A River Cruise

The River Cruise begins with a lot of flying.  Left Salt Lake City, 9:00 am.  Of course, we arose early and were to the airport by 6:30 am for our 8:30 am flight- oh the time was changed to 9:00 am.  Okay slight change of plan but nothing major.  Flew to Detroit, Michigan and hung out their for an hour and half.  Hurried and stuffed a hamburger down for lunch and then caught the flight to Amsterdam.  

Arrived in Amsterdam this morning at approximately 5:15 am.  I think I got a little over an hour sleep on the plane, so we were starting to drag as we gathered our bags and found our welcoming tour guide.  By 8 am we had traveled by bus to the dock and were aboard our ship.  By 9 we are unpacked sitting in the lounge, the only ones on the ship, other than one couple from Florida and the crew wondering what to do next.  

Of course, we establish the most important relationship on a cruise and that is with the bar waiter, who now brings us our Diet Cokes when we enter the scene.  We then walked to Central Station, caught a tram and rode across town to the Rijksmuseum.  Newly renovated, this is where Rembrandt's Night Watch is located, along with many other Masters' art.  A self portrait of Van Gogh, the Milk Maid, and the picture of a young Jewish girl and groom.  I stand in awe as we travel and see the works of those great Masters and the talent they shared with us.  

Back to the ship for lunch and a long needed nap. We have been awake basically from Tuesday, the 14th at 5 am until now Wednesday, the 15th 2 pm.  Of course flying east and losing a whole day in a few hours doesn't help.  

After dinner tonight we took a stroll thru Amsterdam, namely an area called the Red Light District.  Amsterdam, is known for being the first to legalize prostitution, marijuana shops (coffee shops) and other traditional unacceptable behaviors in the world.  Needless to say, Amsterdam has a unique night life. They pride themselves in being very open-minded.