Walked to train station, caught train to Utrecht, the primary city until the rise of Amsterdam.  Climbed the Dom Tower (guide required), about 300 feet, 467 steps (not to code).  There were four intermediate landings, making it easier than otherwise.  View was handicapped by poor weather, lots of chain-linked fencing, and renovating scaffolding.  But impressive anyway.

Lunch of Bouillabaisse.  Excellent.  (Three times today people mistook us as Dutch.  Two for directions, waiter for menus.)  Found an excellent cheese shop that’s also in Amsterdam.  Samples galore.  Also entered a bunch of chocolate shops.  Will-power ended with the last one.  Delicious.  Saw the famous (for Japanese) “Miffy cross-walk” signal.  Oldest building (a castle) is now a brew-hall.  Very crowded town.  This week is the Autumn school holiday.

Train back was in the “Silent Car”.  A women shushed us before we realized it.  Amsterdam Centraal is what Tokyo modeled their train station after.  It needs a serious cleaning.  Not as impressive as Tokyo’s.  Took a meandering walk back to the apartment.  Meandered our way (unintentionally) into the red light district.  Was not on my list.  Several “shops” are across from the oldest church in Amsterdam.  Didn’t check if one of them was the oldest of its kind in Amsterdam.  Big crowds continued.  There were a couple of soccer groupies drinking too much and singing to loudly.  Many police, all smiling and helpful to tourists.  Many of them women, which, in the red light district, seemed very appropriate in our new-age culture.

Had a simple dinner made up of food from the local supermarket.  They don’t take Visa or Mastercard(?).  Evening spent planning the next two days.  Lots to do.  It was a good day, though very tiring.  9 miles of walking, largely on cobblestones.

Monday, Oct 22.  Pleasant flight in a fairly new, very empty 787 Dreamliner.  Yoriko asked me to go sit somewhere else so she could stretch out across three seats.  What’s a loving husband to do?  I counted up the number of times I flew this year and the total is 26.  Not bad for a retiree.

Amsterdam Airport is very pretty.  Efficient exit.  Met Rick and Mary under the “Meet Here” sign.  Taxi into the city was in a Tesla SUV.  Gull wing doors.  Cool.  Entertaining driver.  (Everyone we’ve interacted with today has had excellent English.)  

AirBnb is fine, except the rooms are on the second floor, in a country where the first floor is one floor above the street.  So we climbed two floors of extremely narrow, curving steps.  Ouch.  Nice place, great view of a canal.

Walked through a market.  Cherry topped waffle for a snack.  A liquor store with Douglas Laing (my middle name) scotch.  Bought a bottle.  Dinner at an Irish pub.  Fairly large super market to buy water, wine and snacks.  Sore ankles.

Viking sent the inevitable email about travel changes.  Hotel Friday.  Bus ride to Mainz with a Cologne City Tour in the middle.  More to follow.  It’s worse than I’d expected, but the good news is we’ll apparently visit the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, which has me excited.

The main local news in Germany for the past several months has been about the drought.  Nearly biblical in nature.   Cruise sites have been inundated with comments.  Complaints abound about cruise lines underplaying the problem and repeatedly forecasting rain.  With all that on my mind, I wrote the following satirical version of Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata.  I post it here for posterity.  BTW, Desiderata was NOT written in 1692, but in the early 20th century.

Desertonriver – Words to Cruise By

Go placidly amid the extreme low water,
and remember what peace there may be on buses.
As far as possible without confusion
be on good terms with all tour guides.
Speak your frustrations quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the loud ones behind you;
they too have their sad story.

Keep interested in the journey, however unplanned and mysterious;
it is what it is.
Exercise caution in getting off the bus;
for the cobblestones are full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to the beauty of industrial piers;
many dockworkers strive for cleanliness;
though everywhere life is full of raw sewage.

Be comforted in your cruising decision.
Especially, do not blame the cruise line.
Neither be cynical about false promises of rain;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as any business decision.

Take kindly the emptying of your wallet,
gracefully surrendering the trip’s expenses.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from last minute changes.
But do not distress yourself with forgotten toiletries.
Many losses are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome casting of blame,
be forgiving of your spouse.

You are a slave to the elements,
no less than the captain and crew;
you have a right to be screwed with.
And whether or not it is accepted by you,
no doubt the climate is changing as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with Mother Nature,
No matter how angry you are with her,
and whatever your hopes and expectations,
in the noisy confusion of swapping ships, keep peace with yourself.

With all its swaps, buses, and broken plans,
it is still a beautiful cruise.
Use your drinks package.
Strive to be (occasionally) sober.

Sunday, Oct 21.  It’s been a long while since booked (and a long while since Paid!), but today we begin our third journey to Europe. Viking River Cruises calls it the Grand European Tour.  We’ve attached a four day stay in Amsterdam at the front and another four days in Prague at the end of a 15 day adventure through Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Hungary. The Tour finishes in Budapest.  

It’s unfortunately appropriate that the Tour’s title doesn’t contain the word “cruise”, because some of it won’t be.  Germany is experiencing their second 100-year drought in 15 years.  There are some spots on the Rhine that have recorded their lowest levels in history.  The Danube in Budapest is at the lowest level since 1947.  Consequently, we’re expecting three or more long bus rides to swap from one Viking “Longship” to another, skipping the low water sections.  Viking operates about 20 identical ships on this Tour, making swapping possible.  Other cruise lines are not so fortunate.  Some have converted most of their tours into bus/hotel adventures.  Though reports are that the crews are doing a great job, cruise lines’ corporate offices have earned a big goose egg rating for candidness. I’ve been closely monitoring the situation since July, so we’re apparently a step ahead of most passengers.

We’ve gotten the band together for the trip.  The same eight (elite?) who did the Med Cruise in 2015 will be on this Tour!

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