Trip Holland and Belgium in Springtime - Day 3

Wednesday April 8

Amazing the good night’s sleep we both had. When we both were awake after 8 am James made a coffee for us. Then he proof-read the blog so I could post it.

Did you enjoy reading? You know I love your comments. 

We really enjoyed not having an agenda today and could just be "floating along". When we were ready we went across the street to the bakery. It was difficult to make a decision what to have. Evrything looked so good. And this is only half of the display.

I wonder what James was telling me there. 

The chicken sausage in fill was not quite that long?

Back to the room and packing. It went quite well. 

We had originally thought of walking because it is not that far but decided otherwise. James' suitcase had a problem wheel. Cobblestones could make it worse and there is no need to be miserable. The hotel called a taxi for us. The driver was very nice but even though we had a full address and he found the street he could not find the ship. We asked him to stop because we were sure that it could really not be far. He was were nice and the fair was only 15 Euros. 

We went across the street and looked along the river. A man come along the quay towards us from where two boads were tied up and we asked him. He didn't think that one was what we were looking for. He was very nice and then continued his way. We took a bit of a closer look but then turned around. Just then a young couple come towards us from the other side, so we asked them too. They were so very friendly but didn't know where the "S14" spot in our address directions where. 

Immidiately the young man took his phone and was dialing while explaining that a friend was working for a ship company and he was going to ask him even though "he was most likely still sleeping". The friend answered but didn't know either. 

Just then the man we had asked first came running back saying that he had found the ship and pointed it out the other way. There was now a bus in front of it which clearly was an indication too. Of course we thanked him very much.

So it was time to part with the young couple too since the problem seemed to be solved. We still had a lively converstion with them. We said how friendly everybody was in Antwerp. People never seemed to be bothered but always trying to help.  Thanking them profusely I said that this would make a wonderful story and they might end up in my blog. He said that would be great and I said that I didn't have a photo though. I suggested that I should take it, they stood left and right next to James and then waved goodbye.

We had to leave the quay to walk just a little along the street because there was a break in the quay. We were later told by one of the trip leaders that there was a canal which once had entered the river there. 

We were also later told by the captain to be careful when leaving the ship. The river has such a high difference in the tide because being close to the ocean that you might come back and not see it = low behind the wall. That is the case here. You can hardly see the ship.

We were seen from the ship and quickly helped on board. As always everything was "smooth sailing" from here. We unpacked and made ourselves comfortable. Had all sorts of orientations and the captain had his safety talk/video. We were divided into 4 different groups for the excursions which means there are 4 Trip Leaders. We are in the blue group and Randy is our leader. But we already knew that from his email and telephone call.

Dinner was about 7 pm. It is always served and several courses. Appetizer, soup, three entrees to choose from and a dessert. Oh my...

James had the "Volendammer" (Dutch grilled marinated chicken breast arranged on "Stamppot Endivi", Creamy Salsify and Carrots etc)

I had the fish (Pan Fried Kingklip on Truffle Leek, Potato Ragout with Parsley Cream Sauce) 

I had to google on the fish Kingklip. Interesting.

My dessert was a chocolate mousse. Well, we are in Belgium!

We had great dinner conversation with Cynthia, Jim and Kate at our table. Cynthia and Jim had both been educators at an university in Savannah, Georgia. When we chatted about previous trips with GCCL/OAT we discovered that we had done the same trip to Turkey but 10 years apart and had the same trip leader Aykut. We all had liked him and when I later read up about that trip on my blog I discovered that I had discribed him exactly the same: very nice, very caring and very hyper. Those had been Cynthia's words too. It was a nice evening.

Leaving the dining room we enjoyed the sunset for a while. 

Back in the cabin I realized I had not taken a photo of what we found when we arrived. Complimentary champagne as a thank-you for being repeated travelers. (Sorry it does not look as nice as we found it any more.) Ha-ha, I wonder what we should do with it???

Chocolate on each pillow.

Night, night. What do you think about the different happenings today?