The cabin was excellent - very comfortable.  There was free internet on the TV and also many TV channels.  The bow camera was the best I have ever seen and at night they used Infrared technology, so we could see even in the dark.  There was a small fridge and a set-up to open wine bottles.  There was a safe.  There was an alarm clock and water on the nightstand.  There were electric outlets for both Europe and US. There was a stool for me in the shower, and the was plenty of places to put things in the bathroom.  There was a good sized closet with plenty of hangers.  We could store our suitcases under the bed.  After they took one of the chairs out, I could go in with the scooter and turn it around and park it to be charged, and most important, I could get in and out of the room on the scooter by myself because the door would stay open.  The sliding windows were kept spotlessly clean so I could photograph the scenery through the window, or I could open the window and look out (although I didn't do that very often because it was cold outside).  The bed was comfortable.

Most people had to walk from the ship  to the docks next to the Movenpick hotel to take the canal boat.  The slow walkers were to have a van to take them over.  I didn't think the scooter would work that well on the canal
boat, so I just took my cane.   It was a long way to get to the van, and I almost couldn't make it.  The van let us off on the other side of the canal from where the boats were and we had to climb down some very narrow pointed steps, and then walk the full length of that dock to get to the boat.  I was also disappointed in the canal tour - the hop-on-hop-off canal tour was better in two ways - it was out in the open so I could take photos with no reflections, and it was more extensive - plus the recorded tour was better.  Didn't repeat itself so much

They docked us closer to where the vans picked us up this time, and we drove back to the AmaViola (our ship), and I sat on my cane and waited for Bob to walk back to the boat and get my scooter for me.

The weather was horrible  I was warned about cobblestones, but we put on our coats and I put on my raincoat and we ventured forth.  We met the guide and it started to rain.  Bob had a poncho and he put it on.  Then it started to sleet or hail.  I got off the scooter and went under the roof of the parking shed that was there but there was a 2.5
foot high barrier to get the scooter over so Bob sat on the scooter with his poncho spread over it for awhile and finally gave in an lifted the scooter to where it was more sheltered.

I had not realized that we would walk the distance to Ruben's house.  The streets were OK for the scooter but it was raining and very windy (some people's umbrellas were turned inside out) and I was afraid to take my camera out.  I tried taking photos with my cell phone but it was hard to manage the scooter and the cell phone.  We got to Rubin's house and everyone had to put all purses into lockers.  The guide said that I could take the scooter in to the studio part (which was very big - they had the big pictures there and could take them out with a crane) and into the garden but I could not take it into the house itself.  So we went into the studio for him to explain the Rubin's paintings.  By this time my back was painful and I felt a bit nauseated.  We went into the garden and  then I went back to the
entrance area and lay down on a bench.  

They picked us up after the house tour.   I really wanted to go back to the ship.  But we were apparently in a pedestrian area and even on the street the taxis have to be called or picked up in a taxi stand - you can't hail them in the street.  They took us to a taxi stand and left us but there were no taxis there.

So after five minutes or so, We went to a cafe (which was not really open but there was a fire there) and asked a lady to call us a cab, which she did

The rest of the people were supposed to go to the cathedral and see some more of Rubens paintings, but since it was Sunday, they were having services and they couldn't go in.  They had to stand outside and look at the photos of pictures.  I don't think we missed that much

The palace was the residence of the Dutch Royal Family until quite recently and was said to have been restored to be 'cozy' as if the family could still live there.  I was thinking something like Queluz.  It was a little more like Peterhof I think

Our guide was a sort of doddery old man, but at one point he said that when the Nazi's told everyone in Arnheim to leave in 1944, he was two years old - so that made him two years younger than BFF and about five years younger than I am.  The day was mostly sunny, but windy.  We drove past a big pink bicycle and some pink bicycles on lamp posts - that is apparently for a bike race ending in Italy which is sponsored by a pink newspaper - whatever that it.

We got to the palace about 10, along with another bus from our boat, a couple of Viking buses, a couple from AmaStella and at least two other buses.  the roads were paved with brick which made the going very bumpy, but not as bad a gravel or actual cobblestones.  We got our tickets from the guide and also a booklet explaining the palace, and he tried to explain the various monarchs - Kings and Stadhouders which were apparently place-holders for Lords or Princes.  I didn't understand it until I looked it up later.

We went past the royal stables, and the royal garage and entered the palace grounds.  The guy at the gate who punched our tickets said that the elevator was on the left.  First we went to a building which is now a restaurant but can be turned into a ballroom.   Eventually our guide pointed us to the left and said to go in that way instead of
going down the steps with the dangerous step at the bottom.  We rang the intercom bell and someone came and unlocked the door and we went in - there was an elevator there to take us up to the first floor.

We did not do the tour in order - we started out at Prins Hendrik's Staircase #29 and then went to #31 the Hunting Room of Prince Henrick which had a wall covered with hunting trophies (antlers), and also a cuckoo clock.  Then there were a couple of drawing rooms, a study, and advisor's room, the entrance hall (which was #1), and the New Dining room which had a statue of a swan and serving dishes in the shape of birds - one had pheasant feathers and one had peacock feathers.

Now we were at the end of the first floor and we went up the elevator to the second floor.  A cabinet room, a library, a portrait gallery, several bedrooms, a dressing room, and a bathroom with a toilet, bidet and shower.  We could look our the windows at the gardens, but I wasn't going out there - it was too cold and too hard for the scooter.

We got back to the original elevator and went back down to the ground floor where we had to wait for some time for the man to come and unlock the door to let us out.  Then we went back to the ticket office place, used the bathrooms and got back on the bus.  My back was really hurting so I went back to the back of the bus and lay down on the seats for awhile - that helped.

Brugge (Bruges)

Day 5 - The Captain decided that the weather in the North Sea would be too much for the ship (a good decision), so we stayed in Terneuzen and did not cruise to Middleburg.So we had to walk up to the Sun Deck (the top deck), cross our Sun Deck, walk across the bridge to the top deck of the Viking ship and then walk down to the dock level.

AmaViola Review

Wind, Rain, Hail, Sleet and Some Sun

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