Since booking a Baltic cruise in Fall 2010, we have looked forward to touring this region of Europe. Each port and destination is a place we have never visited -- so this will be a totally new three-week adventure.
We depart Houston Bush Intercontinental at 3:15 p.m. on June 10, arriving at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at 8:20 a.m. on June 11. As the plane prepares to land, Rhonda is glued to the window catching first impressions of the Netherlands. From high above, seemingly thousands of canals reflect the morning sun. We are later told that 25% of all land here has been reclaimed from the sea through these man-made drainage systems.
We have an ambitious schedule on this arrival day. After checking into the Marriott Courtyard near the airport, we take the train into Amsterdam to catch an early-afternoon tour of Zaanse Schans Windmills, Marken Island and Volendam. We locate the tour office well before departure time, so stop for lunch at a nearby McDonald's then window shop along the Damrak.
We enjoy a very pleasant afternoon seeing all things Dutch -- windmills, wooden shoes, fishing villages, cheese-making shop... We also sample the local favorite -- fries smothered in mayonnaise -- but draw the line at whole raw herring. It is a great introduction for our four-day stay in and around Amsterdam.
