Zach and Cathy's Adventures: September 2017

We departed Atlanta on Thursday for 2 days in Amsterdam; followed by a 14-day Baltic Sea Cruise on Holland America’s newest ship, the Koningsdam, with stops in Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Germany and, Denmark before returning to Amsterdam.

After landing at 6am, we took the train to the stop for our hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Arena, conveniently located on the train/Metro line. Surprisingly, our room was ready. We were able to take a short nap before heading to Old Town.

Since, we had a reservation for the Ann Frank House, our main goal was to be there on time. We walked the streets and canals and rode trams, stopping for pictures and lunch till our arrival time.

After our tour of the Ann Frank House, we walked the streets for a while longer before returning to our hotel for a needed night of sleep.

We didn’t wake up till 830am, very late for us. We spent the rest of the day in Old Town. Out second day in Amsterdam was crazy busy. First we went to the Rijks Museum, what a fantastic place; Rembrandt and Van Gogh and many other works of art.

We thought this girl on the bike was a statue until she moved!

From there we went to the Van Gogh Museum.

After that we did a canal tour.

From there we went to Rembrandt Square,

the Flower Market,

The Cannabis bike! You can smell it being smoked everywhere

After searching for an hour, we found the right restaurant for dinner. We went to the Oude Kerk and it was closed. As we left, we both turned around and saw it, Restaurant De Kroonprins, and we both immediately knew it was our dinner place. It had the Dutch Pea Soup we wanted and other good food as well.

After dinner we went to the Red Light District. No girls were out, but the air was heavy with the smell of pot and there were a lot of crazy sex shops.

The next day we boarded the ship, the Holland America, Koningsdam, the newest and biggest ship in their fleet. Later that day we met up with our friends Jerome and Ann.

Day 2, our first full day on the ship was a sea day. We went to the gym, played a lot of trivia, and ate and drank more than we should have.

That night there was noise problems in our cabin and we had to complain to the front desk. They sent someone down to check and, of course, no noise while they were investigating.

After a mostly sleepless night, where we recorded the noise in our cabin we had a day in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Day 3 started late because we slept through the alarm because of our sleep interrupted night, and then the ship cut an hour off our departure time. Consequently, we had less time in port and were not able to visit all the places we wanted. We did an on our own walking tour, walking 8 miles while we visited as many sights as possible.

We went by the Mermaid with big boobs, and the famous Little Mermaid,

Katielief fortress,

Amalienburg Palace, home of the Danish Royal family, and the Marble Church,

Nyhavn, with the brightly colored houses along the canal,

This man was cutting apples into swans!

And Christiansburg Castle, home of the Dutch government.

Later that day we returned to Kastalief Fortress for the Remembrance Day Ceremony, attended by the Crown Prince and units from all the military branches. There was lots of security.

That night we went to the Ship’s Disco. From 10am to 1130pm, we were the only couple on the dance floor. DJ Becca played all the music we wanted to hear. It was great! We were able to practice our dancing with no one else around.

Day 4 we were in Warnemunde, Germany. Most people on ship opted for 6-hour round trip train or bus trips to Berlin. Not us. We stayed local. We went to the lighthouse, the teapot, the beach, the Church and the shops along the canal and around Church Square.

Day 5 was another cruise day. We basically repeated Day 2.

Ahhhh, I finally got to take a 15 minute nap then it was time to play trivia!

Day 6 we were supposed to be in Estonia, however, bad weather changed that and we ended up with another sea day. (We don’t like sea days and schedule cruises with fewest sea days and best destinations.)

Day 7 back to St Petersburg after 2 months. Since our visas expired from our June trip, we had to go on an excursion to get off the ship. We choose Catherine’s Palace in Puskin. Pushkin is named for the famous Russian author. Catherine’s Place, like Peterhof, was rebuilt after WW2. The Amber Room is the most impressive. Catherine’s Place, like Peterhof, was rebuilt after WW2. The Amber Room is the most impressive.

Day 8 was another day in St Petersburg. We stayed on ship because there was no other tour we wanted to take, since we pretty much saw everything we wanted during our June trip. That evening we passed through the North Sea Lock and went to the show on ship.

Day 9 we were in Helsinki. We took the Hop-on-hop-off bus. Our 1^st stop was Rock Church.

Then we went to Sibilius Monument,

followed by the Botanical Garden.

Then we went to Senate Square, Presidential Palace, Uspenski Cathedral, and Havis Amanda Market.

Our last stops were Kaivopulisto Park and Observatory Hill and Compass Square.

We were back on the ship a half hour before departure.

Day 10 we were in Stockholm. We met Cathy‘s cousin Gunnar and his lady, Gunilla for the first time. We spent the day with them. We rode the Hop-on-hop-off bus through most stops for an hour and a half till we met up with them. We stopped at the Concert Hall, where we first met them.

Then we went to City Hall, home of the Nobel Prize.

We spent the rest of the day in Old Town and had a nice lunch on the square.

We had a very nice lunch outside by the square. Zach and I had real Swedish meatballs with a delicious cucumber salad! Very tasty! Gunnar and Gunilla had Salmon that looked very good!

Unknown to us, it was the opening day of Parliament. We just happened to be at the Royal Palace, when the King and Queen rode in their official carriage, escorted by a battalion of mounted soldiers. We were so lucky to be there.

After Old Town, we stopped by the Royal Opera House and we went to Fjallgaten for a panoramic view of Stockholm.

We wanted to go to the Abba and Vasa museums but didn’t have time on our shortened day. That evening we passed through the Stockholm Archipelago.

Day11 was another was another sea day. This time choppy with gale force winds and 15 ft. swells. It was a rough day for many passengers.

Day 12 we were in Kiel, a German naval base city. However, we spent most of the day in Lubeck, a city surrounded by water. We walked the streets of the city,

and went to the Museums Quartier, Kunsthalle St Anne Museum.

When we returned to Kiel we walked about the city close to the docks.

Day 13 was our last port of call. Aarhus was a delightfully surprising city. It was very tourist and pedestrian friendly. We were able to walk along the canal to everywhere we wanted to go. The Cathedral of St Clement, Denmark s longest and tallest cathedral was 1^st up.

From there we went to the Botanical Gardens.

After that we spent 3 hours at the Den Gamle By, old town museum. It’s a collection of historical buildings, museums and living history that display the history of Denmark over hundreds of years. Very interesting!