Live from the Prinsendam - 28 day Azores and Celtic Explorer - May 5th, 2018

[PSR]

Still no pictures....Safari/Mac.:(

[ger_77]

I'm able to see your photos on my iPad mini now. Yayyyy!

 

Smooth Sailing! [emoji3] [emoji3] [emoji3]

 

 

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[Happily@Sea]

Jacqui,

 

I now have pictures also. Windows 10 desktop.

 

Carole

[DeeniEncinitas]

Jacqui

Wine in hand. Not coffee at 8:15 pm. At night!

I got the pics Jacqui!!! On my I Phone.

Denise:)

[HBCcruiser]

Yup the pics are back!

 

 

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[sailingdutchy]

All the posted pictures are back for me . For most of the day I could not see any of Antwerp and dinner .

It's all good now . Really enoyed your travel blog here Jacqui ! Hope to cruise with you one day .:D:D:D

Tony

[kazu]

I was able to see photos yesterday but now cannot. How are you hosting them?

 

 

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I've been posting all the pics with tap a talk. An app for CC.

[kazu]

Yup the pics are back!

 

 

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All the posted pictures are back for me . For most of the day I could not see any of Antwerp and dinner .

It's all good now . Really enoyed your travel blog here Jacqui ! Hope to cruise with you one day .:D:D:D

Tony

 

Thanks Denise, Carole & Gerry and both of you.

 

So, it sounds like it's all good again?

 

I'll get back to work on Amsterdam shortly. :D

 

Dogs come first ;) at this time in the morning.

[kazu]

We had arrived in Amsterdam. It's canal city here and our hotel is on a canal as well. Many bridges to cross to get to places.

 

Amsterdam is an easy walking city if you like to walk.

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

the first thing we wanted to get done was to check into our hotel and get our luggage stored.

 

Service was incredible. Bags were tagged and they even kept my waterford crystal behind the counter for me as I was afraid it would get broken.

 

We were staying at the Banks Mansion. More about it later..

 

 

 

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[kazu]

It was so easy for us to get our luggage up the stairs to the Banks Mansion reception. I had never seen this before.

 

It's a little escalator for your luggage - works both to take your luggage up and down the stairs so no lugging and no need for any help. Amazing.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Luggage taken care of, instructions and maps in hand and we were off walking to get to Anne Frank house.

 

Kazu had bought the tickets on line in advance for our group.

 

You always see interesting things when you are walking and I tried to grab a few photos.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

I was amazed to see such a huge Madame Tussaud's.

 

And even more amazed when I saw the huge lineups for it later.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Amsterdam's palace - in the Dam Square

 

 

 

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[kazu]

this is the original entrance to the Anne Frank House.

 

right now, you cannot queue to get in due to renovations. There were a pile of people trying to get tickets and they were told to go on line and with some luck they might be able to get an entrance later that day.

 

The entry is well controlled as the Anne Frank house is quite small and only so many people can see it at a time.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

The Anne Frank House is moving, sad and yet exhilarating as you think of the people who tried to save those in the Secret Annex.

 

Sad because of the loss of life and the story behind it and definitely, moving.

 

The tour takes you all the way up to the Secret Annex but a word or warning. Once you get past the book case that hid the entry there are a lot of stairs. And they get narrower and narrower.

 

It's a bit tricky but well worth the effort :)

 

 

 

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[kazu]

No pictures are allowed in the Anne Frank house so, sadly I cannot share any more of the experience with you. Once we were done our tour, we started walking back. We had a destination in mind ;)

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Yes, it was Amsterdam's famous flower market.

 

The flowers were gorgeous and very reasonable - much cheaper than here. Kazu was tempted but with the short stay thought she should be reasonable.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Who's kidding who? When you can buy 30 gerberas for 10 euros, how can you say no?

 

I went back and got some and created three little vases for myself and my two friends staying there. One of them was staying for 2 additional days so we would give ours to her when we left.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Lots of good food and cheeses in Amsterdam.

 

Everywhere.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

We headed back to the hotel to see if our rooms were ready - and they were! Hurrah! So we got our luggage and stuff in place and met downstairs for the wine time.

 

Banks Mansion is an all inclusive hotel. They have a bar in the "libarary" (really part of reception but divided), coffee maker, treats, water, soft drinks, beer, all kinds of liquor, water and at 4 pm, they serve wine. At 5 pm, they bring out the cheese tray.

 

So, the 6 of us had to test this out so we could report accurately. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

 

 

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[kazu]

The fridge that held the pop, beer, juices, etc. Is underneath.

 

I was enchanted with the gadget on the left in this pic. You use it to remove your beer cap and the beer cap falls into the bottom of the container. Pretty neat.!

 

 

 

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[kazu]

At 5 pm, out came the cheese tray. It was really good.

 

They change the cheeses and the meats daily depending on what is fresh at the market except for a couple which remain standard.

 

The cheese cutter was like a little guillotine. Quite neat as well.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Here is the daily schedule for the Banks Mansion appetizers.

 

Unfortunately we would miss the bitterballen, but I knew that could be rectified ;)

 

 

 

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