Bike and Barge Day 1

Embarkation of our boat was 12.30, so we spent the morning wandering around the docks and the newer parts of Amsterdam.

 Very different from the Old part, but still dominated by water.  Lots of house boats in varying conditions.

Not sure what sort of parking is offered here!

At 11, we checked out of our hotel, the photos show it's not so attractive neighbours.  

Caught a taxi to our boat and offloaded our luggage.  

Oops, wrong boat.

That's our boat.

Of course, Amsterdam is the start of many European river cruises and the port is filled with many luxury cruising boats.  Ours, the Tidgjeest, is exactly as we expected.  But lucky us, we got the room upgrade.  It is the family room with four bunks and a bigger bathroom than our hotel had.

It has a bunk either side of the bathroom.

After unpacking (??), we went for the meet and greet upstairs.  The first person I chat to has an Australian accent.  Would you believe she was from Bendigo as well! 2 couples travelling together, so 6 of us from Bendigo.  There are  3 couples from Toronto, family of 6 from USA (all adults), 2 British sisters and their husbands, and 1 couple from Newcastle and 1 couple from FosterTuncurry.

Except for the family, everybody else would be in the mid 50 to 65 age group with 1 couple 70+ but very fit (they ride 30-40 km every second day). 

There are 5 crew on board plus "security" named Snitzel.

We spent the day cruising through the waterways of the city to start heading south.  This required many bridge crossings.  The bridges made way for us in many ways, slid back, lifted both ways, turned sideways or whatever.  Fascinating (particularly for the former Bendigo engineer)

After a 6pm dinner, it was get the bikes sorted for a leisurely ride around the little town of Oude Wettering. It was 8pm when we headed off for the 15km ride (sunset around 9.15).  It was an easy ride, just spectacular. A bit hard taking photos whilst riding, but the vibration reduction feature on the camera is handy.

Some of the houses along the water ways today have been quite luxurious, with manicured gardens.  With about 200 days a year of rain, dry conditions are not a problem.

It is now 7.15am and time to get cracking.  Bye for now