Wed-Thurs June 26-27, 2024
Hi all! The Wandering Italian and his copilot Kathy are heading off on the high seas again. And this time as Vikings!
We’ll be following one of the original voyages the Vikings made when they came to the new world over 1,000 years ago! Our 21 night trip goes from Amsterdam to Norway to Iceland to Greenland to Newfoundland to Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island to Bar Harbor and ends in Boston. What an itinerary! We’ve been to some but not all of these ports. And we’re really excited to see Iceland and Greenland for the first time!
This trip we went more for the itinerary and dropped down a notch in luxury going on the Holland America Zuiderdam ship. It’s still supposed to be a lovely ship but it ain’t no Regent Seven Seas! But the nice thing is that Kathy is 4 Star on Holland so we get unlimited free laundry! That means I can just take a backpack and wear the same outfit every other day between washes! Kathy is worried that I’m serious! Lol
We left on Wed 6/26 and arrived in Amsterdam on Thurs 6/27. We had to connect thru Philly but our flight from Charlotte was running late. Speaking of running, we had to pull an OJ Simpson and sprint thru the Philly airport and made it right before they closed the doors for our flight. Whew! Too close for comfort!
We’ll spend a few days in Amsterdam and board the ship on Sat 6/29. I swear we are not going in the “coffee shops” in Amsterdam! They say the brownies in there have a real kick to them! Lol.
We’re excited to travel again with our friends Sue and Stuart from London that we’ve done Norway and Antarctica with. They are arriving in Amsterdam on Fri 6/28.
So once we got to Amsterdam we grabbed our bags and an Uber and made it to our hotel. It’s out in the suburbs since the summer hotel prices in Amsterdam are crazy expensive. But we’re just a few minutes walk from the metro to whisk us into town. And there’s a Lidl right next door for snacks!
We got to the hotel at 9 AM so our room wasn’t ready so we just chilled in the hotel lobby. It’s in a very residential area with several parks and canals nearby. Very nice! It also has a restaurant attached that gets really good reviews. We plan to eat there Fri night with Sue and Stuart.
The weather is really nice today. Sunny and 78. The next two days look like sunny and low 70’s and no rain. So much cooler than Charlotte. I think it was 95 when we left. Ugh.
We got into our room around 11 and relaxed for a bit then walked around the area. Found a cool park with a lake and a neat restaurant on the water called the Boothuis (Boat House). Chilled there for awhile and walked back to the hotel. For dinner we just got a bunch of fun foods at Lidl and had a “picnic” in the hotel lobby.
After dinner we walked thru another nice park right near our hotel. It’s so cool to see so many people out riding their bikes, walking and picnicking. They really do value their green space here. And what’s nice is, it stays light until 10:30 PM!
That’s all for today. Take care and hope everyone is having a great summer!
The Wandering Italian 