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.
It is interesting that you can buy a ticket on the train and NOT have a reserved seat. Karen and I bought non-reserved seats once in Italy and ended up moving 3 times before our destination. Those with reserved seats pay about $11-20 more but the seat is theirs! From then on we always paid a little more for our train rides, but we were always happy to be able to keep to our schedule.
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