Viking Grand European AMS-BUD Aug 2016 photo journal with pre-cruise Amsterdam

My cousin and I booked a Viking Grand European trip on the Viking Vili August 5-August 19, 2016 with a two-day pre-cruise in Amsterdam. We booked when a special airfare was offered. I looked into booking the airfare on our own and found that going through Viking was a considerable savings. About two months before the cruise we were sent our flight schedule, and I was very pleased with it. St. Louis to Detroit to Amsterdam on the way there and Budapest-Amsterdam-Detroit-St. Louis on the return. There was enough time to make connections without spending hours sitting in an airport. And our return flight didn't leave Budapest until 11:20 am so we weren't with the group who had to leave the ship at 3:30 am.

We booked a cabin on the lowest level that has a high window. If I could do anything again, it would be to spend a little more and get a French balcony cabin on the second deck. I'm not a tall person, and if I wanted to see out the window I had to pull a stool over to stand on.

My suitcases were in the trunk of my car, I was doing last minute things around the house prior to my husband taking my cousin and me to the airport, when my cousin called. She was sick and her doctor told her not to travel. I was dumbfounded and she was, of course, upset. It's a very good thing we had insurance (through our travel agent) so she should get her money back and I went on the trip.

So to start the review and the photos, the flights on KLM/Delta to Amsterdam were uneventful and I landed at Schiphol Airport about 8:30 on a Wednesday morning, August 3. There was no line at immigration, and we were through quickly. After claiming my luggage, I went to the area where I was to meet the Viking rep and saw there were four of them. Found the right one who gathered up a couple who had arrived 30 minutes earlier from New York. I believe we were told that Viking parks in a reserved area of the garage, and I was immediately impressed with how clean the tiled floor of the garage was. An SUV brought the three of us into Amsterdam mostly along a park-like area with a winding two-lane road. Soon we were at the Radisson Blu on Rusland.

The Radisson Blu lobby

Check-in wasn't until 1:00 but I was able to freshen up in the rest room off the lobby down a flight of stairs.

It was obvious which one was the ladies and which the gents.

Since it would be several hours before we could check in, the couple from New York and I walked to Dam Square and after a brief stop inside a bank to use the ATM, bought tickets to see the Royal Palace (10 euros each includes audio guide).

Dam Square and the Royal Palace

Formerly the city hall, Napoleon converted the building into a palace when he made his brother king. The audio guide told what each room represented both before and after Napoleon. There were some original furnishings and interesting sculpture and reliefs, but most of the rooms were bare, but still I thought worth the entry fee.

In Citizens Hall, Atlas holds the celestial globe on his shoulders.

Reliefs in the Tribunal

The New Church (only 500 years old) is right next to the palace and is mostly used for art exhibitions now, although it's also where many of the Dutch royal family are married and inaugurated.

New Church (Nieuwe Kirk)

We entered the gift shop since my Rick Steves guidebook said there is a set of stairs to climb to the balcony where you can view the nave. We discovered that the stairs are now closed off. We were tired from the long flight and we were getting hungry, so we decided not to pay the fee to enter the church. This is my picture of the church's interior from the gift shop.

We walked about a block or two away to De Drie Graefjes for lunch.

We were not to be the hardy souls eating outside. It was drizzling, cool and windy so we went inside.

We took the last table, in a corner by a spiral staircase. We came to realize that there was more seating upstairs, but we were glad we hadn't needed to climb that staircase. Sally and I discovered that neither of us ate meat but had added fish to our diets when our doctors advised it. I had a toasted sandwich of goat cheese with honey and a fried egg on top. It was delicious!

This shop was right across the street from the restaurant, and I meant to come back and get my picture taken. I totally forgot once we left the area.

We took our time walking back to the hotel, and our rooms were ready when we arrived. The key cards work on wifi and you hold your key card up to the device next to the door to enter. The elevator works only with a key card too. If you want the lights on, the key card goes in a slot inside the room next to the door.

My room

The Radisson Blu was in a great location, close enough to walk anywhere in old town but on a quiet street. It was clean and the staff considerate.

Great start! Can't wait to see the rest of the trip! Thanks

Some of the rooms in the hotel look out over the lobby. My view was of the tops of a few houses, which I preferred.

The rain had stopped so I walked to Damrak to take a canal cruise.

Some views from around the corner from the hotel

I took a lot of pictures of reliefs that are on buildings, but I don't remember which buildings.

Centraal Station

The area with a lot of canal boat tours

I took the 2:45 cruise with Eco Tours, a small open boat with a guide who speaks English and you could ask him questions. I made the 11th person on the boat, and it looked like there was room for only one more. The tour took a little over an hour and I have a lot of favorite pictures from it, but since I didn't take notes, I couldn't tell you where we were at any given time.

One of the houseboats along the canals

The second picture in my post above shows how close cars park along the canal and often there are no guard rails. My big unanswered question, and I don't know how I could have forgotten to ask this of someone, was how do the drivers get out? Do they have to crawl over to the passenger seat to exit? Or can they somehow get out the driver's side without falling into the canal? Is it a skill?

More photos from the canal cruise

And a few more photos from the canal cruise

Then back where we started

I knew I was close to Old Church so, following my map, I walked toward it. Since the church is in the Red Light District, I was passing a lot of sex shops.

Interesting window displays. I turned a corner and saw a mannequin in the window dressed in a fishnet body stocking. But the mannequin moved, and I realized I was looking at one of the sex workers. A woman in blue underthings was in the window next to the first. I was startled because I hadn't expected to come across them so suddenly.

Near the Old Church is a statue that honors sex workers.

Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam and they are to be respected. They are licensed, follow rules, and pay taxes.

Love your photos! We will be there in October. Sailing Avalon Amsterdam to Basel.

I paid my ten euros and entered the Old Church. It is mostly bare but had some interesting features.

Old Church exterior

The organ inside Old Church

I never did figure out what these meant. They were behind plexiglass and there was no English explanation.

A view of the interior

There are graves set into the floor, some were honored with vases of flowers.

Cobbie48, You'll have a great time. The Avalon ships I saw looked very nice.

Walking back toward the hotel, I passed the smallest alley in Amsterdam.

By now I was getting tired and hungry. After a brief stop at the hotel, I walked to Café de Jaren for dinner, just a couple of blocks from the hotel.

The sun was peeking out by now, so I was able to get a table outside just as someone left. It was a busy place and those wanting to eat outside often had to wait for a table. The food was good too, as I recall.

That ended my first, and very enjoyable, day in Amsterdam.

Thank you for your review. Really enjoyed your Rhine Getaway as well. We're not following in your footsteps this year, but hopefully someday will do this itinerary.

Breakfast buffet at the Radisson Blu was included in our trip, and it was an extensive array of foods. At 9:30 that morning, it was time for our included walking tour of Amsterdam with Robert as our guide and Marcella helping out. Marcella had to spend the first half hour reminding us to stay out of the way of bikes. Robert was an Amsterdam history expert. He led us across canals and through passageways, and once we got a short distance away from the hotel, I had no idea any more of where we were. These are pictures I took along the way.

At one point he led us into the Begijnhof courtyard where we were supposed to observe silence because of the residents.

Looking back at the entrance to the courtyard

The oldest house in Amsterdam, Het Houten Huis, and one of only two wooden houses left in the city.

The courtyard

We were allowed to go into the chapel although Robert said he couldn't go in with us since he'd been asked to leave a number of times because he kept talking. From there we made a stop at the Amsterdam Museum.

Around the corner from the entrance is a display of armor behind glass and the wall shows the anchors that were used to keep the wall in place.

I am so enjoying your trip report. We got back today from our Viking Rhine Getaway cruise which started in Amsterdam. Unfortunately we weren't smart like you in arriving early. We came in the day our cruise started and as a result walked through Amsterdam like a pair of jetlagged zombies. And of course smelling all that funny smoke ;) in the air didn't help either! I really appreciate all your Amsterdam photos and can't wait to read the rest.

Inside the museum, David and Goliath are prepared for Europride 2016, the big weekend coming up.

Goliath has a mechanism and Robert asked if someone could show us how it worked, but that wasn't possible today. Goliath's mechanical works:

Our walk continued

Around 11:30, Marcella took away those who had signed up for the optional Haarlem tour and anyone else who had a pressing engagement. The rest of us finished up in Dam Square with Robert about ten minutes later.

Madame Tussaud's is across the street from the Royal Palace.

Thanks for reading along, mhb1757. Sturmin, I hope you a Grand European is in your future. I loved the Rhine Getaway, but it was over too quickly. And dn929, it's easy to be zombie-like after those long flights. It does make for a clearer head if you can get there a day early.

Your photos and comments are marvelous. Can't wait to read more. Can never get tired of looking at beautiful Amsterdam and the canals. Looking forward to the next port. . .thank you for posting

Got2Cruise, after seeing so many beautiful photos of Amsterdam, I couldn't wait to get there. The houses along the canals are amazing.

I had a ticket for the Anne Frank House in the afternoon, so rather than heading back to the hotel, I walked to that area for lunch. I passed the Anne Frank House and ate at Spanjen and Van Twist on Leliegracht.

The have outdoor seating by the canal.

The wind was too brisk for comfortable outdoor seating. I chose a seat indoors.

The pasta special for the week was cheese ravioli and tomatensalsa. The dish was unexpected in that there was no tomato sauce on top, but inside the cheese was tomatensalsa, whatever that is. It struck me as rather dry, but I'm used to sauce.

My ticket was for 2:45 so I stopped at Westerkirk for a while. The church is free entry but a 50 cent charge to use the restroom. They'd had a free organ concert at 1:00, but I totally missed it.

The Anne Frank statue in front of Westerkirk

Westerkirk

Westerkirk interior

Detail under the organ.

There seemed to be a short line at the Anne Frank House, I presume for those who had arrived early for their tour. There were a lot of people milling around. At least one person was trying to buy tickets.

One of the Hop On Hop Off canal boats was stopped in front. It looked like a nice way to see the canals.

My ticket included a 30 minute introduction. I had re-read Anne Frank's diary a couple of weeks before flying to Amsterdam, and I thought a lot of what was in the introduction was in the book, but we were also given information about the families and about the times. If you haven't read the book or haven't read it in a while, I'd encourage you to try for the introductory tickets. There were about 30 of us for the introduction and we could ask questions and take photos of the room we were in which meant taking photos of the photos they had in the room. No pictures are allowed in the house.

There is no furniture in the secret rooms, but they have a picture on the wall of each room showing how it would have looked while they were in hiding. There was also a miniature mockup showing the rooms and who they belonged to. They were tiny for having eight people in them for two years. My thought on entering the first room that came after the hidden staircase, Edith and Otto Frank's and Margot's room, was how dark it was. They had the blackout curtains across the windows and I can see why Anne, and probably all of them, longed to be outside. There were videos in some of the rooms, and once I was out of the hidden part of the house and in the rest of the museum, there was a lot more information and videos. It was heartbreaking to hear Anne's friend talk about seeing Anne in the concentration camp.

I left the museum about 4:30. Now there was a long line since after 3:30 the only entry is by standing in line. And what a line! It started alongside the AF House.

It stretched around the back of Westerkirk and then along the side of Westerkirk. There's the end, by the cheese shop.

There were some food kiosks near Westerkirk, so it seemed a good time to try fries with mayo. The fries were really good, but I liked them better without the mayo.

When I got back to Dam Square, it was so packed I could hardly work my way through the crowds. And every minute a flock of pigeons would take flight.

People were everywhere around the National Monument.

There were also a lot of killer bikes.

I went back to the hotel and rested a while since I had a 9:00 tour of the Red Light District lined up. For dinner I ate at Café de Engelbewaarder on Kloveniersburgwal around the corner from the hotel.

The picnic type tables by the canal were full so I went inside, but it was so dark and smoky, that I decided to wait on a bench outside for a spot to become available. I had about a ten minute wait when four people left. One couple and I sat down, and I was glad someone else was sharing the table because I didn't know there was one outside menu that got passed around from table to table. I thought I took some pictures of the tables, but I guess I got so engrossed in eating that I forgot.

Nice Amsterdam photos! Is that a hint of blue sky that I see in one? :)

Our one day there had such crummy weather that we didn't enjoy it as much as we could have. It's nice to see the places that we visited in nicer weather!

Looking forward to following along with you.