The Bakers Grand European Vacation

We had booked a 90 minute private canal tour with the company that we had used in 2018 with the kids. We had a great experience then and hoped for the same this time.

The boat docks near a hotel, the Andaz which seems to be the 21C of Amsterdam. I popped in for a quick restroom stop before getting on the boat.

Floris gave us an overview of the history of Amsterdam but I took no notes so I don’t have much to share. The synopsis it’s several hundred feet below sea level, build on peat, canals were made over years and years as city grew, it’s a UNESCO world heritage site, people are given tax breaks who live in houses along the canal to help offset maintenance cost, it’s expensive as shit to live here, there are no more spaces for boats along the canal for people to live, that’s about it.

Lots of pics upcoming….

Overall the tour was meh. We had paid for a charcuterie board that we never got (we are going to email and ask for a refund), and the unlimited drinks weren’t necessarily that (not that that’s a huge deal.) It just didn’t have the same level of energy and fun as 2018. Maybe we needed the kids for them to bring the energy.

Oh well, you win some you lose some.

After a quick pit stop to drop off the Heineken bag we headed out for my blue and white pottery store.

After picking out all the best things (which are being shipped) we decide to head home for a bit before our afternoon plans. Carey mentioned he’s thirsty which made me realize I am too.

We stopped my McDonald’s for drinks. For some reason Greg decided he needed a double cheeseburger. He’s clearly missing American food because it’s rare he ever eats McDonald’s.

While we were waiting Linda and I walked into one of the rubber ducky stores. Apparently these have become a mascot for Amsterdam. Have to admit. They were real cute. And there were so many options.

Time for a quick stop back at the apartment and then it’s off to our canal cruise.

To be clear, we did not do the experience. We only visited the store. It’s worthy of a post.

Greg got a few things and when he went to pay it was a self checkout type thing. Apparently you just put all your things at once in a bag and it displays on the screen everything in the bag.

We woke up this morning in our Amsterdam Airbnb which was a rude re-entry to non ship life. After taking turns with our one bathroom for everyone to get ready we were off to find breakfast. Our destination is a pancake house that our Uber driver suggested that’s a short walk from here. It’s a good thing we were slow to make our way through our one bathroom because the restaurant didn’t open until 10.

We found a table close to the window and began perusing the menu. Our driver had suggested we try both the large pancake as well as an order of the smaller ones.

Our waiter Tim came by to ask if we needed help. We said sure, give us your suggestions. His were in line with our drivers so we shared an order of the smaller pancakes and each got large ones.

Carey and I ordered coffee drinks, Linda chose orange juice and Greg got…..a beer. Tim was pleased with Greg’s choice and responded “nice.”

My vantage did prove to be a great place to watch people on their bikes. The Dutch are literally insane. It’s chaos everywhere and people ride so fast on their bikes. Every time we cross the street I’m never positive we are in the clear.

Our driver did not steer us wrong. I got a savory pancake that had ham, cheese and pineapple on it. It was basically a really thin crepe with toppings. According to Tim the best way to eat them is to roll them, put syrup on the and then cut them to eat.

While we were eating we realized we were close to the Heineken experience. We visited this in 2018 and Greg got a bottle opener that he loved that broke. Seems like we will be heading that direction after we eat since the open at 11.

Speaking of 11, that seems to be when schools start here which feels so late. I wonder what time they get out.

After hanging out in the apartment for a few hours to catch up on work, news, and life we decided to head out at sunset to see the canals and search for some dinner. We have no specific target in mind, we are just going to walk until something speaks to us.

After dinner we decided to head back to our apartment. Greg, who never gets lost, might have met his match here with road and canals all looking the same.

We realized we were heading in the wrong direction so Carey and I both started mapping on our phones. We had a few Big Ben, Parliament moments as we passed things we’d already passed as we walked in circles.

So a little story about these tulip vases. I’ve wanted one forever and I’ve been searching on Facebook marketplace and at auctions for one. I’m not sure what exactly I’m going to do with it but that never stops me. I’ve been thinking maybe I could find one on this trip.

We popped in a store earlier where I saw that one, for tourists, but I didn’t get it because we still had all our crap to get from the boat blah blah blah. I think maybe it was 100 something. Can’t really remember.

Then we passed the store with the giant one in the window. That was a fancy antique store but I still wanted to just check it out. Linda walked with me after lunch. They were selling obviously the legit Delft pottery. We could only see a price tag on one that was maybe 18-24” tall (but was beautiful) and it was 4590 euros. Or something crazy like that. Clearly I can only afford tourist grade shit but it’s fine because it’s gonna make me sooooo happy.

But also I want all those blue and white houses that I’m pretty sure KLM used to give out to first class passengers for free. They actually still might.

Anyone have a lot of Delft pottery they don’t want that they are looking to offload? For free? Never hurts to ask right?

Tomorrow’s agenda…fake pottery shopping, pancake eating, canal cruise, and Anne Frank house. It’s our last day here before we catch the train Saturday morning to our final destination….Paris.

We had a nice Uber driver (despite Stephen saying Uber would never find us at the boat.) He asked what our plans were and confirmed we had planned appropriately with enough scheduled activities as well as downtime.

Carey decided to suggest he take a trip to Kinderdijk to possibly find their tour guide who was single and cute because he thought they might be a good match since both of them were nice. Look at him over here making potential matches!

We arrived at our less than ideal apartment. It’s a two bed one bath but really there’s only one actual bedroom. The other bed is on a partial wall behind the couch. Not exactly sure why we booked this and I’d tried to warn Greg before the trip we might want to eat our deposit and find something else but here we are. It’s not like we aren’t used to tiny quarters on the boat….it just really helps when there is free food and endless drinks.

After some jockeying about who would sleep where we headed out to see some more sights and to find lunch. Mainly lunch for me. I’m not used to waiting so long in between meals!

We ended up finding an outdoor cafe with some seats in the shade. It was a little chilly at first but the sun eventually made its way around to our table and warmed us up.

The menu wasn’t the most robust so I went with the bacon cheeseburger. It was so good. Can’t tell you the last time I had a cheeseburger or fries.

My Coke Zero came with what I thought was a straw. Nope just a plastic stir stick of some sort. How are straws not a thing here but yet they put this giant non useful plastic thing in my drink? So confusing.

There was a really irritating family of four sitting basically at our table since the tables are so close. They were from Florida and were with their two boys traveling apparently for “mommy’s work event.” We didn’t actually talk to them, I just know all this from listening to them. (I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was literally trying not to listen so I wasn’t in a state of constant annoyance but was unsuccessful.)

One son ordered a pancake and they brought out a tall round shaker thing of powdered sugar. It actually said sugar. The dad picked it up when his food came thinking it was salt and put it on his fries. (Mind you the salt and pepper grinders were on the table in front of him and look just like any that you’d find in the states.) He then had a mini meltdown because his fries were covered in sugar and had to ask the waiter to bring him new fries.

Meanwhile said kid with pancake was a baby because he didn’t like said pancake and the dad kept telling him things taste different not in the US and you basically need to put your big boy pants on and eat it. You know like he did with the fries.

Mom had to order him a special bowl of pasta just like she did for the other son because he refused to eat the pancake. When his pasta came he couldn’t eat it until he got new silverware because his had syrup on it.

Oh and the youngest kid ordered hot chocolate with whipped cream on the side. Is that a thing?

Our Uber driver had said that people here get annoyed with tourists. Not surprising.

There was some activity going on near our table at the canal that appeared to be some sort of commercial or movie being filmed. They had some guy riding his bike in the same area as they filmed.

We got a better look and to watch the action for a bit as Carey and Linda walked into a little shop to buy a small piece of artwork. While they were paying the artist painted their names entertwined in calligraphy which means they will live happily ever after together and that Linda will keep her beauty. The only problem is he wrote Linda and Garey. Hope that misspelling isn’t bad juju since apparently he holds such great power by just painting peoples names.

But back to the movie….

We were also finished with our outing and made our way back home to do a little work in our super comfy apartment.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this cruise. I’d heard amazing things about Viking but it’s so different than how we typically travel and I’d never cruised so I was a skeptic.

Coming out of this I’m into them. I must admit some of the guided tours were somewhat snoozes but these were infrequent. We mostly have funny, engaging and intelligent guides. Almost all of them allowed some free time after to explore on your own.

I really thought not knowing the details of the schedule until the night before would drive me crazy but it was so nice not to have to worry about what to do, where to go, what to eat, etc.

The lounge was comfortable to sit and read or talk in. While our stateroom was small it wasn’t something that negatively impacted us.

The crew was absolutely amazing. Gilberto kept our room so clean. He somehow knew when we left for breakfast and would come make the bed, dry the shower, replenish water etc.

Gilberto also left Viking bookmarks in our room which became a thing. Linda had left a book on her nightstand one day and when she came back from breakfast there was a Viking bookmark in it. I was so jealous she leant me her extra book to place on my nightstand and was disappointed to find that I didn’t get one. I returned her book to her and then all of a sudden I walked in my room and I had one!

There was so much chatter about it, Jane was kind enough to get Linda and I bookmarks from the chapel in Bamburg.

Then randomly Linda borrowed a book from the Viking library and got yet another bookmark! Obviously I was jealous and had to go get my own library book to borrow. Boom! Got my second. Needless to say, I’m good on bookmarks for a while.

I’ve said a lot about the servers but they were all top notch. We got to know them and will honestly miss them!

I think we are planning a Christmas Market Cruise in the next year or so. Anyone wanna join us?

Greg didn’t want to start packing last night so I woke up stressed from the start to try to cram all my stuff in my luggage. I thought it would be helpful to get our luggage out of our room and us be totally done with our room earlier than 9 so the crew could start the changeover so it took us a while to get to breakfast. Carey and Linda had texted at 7 that they were ready. We were nowhere near ready.

Jane and Paul had an Uber coming at 10:15 to take them to the airport. We were all hoping we would see each other this morning. Jane texted around 7:40 that she and Paul had been at breakfast since 7:20 and thought they would have seen us but Milo said he hadn’t seen us. We kicked it into overdrive and made it to breakfast a little before 8 with everything out of our room.

Seems like maybe we weren’t supposed to do this as maybe it messes up their process. I’m sure it’s fine.

We sat with Jane and Paul who were still there. Carey and Linda met us and Erwin and Milo took care of us.

Viking had said we could hang out on the boat but we decided to get out and walk around Amsterdam.

It was a chilly but clear morning in Amsterdam. We walked toward Central Station.

Finally we found the Starbucks. Need more coffee.

While Greg went to try and track down our bags Linda and I went up today goodbye to Fahad who we hadn’t seen this morning.

We also met Stephen, who is the program director (like Gavin), who travels Amsterdam to Budapest while Gavin is off. They each do the same route every two weeks.

Next stop is our Airbnb via Uber.

The boat left Kinderdijk fairly quickly to head for a brief stop in Rotterdam to pick up some guests who went on a cheese making excursion.

The scenery has definitely changed vibes from castles to….arks.

The sunset in Rotterdam was pretty.

We were supposed to have a captain’s farewell toast at 6:45pm. It’s almost 7 and Gavin is pacing like crazy. Why do I feel like the cheese making people are late?

After a restful day, it’s time to head to our last dinner.

Somehow I forgot to take a pic of my dessert. I think I was so distracted with saying goodbyes. 😦

We have to be out of our room by 9am tomorrow but can hang around the boat as long as we want. They might be kicking us off this boat tomorrow!

After visiting the windmill museum we rode our bikes to the next town over which is where our tour guide lives. She said any kid who lives in the windmills would need to ride their bike to school in her village of about 20k people. To go to high school they would need to ride to the village beyond hers.

The scenery was amazing with lots of pastures, animals and water. It was very peaceful.

Time to head back to the boat for happy hour. They make a mean mojito!