Amsterdam, Netherlands

April 18, 19, 2023

Amsterdam, Day 1

I woke up this morning when we were already cruising through the North Sea Canal between IJmuiden and Amsterdam. I rushed upstairs to the Lido dining room to witness this. it was interesting to be so high on the water of the canal compared to the land behind the canal dike what’s is nearly 10ft below the water level. It took us nearly an hour before we moored at the Piet Hein Kade close to the Central train station. Today is Family Day.My brother Johan and his partner Helma came by the ship to pick us up around 9 AM. We Drove towards Purmerend, slightly detouring and drive by our old farm in the Purmer. After arriving at Johan’s house, we did coffee and also met up with my brother Jan and his wife Carla. Johan and myself set out on foot to see our uncle Co He is the last living sibling from my dad’s side. Uncle Cor is 86 and had a stroke last year September. He currently is in a Care Home. It was hard to see Uncle Cor in this state, very difficult to communicate with him. I left the Care home with a heavy heart, not knowing if I see him again. After lunch we headed for my sister  Lida’s house in Grosthuisen.  Here we were meeting up with my sister Lida and my other sister Ada who was flying in from Phoenix. After having sat around for a while we headed all for the cemetery in Monnickendam to place a stone on the grave of our youngest sibling Renee, who tragically past away Dec 29 the day we started our cruise. After all 5 of us siblings joined by Lida’s husband , Johan’s partner  , my wife Carol and Jan’s son had arrived at the cemetery, we walk over to grave of Mom and Dad and added the stone for our brother Renee. Thank you Ada for the kind words.After this sad event we drove to Renee’s place in Volendam and spend a few moments remembering him. Afterwards we decided to have some dinner in Volendam. During this dinner my sister Lida received a phonecall that her son Michael and his partner Kim received a newborn girl named Luna. This was the good news we all needed after otherwise a sad day. We even got a phone call from my niece Cynthia ( to bad we couldn’t meet up with her). After dinner Johan and Helma delivered us back to the ship.This evening there were the celebrations for The 150 year anniversary of Holland America at the Lido pool on the ship. There was a speech from the HAL President. The best part Heineken beer and cocktails were free for the night.

Amsterdam Day 2

For today we had arranged for my sister Lida and her Husband Hans to tour the ship. We did the tour with them and finished with a coffee at the Crowsnest deck. After Coffee we met up with my other sister and brother and walked towards the center of the City. We wandered through the Kalverstraat and Niewedijk looking at stores and stopped at one of our favorite eating places in Holland named the Febo.By 3 pm we headed back towards the ship, dodging bicycles on the way back. After saying goodbye to our family we boarded the ship. We just had put our feet up for a rest, when I got a text from my cousin Linda,  that she was at the Cruise Terminal and asked if there was time for a hug. we basically ran for the Cruise Terminal because the ship was about to leave. After a quick visit and exchanging a few hugs, we just made it back onto the ship on time. The sail out of Amsterdam was spectacular, cruising through the North Sea Canal and through the locks in IJmuiden into the North Sea on our way to Copenhagen.This was the end of a very successful visit to the old Home Base. A very big thank-you to our family for hanging out with us.

Cheers