Awoke when the loudspeaker announced the arrival of the coaches to take people on the tour of Amsterdam (8:30). As we already spent four days in the city, we decided to spend the morning having a leisurely breakfast (my crazy coffee thing) and establishing a morning routine. I noticed that there might be a possibility of a massage, and eagerly made an appointment for this morning! The massage goddess worked her magic. We had lunch with a terrific couple from New ...

Today we woke up, had our final breakfast at the hotel, finished packing up, and checked out. We transitioned to the Rhine River ship Monarch Baroness. We were both surprised to see so very many ships all lined up on the river, and when we entered our cruise ship, we walked through a Viking cruise ship to get to our Gate 1 cruise ship. Since this is only our second river cruise ever, the first being down the Yangtze River in China, we are looking forward to seein...

Today was all about the keukenhof gardens. While the day started a bit gray, it turned into a beautiful sunny day and ever you had the same idea as us - go to the gardens!! Rather than a tour we walked to the train station, took a train to Schipol airport, then took a bus to the Keukenhof! We walked around all day and it was beautiful. But it was also very crowded. At one point, I almost felt claustrophobic. But the tulips were beautiful and it was well worth the...

The last two mornings here in Amsterdam I haven't made my own coffee as I did on the ship, using the bullet proof coffee that I brought with me. Or perhaps it is the food that I've been eating – I have definitely been off the diet. And last night I could not sleep. All night long I almost fell asleep and then popped awake- itching like crazy all over, and finally at 6 AM I was able to sleep 4 1/2 hours. This was going to be the day when we went to the beaut...

Starting late , of course, we walked to the train station to pick up the hoho bus. We decided to sit on opposite sides of the bus so we could get more photos.. talk to Joey if you want to see his pix eventually... Starting in the 1700s trade started here in the port. City is built on piles to stop it from sinking into the sand. Some houses have crossbeams for extra strength.. The Amsterdam ship is an exact copy of the original sunk in the 1800s. Nearby is the onl...