After leaving Le Havre we headed for Rotterdam. We were supposed to be docked by 11am, but as this was the first time the ship has been there a few problems came up. We were not able to get off the ship until after noon. Now normally this is not a problem, but our friends had a 2pm tour time to see the Ann Frank house in Amsterdam. We were one of the first people off the ship and it was pouring rain! We ran as fast as we could and got on the free shuttle to the city center and train station. As we got on the bus we told the driver we had to make a train and be in Amsterdam by 2pm. He said he would wait only 5 more minutes and then leave. No one else came so we left and the driver was nice enough to drop us off at the front of the train station. We were able to get our tickets and catch the express train to Amsterdam.
We then ran from the train station to catch the tram to Anne Frank’s. We all jumped on just as the doors were closing. The guy on the tram was nice and didn’t charge us for the ride, gave us a map, and showed us where we had to go. We all walked fast to Anne Frank’s and got to the tour on time. In fact Tim took picture of his watch that said 1:59.56pm.
We didn’t go on the tour with our friends since we have already done it before, so had some time to explore before we meet everyone.
Because it was raining most of the day I don’t have many pictures but we had fun looking around. We had made plans to meet our friends at the Old Church in the Red Light District. So we headed that way and passed a knitting store.
So of course we had to stop and go in. I bought a few things and got talking to the shop owner and she said she was the only knitting shop in Amsterdam, that she knew of, how lucky was that. We then found a church that we thought was the one we were looking for, but come to find out it was the New Church, not the Old one. So we kept walking and finally found it. We then found a coffee shop close by and got out of the rain, had a coffee/tea and used the internet.
After we joined up with our friends we walked around and as the rain had let up some were able to take some pictures.
the Old Church
some of the canals.
one of the many bike “parking” lots we saw.
Amsterdam is also know for their French fries they sell with a mayonnaise
dipping sauce. They have whole shops that just sell the fries, so of course we had to try them.
After walking around some more, and getting a little lost we headed back to the train station to go back to the ship.
waiting for the train back
Instead for catching the shuttle back to the ship we took the Metro
As we got back to the ship the rain stopped (of course), but it was really windy!
This is a bridge that we were parked by.
Then it was time to go back on the ship. We had one day at sea to look forward to then….
Next stop Copenhagen.
Coffee, Crafts and Conversation 