Day 29 (May 31) Side trip to Hanau

Tiredness must have caught up with us we didn't arise until 8:30.  Our continental breakfast was awaiting us, and we enjoyed it.  We waited and waited for Stefan's assistant to come in so that we could pay our bill and get our insurance.  Another couple from the States arrived and we enjoyed chatting with them especially after we discovered that he was an Iron Butt Rally finisher in 2011, the year it started in Seattle and finished in Ontario, CA.  

Finally after noon the lady showed up, but she had been having medical issues which delayed her.  She took care of the both of us and Dave and Lee-Ann were on the way to Strasbourg, France and we followed shortly thereafter on our exploration trip to Hanau.

After leaving Knopf Tours we refueled the bike for the first time in a year and made our way up to Hanau via the back roads.  The ride through the countryside and small villages was fun, but the traffic in and around Hanau was horrific.  We found the center of town and the historic castle before taking a little rest break to stretch our legs and cool off a bit.  Riding this large bike in city traffic is a challenge with all of the stop and go traffic.  But we managed.

I let the GPS route us back via a different route than we rode up on.  I kept us off the freeway except fowr one short section.  We made a quick McRib stop along the way to rebuild our energy loss, and arrived back at Knopf Tours at 9:25 or just after dark.  We chatted with a couple new riders from Canada who were just finishing their 2016 rides.

We did a little route planning for tomorrow before collapsing into beds.

Day 28 (May 30) Bike and Route Preparations

After a good night's rest, we woke up to a light drizzle.  I needed to find some replacement fuses for one of our power cords, so we took a 20 minute walk downtown to my favorite store in Heidelberg: Bauhaus.  It's very much like a Home Depot or Lowe's.  I easily located the fuses and purchased  them before we walked back to the Golden Arches where we were served the last breakfast meal for the day at 10:30.  We checked out of the Ibis and toted our luggage down the street to the light rail which took us to Kirscheim where our motorcycle was waiting for us.  

At Knopf Tours where the bike is stored, we met Joseph from New Zealand who was servicing his Dr650 for a ride across Asia towards home.  I found our motorcycle and noted that it had a new battery installed and was missing one of the throttle rockers I use to relax my grip.  Otherwise the bike looked ready to go with its brand new tires.  I remounted the panniers and top box as well as the front panniers and tankbag.  We sorted out our gear and then I spent the bulk of the afternoon resolving why my Win 10 tablet wouldn't connect to the WIFI.  In the end I found I had to remove the network device and have the computer rediscover it.  Then I had to resolve why my GPS would not connect to the tablet.  That turned out to be a USB cable that was only capable of charging and would not pass data between the devices.  By the time I figured those two items out, both devices needed to be recharged and could not easily be used, so I did manual route planning using paper maps the old school way.

Tomorrow we're riding to Hannau which is about an hour north away to visit the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm.  It's a city filled with lots to do and we may need to spend more time there.  I've got a twisty route planned that will take us along the Neckar River.  We'll likely see some castles.  Actually I know we will as we've previously taken a river cruise up the river.

Day 27 (May 29)Arrival & Departure - Amsterd

Today was our last day on the Koningsdam and the beginning of the next part of our 2016 European adventure.

We rose and showered and went up to the Lido for our last onboard breakfast and waited for our disembarkation tag Green 1 to be called.  Holland America uses different colored and numbered tags to disembark passengers in an orderly process.  Over the years we've found it to work well, and today was no exception.  During the pre-disembarkation process, we selected an independent departure time and our assigned time was 8:30 - 8:45am. Promptly at 8:30 our color was called, "Guests holding Green 1, please proceed to the gangway on Deck #2.  Thank you for sailing with Holland America and we wish you a pleasant rest of your journey home."  And with that announcement, we returned to our room #5087 for the last time, collected our belongings, got scanned off the ship, and collected our luggage in the terminal which we easily found.

Friends we had met on several earlier cruises were getting ready to board the Koningsdam for a two week Norwegian cruise.  They had stayed at the Mövenpick hotel for the night (located right next door to the ship), so we popped in on them (pre-arranged) and enjoyed a great couple hours chatting with William & Carolyn and their adult son Adam.  They were excited to be boarding and we were excited to share what we had just experienced over the past 3 weeks on the ship. One just can't buy these kind of friendships. Even though we hadn't cruised together for a couple years, it was just like yesterday.  We even discussed the possibility of cruising together in the fall to Australia.  We'll see if that works out.  We also sold them the remainder of our Norwegian krone money

While it was tough to say goodbye, we knew they'd have a good time as will we on the next part of our adventure.  Off we headed for the train station (Centraal Station about 1/2 mile away) walking and pulling our single small rolling suitcase while we encountered dozens of passengers coming from the train station and headed for the ship with their large or even double rolling suitcases.  Their identifying mark was the distinctive Koningsdam luggage tag.  One Australian man stopped and said, "You're going the wrong way!" to which I replied, "we just spent 3 weeks on it and it was good."  Nearer the train station another couple, this time from Holland, engaged us with conversation, and we shared information with them.

Centraal Station is HUGE but well laid out with lots of shopping on the level below the trains and buses.  We found our departure platform 10b, took a bio break, and Angela purchased some bread to go with our remaining Gouda  cheese and stuffed olives from Cádiz and sodas for a picnic meal on the train.

Right on time our train arrived and it was a major hurdle to get on.  Fortunately we had reserved seats so once we muscled our way through the masses, and Angela used her Spanish to evict a seat squatter, we settled in for our picnic.  All of the preceding took around 15 minutes of maneuvering while the train was moving!

Interestingly, the train moved relatively slow and steady across Holland.  At the border, a German engine and crew took over the train, and our tickets were checked.  From now on we would just be seeing the German countryside.  After that change, the train really sped up!  At Osnabrück, we changed trains for the final 5 hour segment to Heidelberg.   

TIP:  Even if you are travelling by train in second class, get reserved seats.  The current train was oversold and many passengers without seats had to get off!

Much of this segment was along the Rhine River with little villages, nice camping sites, big castles and lots of commercial boat traffic.  We arrived in Heidelberg about 30 minutes late and in the dark despite skipping several smaller stops along the way.  Our lodging for the night at IBIS was right next to the train station and had set of Golden Arches next to it.  

We had a little bite to eat and a soda, but walked back to the IBIS in a downpour!  

After a quick shower to remove the travelling sweat (did I mention that our train car was roasting hot in cool weather?), bed beaconed but we still fantasized about what was happening on board the Koningsdam as it plied its way north through the North Sea without us. . . But we had our own different adventure ahead of us.

Day 25 (May 27) Oslo, Norway

The last port stop on any of our cruises begins the deflation of the energy associated with the entire cruise.  Oslo was no different.  We were in port slightly ahead of schedule around 9:30am and Ian Page provided scenic cruising commentary for the 2 1/2 hours time cruising up the Oslo fjord. We didn't attend the first half as our rest time was too short as it was.

The ship berths right downtown with the bow facing the City Hall and right across the street from the ancient fort.  We disembarked the ship and found our walking tour group which was organized by a CC member.  This was to be a 5  hour tour and we were underway by 10am.  Agnes, our tour leader, led us up the fort pathways and down the back side towards the Opera house and beside a replica of Noah's ark.  

The Opera house has a very unique design which makes it look like an iceberg plus it's possible to walk on the roof leading to some spectacular views.  From there we walked towards the downtown area by the National theatre to the City Hall (Rathaus) where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented.  On the second floor are some nice paintings of Norwegian royalty.

We then purchased tickets for the #12 tram which took us out by the American Embassy to the 80+ acre Vigeland Park which is home to the numerous nude sculptures designed by Gustav Vigeland.  While he didn't actually carve the sculptures, he designed them and created the models.  They are really quite well done.  We then took the #12 tram back to the waterfront area where our tour ended at 3pm.  We found an ATM to get some more Norwegian currency and ate a quick snack of pizza and Coke Zero at a 7/11 store before doing some wandering around the port area and the City Hall in search of magnet souvenirs.  We then wandered back to the ship did our 5:30 all aboard time.  I turned in the receipt to the taxing authority on board he ship for my jacket purchase and got the $12US tax back.  

Right on schedule, Captain Emil pulled out of the berth, did a 180° counterclockwise turn and we sailed out through the Oslo Fjord listening to Ian's scenic cruising commentary for about 45 minutes before eating dinner in the Lido and watching the fjord pass by.  There was some sort of sailboat race and if was neat to see the boats healed way over as they sailed back towards Oslo.  There was also a scenic cannon emplacement to view that Ian gad alerted us to during the scenic cruising.  We caught the 8:30 performance of the cast show of Billboard Hits (a replay for us from the first two week cruise).  We tried to watch the poolside movie, Interstellar), but couldn't get into it so we returned to the room to read before lights out at midnight.

Day 26 (May 28) At sea to Amsterdam

After doing sea days on long ocean crossings, I find these single day sea days to be significantly under-fulfilling.  The only significant items of the day were the Mariners award ceremony and brunch, a travel trivia game with Ian Page that was rather fun and lively and a reshowing of Ice Planet Live on the World Stage.  We spiced it up a bit by returning to the Tamarind for our third dinner there where there were also several other Cruise Critic couples eating dinner.  I had the super tender tenderloin while Angela had the duck.  This is clearly our favorite  restaurant on the ship!

After dinner Sid (one of the CC couples and a doctor) offered me some decongestant for the cold I had acquired. We followed him back to their room which was an aft balcony to pick up the tablets.  Their room is not much bigger than our inside stateroom, but the balcony is nice.  I also finished my Shadow Divers book (I highly recommend it).  We packed and put out rollabout cases to be offloaded so we don't have to carry them off the ship and then went to bed a bit earlier as we needed to be up earlier.

Day 24 (May 26) Kristiansand, Norway

After what seemed like a short night's rest, we heard the 8am ok to go ashore.  Since our walking tour didn't start until 10am, we got dressed and headed up to the Lido for breakfast.  I didn't spot Angela in our normal eating spot but found a place with Rose and John from Cruise Critic and saved her a place. About halfway through our meal, our hostess mentioned that Angela was sitting at the other end of the area.  Rose went and told her where we were sitting but Angela stayed put as she was enjoying conversation with a German lady and her son.  

Just before 10am we met shoreside with our guide and Lori F and her husband John who organized the tour.  Our guide, John, was a lifelong resident of Kristiansand and retired 3 years ago from work in the silica plant where he worked for 40 years.  He led us on a delightful 3 hour tour through Kristiansand pointing out out items would probably not discovered on our own.  Kristiansand is the 4th largest city in Norway after Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger.  It relies now on fishing and tourism as principal industries.  The city was named after King Kristian IV who founded it on ground of sand hence the name.  

The city is laid out in a square pattern with evenly spaced crosshatch spaced streets.  There's a main shopping street named Markensgate (with heating coils in the street so prevent freezing during the winter months) and there is one of the most striking McDonald's in the world there:  it has the facade of a Roman columned former bank building.  The Cathedral is fairly plain but has a couple of stained glass windows on the altar end of the structure. It was destroyed at the beginning of WWII and later rebuilt).  An organ recital was being  played when we were there and it was refreshing to listen to. The city also has one of Europe's largest collections of old, low-rise timber houses.  John pointed out the one he was raised in after WWII.

At the conclusion of the tour we walked back downtown and enjoyed a simple McDonald's meal and used their WIFI before wandering our way back to the ship via the fish market where we sampled a yummy fish cake.

We finally used the first gigabyte of data over an almost 3 week time period on our Glocalme Simcard device.  It's worked out well for the two of us to have easy Internet access when or near port.  I would judge that to be a success.

We were back on the ship early at 3pm for a 4:30 All Aboard time.  Shortly after 5pm the anchor lines were relaxed and re-stowed, and with a long toot of the horn we pulled away from the dock and did a 180 degree counterclockwise rotation before sailing out of the harbor leaving the Ocean Glory at her berth.  We did a quick change into our gala clothes (for me it was in my freshly cleaned suit - one has to love the free laundry for 4 star Mariners) for our dinner reservation at 5:30pm in the Tamarind (our favorite specialty restaurant).  This was to be the first cruise where we have never eaten a gala night dinner in the main dining room.  We were assigned our favorite table aft overlooking the rear pool area where we watched the sailing out of the harbor with a beautiful sunset.  We ordered the lobster without breading along with a shared tenderloin steak so we would have our own 'surf and turf' which was the key entree in the main dining room.  It was delicious and the tenderloin was probably the most tender of any steak on any HAL ship I've had.  Our open bottle of Moscato was retrieved from the main dining room and it complemented the meal wonderfully.  Additionally, the Matre Dei remembered us from  our cruise last fall on the Eurodam.

We caught most of the 7pm World Stage show which featured Iris Kroes, the 23 year old who won Holland's The Voice TV show competition who also sang for the Queen during the dedication ceremony a week ago .  We stayed in the showroom to see her 8:30pm performance.  We've spoken with her offstage and she's quite approachable.

We returned to the room and watched the movie 'Big Game' set in Finland and involving a terrorist attack on Air Force One.  It was a cute flick.

Day 23 (May 25) Stavanger, Norway

For the second time on these two cruises we enjoyed a most excellent day.  Following our customary Lido breakfast, we disembarked the ship in Stavanger around 9am and found our way to one of the local souvenir shops where we located our customary city magnet and confirmed the location of our bus pickup for our 450 krone Viking tour. The dock is right in the center of town which makes walking to a number of attractions quite easy.

Just before 10am we boarded the very colorfully decorated Viking Tour bus with 20 other guests.  Camille, our tour guide, who was actually from Colombia but met a Norwegian fellow and moved here, introduced us to the tour concept.  She was dressed in replica Viking clothing.  It turned out that this was a brand new tour and we were the very first group to take it.  Our guide then fave us a history of the Vikings and my big takeaway was that Viking is actually a verb meaning to go long distances.  Also Vikings never wore helmets with horns on them.  In fact only one Viking helmet has ever been found.  For the rest of Viking history, I'll let the reader research that independently and not bore you here.

We also learned that Bluetooth is a Viking term and again I'll let you research the background on that.

Our first stop was at a memorial to the Vikings which was a replica to the 3 swords stuck in a rock and located elsewhere in Norway.  Here we had the opportunity to don replica Viking helmets.  We learned a bit more history before heading on to a very old church and a Stone Henge type monument.  Our last stop was at a reconstructed Iron Age farm (pre-Vikings) where we got to go in a long house with stone walls and a sod roof.  A lady dressed in period costume explained the history of the farm.  Our Viking bus then dropped us back at the pier just in time for our 2pm catamaran ride with 200 of our closest friends out to Pulpit Rock.  

The ride was fast and extremely scenic.  Near Pulpit Rock we docked for a 'snack' of waffles, sour cream and jelly and tea.  It was yummy especially since we hadn't eaten lunch.  Our turnaround point was at a spectacular waterfall named Hengjanefossen.  The captain pulled up the boat right in front the waterfall so close the passengers in front got splashed. Seeing the rock from the underside was spectacular and we could even see people dangling their legs over the edge.  Scary stuff.  There were also some goats along the way in their summer pasture and a very lonely mailbox that one would have to rappel down a cliff to retrieve any mail!  We returned to the ship with 10 minutes to spare but there was at least one group still behind us.  

As soon as that group was on board, we departed with the customary toots of the horn.  Thus area is the heart of Norway's sea oil drilling industry and we saw lots of boats devoted to that support as oil prices are low so drilling activity is reduced.

We ate a quick Lido Marketplace dinner before listening to Rogerio Tutti, a Brazilian classical pianist who was good.  We then participated in and won the game show 'Majority Rules' along with Anneken & Harlan and Dennis & Judy.  After that show, we chatted with them for an hour until the BBC game show was on with our friend Keith as a participant.  His team won a dinner in the Culinary Arts restaurant.  We capped the evening off watching the wonderful Robert Deniro/Anne Hathaway movie, The Intern.

I learned today from our show host, Saul, that the ship is fully booked at 2,600 on this cruise and that there are over 1,000 Dutch passengers on board.  The atmosphere on board really changed when we left Amsterdam!  Some good and some not so good.

Yes it was wonderful day, but my wife reminded me we have only 4 more sleeps until the end of the cruise.

Day 22 (May 24) Flåm, Norway

The Koningsdam backed past the Rotterdam silently into its berth just before 8am  at the tiny village of Flåm.  It was surprising how small the Rotterdam seemed next to the Koningsdam.  Since we did not have our Flåm Railway excursion until 11:45am, we enjoyed a leisurely Lido Marketplace breakfast before disembarking the ship for the day.  We wandered through the first few gift shops, found the ATM and free WIFI in the train station, and then found the teensy faux train that would take us on a 45 minute trip to the original village.  The cost was 120 krone each It turned out to  be a nice little trip where we saw among other things a vintage state church, a sod roofed house, a major rock slide, kiddo's playing at a preschool, and more.

After returning to the dock area we scouted out souvenirs and looked around.  At noon we gathered for the train and were led up to our reserved car and began the 45 minute ride up the valley to the hotel Vatnahalsen overlooking a mountain lake and just below Myrdal.  We were served pancakes and sour cream and jelly along with tea.  Along the way we stopped for 5 minutes for pictures at the Kjosfossen (falls) with the mysterious maiden dancing.  The scenery was stunning.  

Following our ride back down to Flåm, we shopped some more (I bought a down jacket) and more souvenirs.  All to soon we had to be on the ship by 5:30om.  We were #7 & 8 from the end to board the ship.

Shortly after 6pm we departed The Flåm harbor with appropriate horn toots between the Koningsdam and the Rotterdam which would depart an hour later.  The cruise then proceeded out the very scenic Aurlandssfjorden  (fjord) to the equally scenic Sognefjorden which is the deepest fjord in Europe. We watched for a couple hours before eating dinner in the Lido and then watching an excellent comedic magician we have seen before (Rubén Vilagrand).  He acts like a mime and is very effective as a magician.

We then adjourned to our room to watch the Water Diviner about an Australian father attempting to locate his sons lost in a WWI battle in Turkey.  It's very good.

Day 21 (May 23) At Sea to Norway

The morning after a turnaround day (when a large number of passengers disembark and are replaced by embarking passengers), it's amusing to see the large numbers of people with that confused or 'deer in the headlights' look.  We slept in a bit and joined the throngs in the Lido Market area for breakfast.  It was the most crowded we've seen it for the whole cruise.  But we were able to get seating in our customary area in the Canaletto and enjoyed a nice breakfast.

After breakfast we attended a presentation by Ian Page, Destination Specialist, on the History and Culture of Norway.  I also attended the meet and greet for the Cruuse Critic guests up in the Crow's Nest where I met a few new passengers and connected with the organizer of our Kristiansand walk.

Collector Voyage guests were invited to a special Indonesian Lunch which we enjoyed with Keith from Australia and Diane and John from Pt. Ludlow, WA (near us).  Following this the Captain and Hotel Director answered questions to a full house on the World Stage.  Among the interesting answers to questions that came up was the planned fix to the audio/video system to get those aspects on the TV.  It also came out that the library was built incorrectly and would be fixed.  Ian then came back to the World Stage and presented an interesting program on the Vikings.

Today was a Gala Night and we had reservations in the Canaletto.  It was quite good and the wine steward had already retrieved our Moscato wine from the main dining room.  That was a first and a nice touch.  The World Stage featured the cast in One World and it was as good as the first time we saw it last cruise.  Back in our room we watched the movie 100 Feet which was quite good.  Morning will come early in Flåm tomorrow.

Day 19 (May 21) Amsterdam Day 1

The ship arrived around 7am but we didn't need to be at the Anne Frank house until 10:15 so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before departing from the ship around 9am.  We were routed around the terminal and deposited on the street with no taxies, map or greeting by any HAL or local personnel.  I personally find it reprehensible that HAL and the Port would do this in such a large and developed city.  Later in the day I spoke with the Hotel Director and he indicated they discovered the mistake and fixed it.   Fortunately we're self-supporting travellers so we used the rudimentary ship provided map.  We found signs pointing us to the 'City Center 6 minutes walk'.  So we followed the map and wandered our way to the Anne Frank house.  

We arrived a bit early so we looked around a bit and decided to purchase a combination Hop on Hop off bus / canal ticket for 28€ each.  At the appointed hour we entered the Anne Frank house.  The tour winds its way through the house with a number of displays and commentaries.  The crowd moved through quietly and very respectfully.  All too soon we exited the museum.  

I will make one observation about acquiring a ticket to the event.  Purchase it online a minimum of several weeks in advance and you can select a specific time.  Or you can take your chances by standing in line in the afternoon for a ticket.  On this day in  the afternoon the line went around the block!  

We then rode the 2 hour trip around the outer canal before getting off and finding a little cafe where we enjoyed a very nice local lunch.  We then hopped on the blue line canal boat and did the hour loop after waiting an hour for a boat that's supposed to come every 20 minutes.  We rode it around another partial loop to its nearest stop close to the terminal.  We walked back to the cruise ship terminal by a different route that turned out to be more efficient and it will help us in a week when we need to navigate to the Central Station for our train ride to Heidelberg, Germany.

After a very quick dinner in the LIDO, we were shuttled to the Rijksmuseum for a night at the museum sponsored by HAL.  It was a really nice event and over 1500 passengers participated in this free event.  

Back at the terminal we enjoyed some really nice WIFI before reboarding the ship for a short night's sleep.  It had been a really nice day in this port city.  What would day two in Amsterdam bring?

Day 20 (May 22) Amsterdam Day 2

Today is turnaround day for the ship in which many of the existing passengers would depart and be replaced by new passengers. In fact, in our room location, we were only one of four rooms who would not be checking out.  Our canal boat wasn't scheduled to depart from in front of the passenger terminal until 9:30am, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.  We waited for the 9:30 canal boat which did not arrive until 10am.  We rode it to the next stop where we got off and transferred to the Red bus route which we rode for an hour in the loop it makes and came back to our starting point at the Gassen Diamond Factory where we had a nice tour and demonstration of polishing diamonds and building Rolex watches.  We then got back on the green line canal boat and rode it back to the cruise terminal.  Another couple from the ship joined us at our table and we chatted about cruising and cruising tips all the way back to the ship.

On the way onboard we got our picture taken by some departing Indonesian crew members who thought it to be funny we would sit in the shoe!  We had a bid shoe to fill.  They were also quite amused that we would ride a motorcycle!

With a 3pm onboard time and a mandatory safety drill for the new guests we took the opportunity to head up to the Crow's nest to score a good seat for the outbound scenic cruising narrated by Ian Page.  The Captain came on the PA system and announced we would sail an hour late due to some late arriving passengers.  While waiting the ship The World which is a condo ship that constantly sails the seven seas.  Prices of the condos start at $1,000,000 plus annual condo fees!  We have seen the ship previously in Turkey on another cruise.

As we sailed out the canal we got to see lots of rural scenery, but the real treat was passing through the locks that separate the North Sea from the canal system.  The lock was so large we had at least 30 feet of side clearance and a great deal of length clearance.  There were also hundreds of onlookers watching our departure. The lock gates don't swing to open or close, rather they slide perpendicular to the length of the lock.  Last, the sea water is about 8' higher than the canal system.  

Coming back to the room, we discovered that as Collector Voyage passengers we had a special opportunity to book certain excursions before today's newly boarded guests plus there was a nice little additional sweet treat awaiting us.  Our chocolate was missing from the turndown, but Angela secured some from our stateroom attendant.

We attended Ian's location presentation on Norway ports of call before watching the Moby Dick movie 'Into The Heart of The Sea'. We then retired for the night shortly after midnight.

Day 18 (May 20) Rotterdam Day 2

Today was Dedication Day for the Koningsdam so our activities focused around those activities plus a few more we devised on our own.  Breakfast was In the Lido like normal where we ate with a couple from Florida.  We were required to be in our places by 10:15am and the doors opened at 9:30am, so like good cruisers we were in line by 8:50am!  And we were still 15th from the front!  

Shortly after 9:30am the doors opened and we found a place at the hot tub end of the pool where Angela sat on the pool edge with her feet in the water and I stood.   The Lido pool area filled quickly and the crowds pressed especially when the CD Jonathon announced that nobody could stand on the blue carpet as it was the fire escape route (most of it really was for Queen Maxima to walk on).  Just after 10:30 Captain De Vries escorted Queen Maxima in to her seat in the front row on stage left.  Following some introductory comments by Stein Kruse and Orlando Ashford including the announcement of the name of the next ship in the Pinnacle class to be the Nieu Statendam, Captain De Vries escorted Queen Maxima to the stage.  She said a few words and then blessed the bell by pouring a glass of champaign over it and ringing the bell for the first time.  She then signed the memorial wall followed by the captain and the HAL officials.  And just like that the ceremony ended with Queen leaving to go down to the World Stage for the Dedication Ceremony where she pulled a cord that released a bottle of champaign to break against the ship's hull.  And the ceremonies were over!

We adjourned to the Lido Market for a quick lunch with Keith Long from Australia before walking over the Erasmus Bridge to the Spido Harbor Tour dock where we our he'd 12.50€ each tickets for the 2pm sailing which lasted around 75 minutes.  It was a good tour.  Returning to shore we walked to the SS Rotterdam (now a hotel and restaurant) where we did a self guided tour and snapped a few photos.  She's a grand old ship and Rotterdam is proud to have her back in the harbor in which she was originally built.

We walked back to the ship via some back roads and changed into formal (gala) wear for dinner.  We ate with a couple from Germany and another from Texas who we had been on a tour with earlier.  We then watched the untying from the dock, and shortly we were underway for the two hour exit from the berth to the open ocean.  All along the canal, hundreds of people were watching and waving.  Other ships saluted us with their horns and the Koningsdam returned the salute.  A number of party boats also accompanied us much of the way.

At the exit to the harbor there was a nice 5-8 minute fireworks show.  

We then went to the Billboard onboard to listen to the dueling pianos.  A number of the Hal officials were there.  I had the opportunity to speak with Orlando Asford and the pianist from the string quintet.

Our commemorative plate was in the room this evening and it's beautiful.

We're off to visit the Anne Frank house in the morning in Amsterdam.

Day 17 (May 19) Rotterdam Day 1

We got up pretty late today around 9:30 as the only thing that interested us on the ship's schedule was the scenic cruising commentary by Ian which started around 12 noon. We barely made it to the Lido before the breakfast serving time closed at 10am.  

After breakfast, we went up to the Crow's Nest to face forward as we entered Europe's biggest port.  The channel we sailed up is the mouth of the Rhein River and is packed with all sorts of marine businesses.  We passed and were passed by a number of smaller long and skinny river boats we are used to seeing far up the river highways in Central Europe. We could also see the old Rotterdam cruise ship which is now a hotel and restaurant.  About two kilometers before our berthing location, we reached a fork in the canal where it was wide enough for the ship to do a 180° clockwise turn under the close supervision of a number of police boats who stopped other traffic.  We then backed into our berthing location at the Rotterdam Cruise terminal amid the watchful eyes of hundreds of onlookers on shore.  Later on I was disembarking the ship next to Captain Devries and I asked him if that was the farthest the ship had been moved in reverse.  He paused for a moment and then said 'Yes, but I was ready for it.'  And, yes, when the Captain leaves the ship he scans his ship ID card just like us.

Before disembarking the ship for a quick hour walk around the area, we ate a quick lunch.  Once off the ship, we walked toward the New York Hotel which was formerly the headquarters of Holland America Line.  There is even the original wording for HAL on the outside of the building and there is HAL promotional material inside the New York Hotel lobby and gift shop locations.  The whole area was very photogenic and I even stood on Utah (stenciled on the sidewalk).   We then reboarded the ship (with help from Jonathan our CD and passing by Orlando Ashford and other GAL dignitaries to meet our afternoon HAL Journey Ashore excursion to Gouda.

This excursion turned out to be a bust with a very inexperienced tour guide who was overwhelmed by 40 people.  She walked off leaving people still deboarding the tour bus, was unable to audibly communicate with the group, read from a tourist guide, lost two members of the group in St. Jan's Church (later they rejoined us), and much more.  Near the end of the tour I ran into Juan Carlos, HAL's Journey Ashore manager on the Koningsdam who was accompanying another group.  He couldn't hardly believe what I described was happening but another member of our group cooberated my account.  We then walked back to the bus and were driven back to the ship.  

We arrived back around 8pm and Angela saved a seat for me in the World Stage venue while I left items in the room.  The group tonight wax Opera Familia composed of a Dutch husband, his wife, and adult daughter.  The performance was great and in one love song the wife came off the stage and zeroed in on me to sing to and then she was accompanied by her daughter.  So here I am sitting in my seat next to my wife while two gorgeous women are holding my hands and singing to me.  They both had great eyes and that's my story and I'm sticking to it! JA Tem!   Fortunately Angela and another gentleman got pictures of this, or else you'd never believe me!

After the show we went into the cruise terminal rouse the free WIFI before going up to the Lido for the 10:30pm feeding as we had missed dinner.  We then retired to our room where I finished up my blog entry for this day.

Tomorrow is going to be special with Queen Maxima coming onboard to christen the ship and bless the ship's bell.  She and King Wikhelm are adored by their Dutch subjects.

Day 15 (May 17) Cherbourg

We arrived in Cherbourg around 8am and because we had no shore excursion involving travel planned, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the Lido.  The ship was quickly cleared for disembarkation and we finally left the ship a bit after nine.  The museum we wanted to visit was literally adjoining where we were docked so we waited for its 9:30am opening and were among the first in it.

We first did a full tour of France's first nuclear submarine, Le Redoutable.  They gave a very nice portable audio system to guide one through the ship.  Following that we took a Disney type ride that simulated riding a submersible on the sea floor.  A visit to the Titanic exhibit followed that.  Cherbourg was one of the last stops for that ill-fated ship.  After a quick lunch in the museum  cafe we spent the rest of our time in the very nice acquarium.  All of this left us a couple hours left over so we caught a ship's shuttle to downtown and walked around before walking back to the ship.  Once onboard, we met with the future cruise consultant to book a 45 day 2017 cruise before enjoying a nice dinner in the main dining room, level 2.  I had the prime rib.

For some reason the ship didn't depart on time, and the captain came on the PA system to announce first that there was going to be a possible cancellation of the next port of LeHavre due to a French general strike that cancelled all shore excursions by the tour operators.  Later on during dinner, the Captain came back on and said we officially would be cancelling the port call and that HAL would come up with some alternatives for Cherbourg. A few minutes later Jonathan the CD came on the PA system announcing 3 new options for tomorrow and that the free port shuttle would operate tomorrow as well.

We then went to a cast show of Billboard Top Hits which was probably one of the finest HAL cast shows I've ever seen.  The tribute to Whitney Houston with Whitney singing on the big screens accompanied by the cast singer was so poignant.  The Beatles tribute was also quite good as was the Chicago tribute.  The World Stage venue was packed!

Afterwards we went up to the Lido for some tea and I'm trying to figure out with our tour organizer whether we'll attempt to go to Mont St. Michel tomorrow from Cherbourg.

I  note that Cherbourg is a major ferry port with service to the UK and Ireland.  I made note of that for a possible future motorcycle trip to Ireland.

Day 14 (May 16) At Sea

Today was only our second sea day and it found us in waters off the west coast of France.  At breakfast we enjoyed some nice conversation with an Amsterdam travel agent who had 68 clients on board.  Our first event of the day was the Mariner Society awards presentation which led immediately into the Mariner brunch.  Following the brunch we participated in the 'On Deck For A Cause' the 3 mile charity walk.  We were only able to walk the first mile as we attended a lecture on Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar (we had seen the Trafalgar lighthouse earlier on our Cádiz excursion).  But during that walk we got to see a lot of dolphins, and even took a few pictures.

Following the Lord Nelson presentation by Ian Page, we went back out on deck and resumed walking and logged another mile before participating in the wine tasting event for 4 Star Mariners by the Cellarmaster, Tony, who is from Canada.  While we are not big wine drinkers, it was interesting to experience the effects of cheese on the wine taste (salt softens the acids in the wine).  We then went back out and walked the final mile of the charity walk so that we had actually walked the entire 3 miles!

At 4 at the Lincoln Center Stage we watched the String quintet perform a set called Fresh Perspectives.  5:30pm found us at the Pinnacle Grill for the second of our specialty restaurant selections.  We had a window seat and a couple (Bob & Francis) from Huntington Beach were seated next to us.  For the first time in the Pinnacle we enjoyed conversation with another couple.

The evening's entertainment was Mario D'Andrea, a high energy guitarist, and the movie was Brooklyn.

Day 13 (May 15) Vigo

We met Deborah (the excursion organizer) and her husband Bob on Deck 3 near the front office after watching the ship come into the harbor.  Shortly after 10am, we were released to disembark the the ship.  After a brief wait ashore, our Tours by Locals guide, Miguel, met us and escorted us to his nice 8 passenger Mercedes van.  He was a head dining room waiter on Crystal Cruises for 13 years; is married to a Canadian he met on a cruise ship; and lives in Porto, Portugal which is about 1.5 hours driving distance from Vigo, Spain.

He indicated that Vigo has about 300,000 population and there are 2.,500,000 in the province of Galacia. Also he noted that this is the mussel farming capital of Spain.  We saw lots of evidence of mussel farms as we drove out to our first stop at the Don Olegario family orchard and winery just outside Combado.  We enjoyed a nice tasting and description of the production process.  We even were able to get a picture of a 40 year old John Deere tractor that's still in service.

We then drove to the seaside village of 

Comparro for a terrific lunch stop.  Miguel ordered a variety of local items which we divided among the group.  We experienced mussels, clams, amazingly tender octopus, jumbo shrimp, bread, fried peppers, and a Spanish omelet.  We then drove back to Vigo and found a cool overlook at Parque Charlie Rivel before returning to the ship.

We ate dinner in the Main Dining Room and were seated with Mary and Ben from California and Brian and Jean (son from Maryland and his mother from Georgia). Mary had fallen the day before and sported a large black eye.  Brian is a writer for AP.

After dinner we watched the 8:30pm Magic Show on the World Stage (Sylvia and the great Handini) before retiring to the room to watch a movie about running of the bulls in Pamplona.

Day 12 (May 14) Lisbon

After breakfast this morning, we went up to the Crow's Nest where Ian the location specialist gave scenic commentary starting at 8am as we sailed into Lisbon and under the 24th of September bridge and past the Christ the Redeemer statute which is like the one found in Rio de Janeiro.  As we approached the dock a bit before 10am, Captain De Vries turned the ship 180 degrees counterclockwise so we would be facing outward for our departure scheduled for 6pm.

We left the ship around 10:20am and quickly found Gonzi, our guide from 'We Hate Tourism' tour company.  This was a private tour I arranged for, and 4 others from the CC group were in the small 8 passenger VW diesel van.  Gonzi first navigated us through the hilly and very narrow streets and by a huge flea market  to a nice lookout point for our first stop where we had the opportunity to take some pictures.  

We then navigated more narrow and twisty streets to Sintra and a second stop where we sampled the national treat of Portugal: Quiejada.  It's a custard like treat and a bit sweet.  But oh so yummy!

A little ways away found us at Quinta da Regaleira which was the summer home in the country for a very wealthy but childless businessman from the late 1800's.  This estate is filled with walking paths, grottos, tennis court, a chapel, a mansion, a 3 story cistern well and much more!!  It only cost 4€ each for us seniors to get in.  We walked (hiked) to the top of the estate and explored a very long tunnel and passed under a waterfall.  This was a super cool spot to visit and wished we had more than an hour and a half to visit it.  

Gonzi then drove us a bit further to another small community where at an intersection there was a roadside produce market and he set up a lunch at a food truck that was quite tasty.  After lunch we continued our drive around the peninsula with a stop at Guinsho Beach on the Atlantic coast where there was a lot of kite activity.  We continued on around through the Cascais beachfront town before returning to the ship just after 5pm.  Security on the pier was quite busy as many tours were arriving back too.

While listening to the Captain's sail away announcement, the couple across the hall invited us to tour their stateroom and we reciprocated.  Their room definitely had more room plus a balcony and they felt claustrophobic in ours. But ours is working for us.

We did dinner in the Lido at our favorite option of the Distant Lands station.  What makes this so good for us is that it's stir fry and one gets to choose the ingredients so it can be a very healthy option as we choose lots of veggies and a little shrimp, calamari, and scallops!  This combined with a custom ahi spiked salad and all is well with the world.  We also connected to the Internet with our Glocalme device to check email and Facebook and . . . .

After dinner we attended the 8:30pm World Stage performance by the dance cast in a show called Musicology which pays tribute to the instruments of the orchestra through dance.  Afterwards we joined the crowd at the Billboard online venue with the dueling singing pianists doing a set on hits from the 70's.  This is a very popular venue every night it's on the schedule!

We capped off the evening watching the movie 'Night Train to Lisbon'.  It was definitely one that required one's full attention.

Before the movie, our laundry which had been sent out this morning was already back.  We're loving this 4 Star Mariner benefit!

We set our clocks forward an hour!

Day 10 (May 12) Gibraltar

After a calm but windy overnight sailing we approached Gibraltar around 8:30am.  We had already eaten breakfast and found a spot up in the Crow's Nest on Deck 12 where Ian was giving a scenic cruising commentary.  WE passed through one very severe rain squall, and little did we realize this would be repeated throughout the day.  The rock looked as stunning as previous pictures had portrayed it.  We docked promptly and we easily found our tour which would take us all over the island.

The tour was wonderful and took us on a drive across the very short international airport that separates Gibraltar from Spain.  Speaking of driving, they drive on the right side because of the large influx of Spanish visitors.  It's been this way since 1929.  On the point of the country, there's a lighthouse,  a mosque, a war memorial and another memorial to Poland's General Sikorsky who was killed in an airplane crash during WWII. One can see Morocco sone 14 miles away.   We then climbed the rock on some really steep roads to caves filled with stalactites and stalagmites. 

There were apes outside as well as at several other stops.  While cute, they were aggressive whenever they saw shopping sacks as they associate them with food!  We then visited the Great Siege Tunnels which were part of the 34 miles of tunnels.  

At the end of the tour we were dropped off in town where we enjoyed a fish and chips lunch before walking to the aerial tram gondola for another trip to the top of the rock where it was very windy.  In fact the gondola was closed after we reached the top due to the high winds.  We then wandered our way back to the ship and purchased some placemats and Angela found some shoes.  All of our day's activities cleaned out all the money we brought ashore.  

It was about a 25 minute walk back to the ship in a rain squall where we departed promptly at 5:30 as everyone was on board.  We were served a very good Mediterranean BBQ before enjoying a flamenco show in the World Stage.  The game show 'Name That Tune' was next in the Billboard onboard area.  

Day 4 (May 6) Vatican Museum Visit

We spent the entire day at the Vatican Museum.  I had purchased tickets from an online source and it was necessary to go to their office, check-in, follow a guide 6-8 blocks to the museum entrance, get one's check in document scanned and assuming it scanned properly, an official entry ticket was handed to you.  This all went well even considering that the line at the check in office was quite long.  The clerk wouldn't accept an electronic copy of our online purchased ticket so I had to email it to her, and then she booked us into a tour that departed 2 hours later.  When we saw our 10am  group was still here, Angela got us put back in the 10am group.

Once inside the Vatican, we wandered on our own through the museum.  While we were there one year earlier, we weren't able to visit the Egyptian museum, so that was high on our list to visit.  And we succeeded.  After lunch we wanted to visit the side of the museum that housed the Sistine Chapel, and that portion of our visit was extremely crowded as that section was closed because of a visit by the German President, Angela Merkel, whose motorcade we saw earlier when walking to the museum.  We did spend more time in the Sistine Chapel as we were an hour or so before closing.  

After our visit we caught the Subway back to our lodging and purchased some simple food items for dinner. 

Day 5 (May 7) Ostia Antica

Today we visited Ostia Antica which is an amazing collection of ruins that rivals Pompei and Herculaneum.  They were fascinating and engaging.  While there I asked a couple that I had overheard speaking English where they were from.  The lady replied "Southern California" abd she asked me the same question and when I replied "Seattle" or "actually near the airport", she asked if my name was Tim?  It turned out the couple is on our cruise, and Karen had recommended this city to visit, but neither of us knew we both would be visiting at the same time.  It's a small world!

After our tour of the ruins we walked into the town proper where Angela found her gelato ice cream.  We then caught the first of two trains back to our B&B with a stop at the grocery store to pick up dinner provisions.

Day 6 (May 8) Capitolini Museum

After some deliberation we decided to visit the Capitolini Museums.  They came recommended highly by Jim Suttell, a former co-worker who has travelled extensively in Italy.  The plan was to take the #85 bus, but I had forgotten to get bus tickets on Saturday, and now it was Sunday and our little Tabac shop was closed.  So we walked up to the Ponte Lungo Metro station to buy them and then take the Metro to Termini and transfer to a bus to Venezza square where it was a short walk to the museum.  At Termini, there was confusion as to which bus to take and where to stand for it.  But we eventually boarded a #64.

At the Vanezza We walked a short distance to the museum and spent the day there before catching a bus back to Termini abd switching to the Route A subway line which zipped us in a packed train back to our stop at Ponto Lungo.

After an hour wait we returned to the il Pomodoro restaurant for another lovely pizza dinner.  Tomorrow we take the train to our new home for the next three weeks:  the brand new ship the Koningsdam.

Day 7 (May 9) Chivitavecchia

After packing and enjoying a light breakfast, we bid farewell to our hostesses Celeste and Emmanuela and walked the 5 minutes to the train station and found that our local train to Civitavecchia would be leaving on Track 2 at 9:48.  We watched trains come and go and Angela listened to the announcements and took that as an opportunity to try learning a bit of Italian.  

At 9:50 our train arrived and we settled into our upper level seats and enjoyed a pleasant 59 mile ride to school the port town.  Interestingly we were never checked for a ticket although we had them electronically stored on our phones.  Arriving at Civitavecchia about 15 minutes late, we disembarked the train and bought our 2€ shuttle tickets and helped an Australian couple do the same.

At the terminal gate we transferred to another bus to the cruise processing center where the was a bit of a line.  Once we got inside the 'building', being 4 Star Mariners, we were quickly processed and immediately allowed to board.

The ship is brand new and had that brand new smell like when one purchases a new car.  We found our inside room 5087 and it's quite small with the largest shower we've had on a ship.  Our safe was not unlocked, so I made a call to get that fixed.  The hold time was over 20 minutes and another 45 for someone to show up to fix it.  We then went up to the Lido Market on deck 9 for a late lunch before attending a Mariner reception where we met several people from Cruise Critic.  We noted that announcements in the Lido area couldn't be heard and when we reported it, the Cruise Director acknowledged it was a known issue.    At 3:15 we had to return to our room for a mandatory muster or safety drill. This drill is done differently on this ship in that we only needed to report to a staging area on deck 2 in a lounge where they scanned our ID cards and on completion of that by all passengers we were released.  It was good to be able sit for this drill instead of standing on an outside deck like so many cattle waiting for slaughter

While we were scheduled to depart at 4 pm, the Captain indicated in an announcement that we would be leaving about 15 minutes late.  We ended up leaving around 45 minutes late.  We like the early dinner seating which is 5:15pm, so we showed up for that and had a nice table with a couple from Virginia and a couple from California.  While the service seemed slow (it took an hour for the main course to arrive) we were we pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Marlin our wine steward from our Nieuw Amsterdam trans-Atlantic cruise last November.  He even remembered our name and that was impressive and reflects well on Holland America  personnel selection.  We both had the seared scallops as an appetizer and a nice steak salad as the entree.  We skipped dessert in order to watch the Classic performance on the Lincoln Center stage which is part of what they call the music walk.  We followed that with a 70's music set in the Billboard Onboard stage (a pair of dualing pianos) and a few minutes of the Country music set before watching the movie, The Dress Maker, on the outside movie screen located above the main pool.  It's sort of like watching a drive-in movie from lounge chairs.  I view it as an invitation to fall asleep.

This ship has an electronic guide (app) which can been accessed on one's smartphone that looks good on the surface.  It does, however, have an annoying feature in which the events disappear from the screen as soon as they start.  So if one is a bit tardy in arriving, it won't show up on the app.  

Day 8 (May 10) At sea

Today was our first day at sea as we travelled from Civitavecchia to Carteghena, Spain.  Ice as a lazy awakening at 8am.  We certainly miss the lack of an outside camera like found on the smaller HAL ships to give us a sense of perspective.  Breakfast in the LIDO was good And that led to our first presentation about the upcoming ports by the location specialist.  He presented an informative talk about cities we had previously visited (except Gibraltar).  Angela then stayed for a presentation on the Iberian peninsula history while I went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet where I was able to put faces with screen names for a few folks.

After lunch in the Lido, the Location Specialist gave another presentation on the Passions of Spain:  Toros (bullfighting), Food, Flamenco, and Football (soccer).  The Captain, Emiel Defries then led a presentation and toast to be cruise.  The evening entertainment on the World Stage with  its 270 degree video screen was super impressive and technologically state of the art.  Our evening was capped off by watching Bridge of Spies about the swap of Rudolph Able for Francis Gary Powers and a young college student on the large outdoor screen on the pool or Lido deck.

Day 9 (May 11) Cartegena

We arrived on time at 10am in Cartegena. I had forgotten how pretty the approach was and it was interesting to watch the Captain pilot the Koningsdam through the S approach and docked us skillfully. During this process I tried out my new portable SIM card, and it worked well.  We disembarked quickly and headed for the naval museum give was very interesting.  There's a separate building housing one of the world's first submarines.  

We then headed for downtown to walk on the main walking street Calle Major which gas this amazing marble tile surface.  We enjoyed a nice lunch of fried squid and veggies before heading out to walk up to the castle that overlooks the harbor and has been in the possession of a series conquering groups of Goths, Muslims, & Catholics.  Cartegena was the port through which much of the wealth from the New World passed.  

We descended from the castle and walked through the town and found a supermarket where I purchased to water with gas and learned that distilled water is sold at the Perfume store!

We were among the last on board just before 5:30 and watched a challenging sail away due to strong winds.  Another cool feature of the Cartegena harbor are the two tunnels used in WWII to hide submarines.  Dinner this evening was taken in he Lido Market Place and followed by a funny British Comedian, Martin Beaumont, who we have seen before.  We also spent some time listioning to the dualing pianists in he very popular Billboard Onboard.  WD ended our evening watching some BBC nature programs on the Lido Screen.

Day 11 (May 13) Cádiz

This morning we found ourselves in Cádiz, a city we've visited 3 previous times.  We scheduled ourselves on a HAL shore excursion to visit the white villages about an hour south out of town.  The first was Vejor located on a hill and was quite lovely to walk through.  The second was located on the beach at Conil.  We also enjoyed a quick salad lunch:  Angela had tuna with cold fried peppers and I had the octopus.  In between towns we paid a quick visit to the Trafalgar lighthouse site of the famous battle in 1805 between the British and the French/Spanish armadas.  The shore excursion was worth it and it was good to get out of the city for the first time.

 

Back in Cádiz we made our way to the Centro Mercado to purchase some delectable stuffed olives that we had been introduced to several cruise visits ago.  The same merchant is still there and each time he apologizes for them being more expensive than other varieties.  We then wandered around the city in search of WIFI  and found the memorial to the female tobacco workers who rolled cigars for a living sone years ago.

We finally decided to use the WIFI at the Yogurteria on the main square by City Hall.  A 2€ purchase of two Coke Zero's bought us the WIFI code and we finished up our internet for the day before walking back to the ship to get ready for a 5:15pm dinner in the main dining room.  We were seated with David from Slippery Rock, PA who was a retired chemistry professor.  It took 45 minutes to receive our appetizer and that led to us missing the 7pm first performance of the BBC Frozen Planet which was accompanied by the Koningsdam orchestra.  But we made the 8:30pm showing and then started to watch Pirates Of Penzance on the poolside screen.  Watching movies there is like going to the drive-in as one watches from deck lounge chairs.  But we couldn't engage with the play so we went to bed as the clocks were being set back for our stop in Lisbon.

Europe 2016 - Days 1-2 (May 3-4)

We started this year's adventure with a delightful flight on Lufhansa 491 from Seattle to Frankfurt.  Our flight departed and arrived on time and there were some nice movies to watch.  I watched two sea dramas, one about the back story to Moby Dick and the other about the US Coast Guard's most famous rescue.  Additionally there was a 1/2 hour Adele  concert and a 1 hour El Divo concert.

Upon arrival in Frankfurt at 8:30am on Day 2,  we cleared immigration and found our shuttle bus to Heidelberg where we dropped off one duffle bag with our motorcycle gear.  We had about 5 hours to wait for our shuttle pick up, so we took the light rail downtown to look for an air mattress for our upcoming motorcycle trip.  After a nice salad for lunch we located a mattress for about $42, caught the light rail back to Kirscheim where we toured the local Lidl store and I took a short nap while Angela went shopping at another Lidl.

At about 16:50 we were picked up by the shuttle and whisked back to the Frankfurt airport where we caught another shuttle to Motel One where we would be spending the night.  After checking in, we went in search of the Indian restaurant we had spotted on our previous visit a couple years ago.  It's located in the middle of a huge garden area that people grow flowers and vegetables in their own plots and is in the middle of a developed portion of the city.  We had another nice salad and soup dinner. 

Walking back to the hotel we spotted 2 bunny foo foos which were larger than what we see at home.  Back at our room we checked email and prepared to try to get a good night's rest as we had been up for some 36 hours with only some catnaps.  I hadn't yet made reservations for the flight to Rome, so that task was still ahead of me.  We ended up having one of our cellphone chargers short out and blow the circuit for the room which necessitated a trip down to the front desk to get it reset.  The cheap Chinese charger was fried!

Stay tuned for more.

Europe 2016 - Day 3 (May 5)

I slept until around 2am local time and needed to take a bio break.  I fell back asleep until around 5am at which time I wasn't sleepy any more so I commenced my search for flights.  As we fly standby, this requires us to be flexible in our choice of routings. I found a likely prospect in a flight that went to Rome via Berlin on AirBerlin.  It showed a number of open seats, so I booked it with an 11am departure to Berlin arriving at 12 noon and a 2:20pm departure from Berlin to Rome where we would catch a FR1 local train to our stop (Tuscalano station) near our AirB&B reserved location.  I sent a message to our hosts indicating we likely would be to their place around 5:30-5:45pm. While I was at it I booked our train tickets for Monday from the Tuscalano station to the port of Civiavecchia (4.60€ or about $6) where we'll board the Koningsdam for our 3 week cruise.

After showering and dressing we finished packing and caught the 8am shuttle from the hotel to Terminal 2 which Air Berlin flies out of.  At the terminal, the first Air Berlin clerk sent us to Alitalia for our boarding passes.  The clerk at Alitalia then sent us back to Air Berlin's counter where a second agent said we were at the right spot and checked us in for our flights.  She couldn't give us seat assignments, but after we cleared security (they did a full search of our backpacks), our seat assignments were waiting for us at the gate for both legs of our trip.  While waiting for our flight we had a light breakfast at the only cafe in the terminal.  The scrambled eggs, tomatoes, cheese, and bacon was quite good along with some green tea.  Angela's fruit salad was also quite hardy.

We were bused from the terminal to our A320 airplane and we had an on-time departure.  The one hour flight went quickly and there was a lot of scenery since we flew rather low at around 20,000 feet.  At Berlin we were bussed a short distance to the terminal where Angela went souvenir shopping.  The two hour layover went quickly and this time we walked out to another A320 and boarded.

I should mention that Air Berlin seems to be a lot like Alaska Airlines with really friendly staff, clean planes, food for sale (cash or credit cards) and generally regional routes although they have expanded their routes to include the US, Central America, and Australia.

The two hour flight to Rome went well and once again we were bussed to the terminal where it was at least a half hour wait for our luggage.  After that we acquired our train tickets from a commissioned vendor for 10€ each.  They were available at ticket machines, but that would cost us an international transaction fee or from the train ticket office (long line).  The train was waiting for us after we navigated the labyrinth of hallways, tunnels, moving walkways, escalators, and one elevator.  It was probably 1/2 mile walk in total.  The train took about 45 minutes to arrive at the Tuscalano station and was very full.  We had seats in the upper deck that were nice.

From the Tuscalano station we followed a screen print of a Google map on my phone directly to the apartment.  At times it was challenging as many of the streets were not clearly marked. We did ask for confirmation directions at one point and we were right on course.  We met our hostess, Celeste, who greeted us warmly and gave us introductory information about the room and navigational tips.  She also recommended a local pizza shop, il Pomodoro (tomato) which was very good.

And so our first day in Rome was soon over and sleep beaconed.  But first I located a source for Vatican Museum entry tickets.