, professional picture book of the interior, which we passed on.
The audio guide was well done and led us through the courtyard and then up to the 2nd floor. The first floor was offices and the 3rd floor was private residences for the British monarchy when they are in Scotland.
It was nice, but surprisingly, not as nice as the castle that we toured earlier at Dunvegan Castle. They could definitely use some of the entrance fees to spuce up interior areas that received all the tourist traffic.
Outside we were able to view the Abbey ruins and the gardens.
When we left the palace grounds, we saw the bus that we were supposed to catch to go back uphill was just leaving. Surprisingly, Jeff said we should just walk it. We made good time going back and managed not to get lost. We passed a Co-op (their term for grocery store) but they didn’t have any Dr Pepper. We had found Jeff one earlier at a pharmacy. Holland won’t allow us to bring on single use plastic bottles (I’m fairly certain it is so they don’t have to pay to recycle them) but they will allow aluminum cans.
We retraced our steps back to the bus drop-off point and had an uneventful return to the ship.
Friday, September 6, 2024
At Sea
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Since our first day in Amsterdam was spent walking 15 miles (!) and we didn’t see much other than the museum, we took a tour today while Holland messed with getting all the Norway cruisers off the ship and the Spain passengers on. Boy, was it nice not to have to deal with everyone tying up the elevators and trying to find their way around.
We took a bus ride outside of the city and visited Zaadamstad where there were some of the last working windmills in the Amsterdam area. We saw a wooden shoe making demonstration and cheese making demo. Other than those things, the area was gift shop, after gift shop, after gift shop. In an effort to prepare me for our time in Rome, this was the first time on the trip that I had to pay to use the bathroom facilities – CC only, no cash! 1 pound! No CC, no potty!
We also traveled to the town of Edam and walked the streets along the canals, past a couple of Protestant churches and a few bakeries.
Sunday, September 8, 2024
At Sea
Monday, September 9, 2024
Portland (Weymouth), England, UK
Tour to Abbotsbury Swannery & Gardens
I thought this was going to be a “just killing time” kind of tour but it turned out to be really interesting. They told us everything we could ever want to know about swans. The swans are free to come and go but they had a huge group so I imagine the majority stick around as they get feed 3 times a day.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
At Sea
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Bilbao, Spain
We took the shuttle into town and found a couple of churches – surprise! Did not make it to the Guggenheim museum.
The church that we visited was the Cathedral Basilica of St James, dedicated to the apostle St James the Great. It is a point of transit for pilgrims that follow the northern way of the Camino de Santiago. Originally built between the 14th and 15th centuries, it is one of the oldest buildings in Bilbao.
Thursday, September 12, 2024
A Coruna, Spain
Santiago de Compostela Highlights
This was the most beautiful bascilica that we have seen so far. This is on the Portugal pilgrimage route.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Leixoes (Porto), Spain
Holland wanted $$ to take us to the center of Porto. We ended up staying in the town were the ship was docked called Matosinhos. We found plenty to do. We went to a Fort and to the Aquarium. They had a very nice promenade along the beach. We lunched at McD and found a very nice grocery store and stocked up on non-cruise munchies.
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Lisbon, Portugal
Fatima & Batalha
The grounds were made up of a small chapel where the Virgin Mary appeared to the 3 shepherd children, an older bascilica with an outdoor platform out front were Popes have held outdoor services. There was also a newer bascilica. Our guide told us that mass started at 11 and lasted about 40 minutes. We were supposed to be back to the bus at 11:45. We choose to attend the mass and at 11:45 they were just starting to pass out communion. We cut the line, received communion and ran for the bus, nearly 10 minutes late! We were met with a round of applause! This is the very first time we have ever been late getting to the bus on an excursion. I did point out to our guide that we would not have attended the mass had she given us correct information.
We lunched at a local hotel along with about 4 other tour groups.
Our next stop was to the Monestery Batalha. Incredible! The monastery was built in white limestone and has weathered over the centuries. I can’t imagine how beautiful it looked when it was glowing white. There was a wedding that had just concluded in the main church but we were allowed to enter and toured our way through the various parts of the monastery, ending at a chapel that had been added on later but never completed as it lacked a roof. It was a shame that this beautiful room has been left exposed to the elements.
Our trip back to the ship took over an hour on the bus.
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Cadiz (Seville), Spain
Monday, September 16, 2024
Gilbraltar
Stroll on the upper rock
Amazing that the little buses can make the tight turns. We went into a Cavern, viewed the Macques at their den and then walked the WWII tunnels all the way to the end – quite a workout.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Cartagena, Spain
We visited the Underwater Archeology museum – where we got in free because we’re both over 65. It had some very nice exhibits of items found in shipwrecks off the Spain coast. The oldest thing they had was a stone anchor that was dated back to 815 BC.
We spent the rest of our time walking the main street and window shopping.
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Valencia, Spain
We took the shuttle into central Valencia and walked the old town. Stood in line for the Bascilica which was very ornate and had an English headphone tour. This church is said to hold the Chalice that Jesus used at the last supper.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Barcelona, Spain
Montserrat Monastery
The Bascilica at this monastery was very dark and the artwork and church detail was hard to view. All the attention was on the statute of the Black Madonna. I went here thinking that the Black Madonna was unique but further research shows that about 500 exist throughout the world.
Friday, September 20, 2024
At Sea
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Civitavecchia, Italy and transfer to Rome
We exited the terminal, met up with Mary and Pat, and waited outside for our shared ride to Rome. We had our backpacks sitting on top of our suitcases. I happened to look down and was momentarily perplexed. Our suitcases were green but they did not expand, and this one did! We had picked up one suitcase by mistake. Luckily, when we returned it to the terminal, our suitcase was still there!
We shared a van transport to Rome city center with Mary and Pat. It took about an hour. Mary and Pat were staying close to Navarro Plaza (?) which turned out to be under repair and covered in scaffolding for the Jubilee year in Rome next year – 2025. I think they regretted the hotel that they picked. Mary said the rooftop bar and downstairs restaurant went until 1 am, street sweepers followed, then garbage and glass bottle pickups in the very early morning.
Our VRBO was located on the northern side of the city, outside the Aurelian wall by about ¾ mile, and on the north side of the Borghese Park (which was huge). The Aurelian Walls surround the historic center of Rome and were built between 270 and 275 AD. The are among the longest and best preserved ancient walls in the world.
We had to contact the host and jump through hoops to get inside the gate and then to get inside the apartment. Once inside, it took a while to figure out how to get the AC working. Once we had cooled off, we goggled local grocery stores and set out to explore our neighborhood for the next 6 nights. The first grocery store was about a 30 minute walk away and turned out to be nothing more than a very small convenience store. We asked where we could find a larger grocery store with items we could cook instead of chips and pop. We walked another 20 minutes, located the store and stocked up on some things for dinner and breakfast. No DP, but got a few coke zeros for the hubby.
Returned to the VRBO and then set off again around 4:15 for an English speaking mass at 5, that was located close to the American Embassy and was also along the same route that we had taken to the first store.
By the time mass started, the church was full. The priest was from Michigan and wanted to hear where everyone was from as we left.
After mass was over, we walked to the Trevi fountain, along the way we passed the American Embassy. The fountain area which was an absolute madhouse. And then we walked home … uphill, of course!