European Trip April 25 - May 6, 2018 - Viking River Cruise

TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 1300, 2018

First we must thank the Halliwells, Mo and Ron and their sons, Spencer and Tommy, for their horsepitality, congeniality, gemutlichkeit, soft bed, good food and drink and an all-round good time. We were the Confirmation Sponsors for the boys and since we were already in MA we decided to fly out of Boston. It was fun to meet all the relatives who showed up. I recommend that you stay there anytime you are in eastern MA.

We are in the Delta Wing, Logan Airport in Boston, many hours before our flight at 1900. (Getting ready for European time) This is not my first county fair but the preparation for this adventure has been unnerving. When we attempted to print our boarding passes last night, Delta said we did not have a reservation. Frantic phone call to Viking and that was resolved. Then we realized that our names did not match EXACTLY on our passports and that is a constant warning THAT YOU MAY NOT PROCEED IF YOUR ETC…… . We finally gave up trying to resolve that and decided it was Delta's fault not ours so f#%&*# them if they give us any trouble. Instead of trains and bus to get to Logan we took our first UBER ride. Our driver was very hispanic, accent and all, and his Uber name was “Edwin”, go figure! He did a good job and was handsomely rewarded.

We are so early at Gate A 14 that we are almost alone way down here at the end of the concourse. I thought, “Why not?” and did the full Yang Style, Tai Chi Long Form, 150 moves, without drawing any attention.

Tour Day 1, April 25, Wednesday

A long night, no sleep. Seats too small to reel out the CPAP but I don't think it would have made a difference. Nonetheless the flight was smooth and the treatment was very good. Best in flight meal I have ever had and the wine flowed freely.

We arrived in Amsterdam at 8am their time, 2am our time in USA. Went thru Customs with no delay. We are now on the Viking Kvasir, our river boat. Lunch is about to be served and then Lisa and I are heading into A-dam to try to take a canal tour of the city.

Just got back. Took a nice tour of the canals via boat. Strange but most of the boat traffic was tour boats. We saw no pleasure power boats or canoes or kayaks. We saw a magnificent church, St. Nicolas. Lisa talked with Father Stitt and he recommended that we see a church but he could not remember the name. Hope this was it. Photoed the Anne Frank house. Many of the canals are lined with retired canal boats turned into housing. Kind of neat but some are run down, trailer park types. Amsterdam is the Venice of the North for sure.