Rare horseymike Posted May 9, 2023 #1776 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Great ongoing updates and photos. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venicecruiser Posted May 9, 2023 #1777 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Absolutely gorgeous flower photos! Tulips are amazing! Claudia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 9, 2023 Author #1778 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Tuesday May 9, 2033 Rainy Day We dawned our rain gear and took a walk around Rembrandtpark. This is our street. As I said not in Centrum. Grey Heron. I never realized the iPhone also identifies birds until today. And Egyptian Goose 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 9, 2023 Author #1779 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Not sure the bounce effect will work little ducks enjoying the rain 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 9, 2023 Author #1780 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Back to Mercatoplein to do our daily grocery shopping. The rain dried up for a little while. Should be nicer tomorrow. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted May 9, 2023 #1781 Share Posted May 9, 2023 2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said: Not sure the bounce effect will work little ducks enjoying the rain new photo gems..with the rain water effect! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackE Posted May 9, 2023 #1782 Share Posted May 9, 2023 2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said: Tuesday May 9, 2033 Rainy Day We dawned our rain gear and took a walk around Rembrandtpark. This is our street. As I said not in Centrum. Grey Heron. I never realized the iPhone also identifies birds until today. And Egyptian Goose Great photos as always! Thanks for taking us along! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Oceansaway17 Posted May 9, 2023 #1783 Share Posted May 9, 2023 On 5/8/2023 at 12:54 PM, Jim_Iain said: Also learned you can buy a 1-5 day travel pass at Metro entrance via a machine. Will try to take a photo. Iain wasn’t waiting for me as I puttered along taking photos Okay now I demand you adopt me and take me on next vacation as your photos as well as places you visit are just really good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AF-1 Posted May 9, 2023 #1784 Share Posted May 9, 2023 (edited) I know you have laundry service onboard; but my question is: how many days did you pack for and how many suitcases for both of you? Edited May 9, 2023 by AF-1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanrod Posted May 10, 2023 #1785 Share Posted May 10, 2023 @Jim_Iain was sharing your travels with dh at lunch today and he said unless you adopt us, we will never be able to travel when we retire like the two of you get to do 😂. He also said unless gas prices come down in California, we will just be walking around our block and vacation will be a stop at Starbucks Loving all your pics and is getting me in the mood for our trip in august 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetblue Posted May 10, 2023 #1786 Share Posted May 10, 2023 Hi Jim and Iain! Hope you're enjoying Amsterdam. Just checking in to let you know we are taking good care of the Apex for you and she will be ready for your return soon. Today we made it to Flåm, Norway, absolutely beautiful. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1787 Share Posted May 10, 2023 20 hours ago, AF-1 said: I know you have laundry service onboard; but my question is: how many days did you pack for and how many suitcases for both of you? We always pack for 7 days Plus Jacket, dress pants and dress shows - Regardless of Cruise Lenght. One Suite Case each - Back Pack for me and Hand Bag for Iain. We do have an advantage to many others because we can swap off. Usually the bags come in at about 45 Pounds.... all my electronics probably account for 20% of my allocation. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1788 Share Posted May 10, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, jetblue said: Hi Jim and Iain! Hope you're enjoying Amsterdam. Just checking in to let you know we are taking good care of the Apex for you and she will be ready for your return soon. Today we made it to Flåm, Norway, absolutely beautiful. David, That looks incredible and as I would expect. I'm sure one day we will make it on that cruise. Really reminds me of a combination of Iceland and Greenland all wrapped into one. Were you able to do any hiking or climbing to the top of the falls? Or is that you in Red by the stone house waving at us. Edited May 10, 2023 by Jim_Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1789 Share Posted May 10, 2023 17 hours ago, juanrod said: @Jim_Iain was sharing your travels with dh at lunch today and he said unless you adopt us, we will never be able to travel when we retire like the two of you get to do 😂. He also said unless gas prices come down in California, we will just be walking around our block and vacation will be a stop at Starbucks Loving all your pics and is getting me in the mood for our trip in august Know the feeling. WE always thought we would be downsizing and staying at home in retirement. Iain being a financial guru is really responsible for our good luck. Prior to retirement we paid off all 4 of our homes, have zero debt and don't buy new cars every year. Instead we have an 18 y.o. Saab that still runs like a champ and really only use it once or twice a week. I live off of one of my rentals and all of our SS goes to our Cruise Fund... Keep working so they keep paying us SS.... LOL 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1790 Share Posted May 10, 2023 (edited) Wednesday 5/10/2023 We had a nice leisurely morning just sitting around listening to the MidNight news from home which is 9:00 AM here. The one thing I love about having an AirBnB like this is that everything under the sun is available. Iain uses the Tea Kettle to make his morning Tea and I use the Nescafe Coffee Machine to make a perfect cup of copy with plenty of froth without milk. We have been shopping daily and picked up some nice bread from a local bakery, cheese from a cheese shop and Sugar Cured Ham. Perfect for a light lunch. I swear you get your exercise in a Dutch building. Up and down 3 flights of steps like this. We walked about 3 blocks away to the Market Square that is also our closest Tram and Bus stop. We have always just used the Tram but talked Iain into using the Bus on the way back from Centraal Station. Our first task was to pick up two 3-Day Tram tickets for Iain's Sister and BIL. The good thing about the tickets is they are good for 24 hours from the time you first tap on. As promised I took a couple pictures of purchasing the cards from machine. The first thing we learned, which makes sense, The machines in the Train Station only sell Train Tickets and the ones in the Metro Station only sell the Metro and Bus tickets. Ok Here we go. You walk out of station and there is a Metro sign for the entrance to Metro Tap the screen for English. Each time you select will pop up a new colum for choices Buy GVB paper Chip Card Then select number of days Next number of cards. We chose 2 then click payment card. On the side is payments point. I just tapped with ApplePay And out comes the cards Edited May 10, 2023 by Jim_Iain 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1791 Share Posted May 10, 2023 (edited) Iain's next agenda was to find the place (Bar) where he played piano and lived 47 years ago. It looks like it is now a private residence. He said it brings back memories. lots of Not many of these left in Amsterdam. No explanation necessary. His piano use to sit in front of thatching window. I’m sure some of you remember the piano bars with fixed price dinners and lots of drinks. he use to live I. The third floor as part of his pay. Edited May 10, 2023 by Jim_Iain 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanrod Posted May 10, 2023 #1792 Share Posted May 10, 2023 Have you had any further issues with Apple Pay or cc on the grocery marts since your first day @Jim_Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1793 Share Posted May 10, 2023 3 minutes ago, juanrod said: Have you had any further issues with Apple Pay or cc on the grocery marts since your first day @Jim_Iain Only at the Grocery Store. We went to another and even though it says accepts MC, Visa, American Express and a couple more the terminal rejected. On the terminal it says something about Cash Cards. The clerk said no problem and went over to the Manager who came over with a QR Card - printed our receipt and then took us to her window and processed it on a different terminal. I asked if there was a problem and she said no. Even the Dutch when using a Credit Card have to do this. I still don't understand but since we have way to many Euros stockpiled we have been paying with cash. Apple Pay and CC have worked everywhere else... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1794 Share Posted May 10, 2023 (edited) No visit to Amsterdam is complete without saying hi to Amsterdams Lieverdje (little Dutch Boy Statue) The statue symbolized a street boy of Amsterdam that always did the boyish prank but he has a golden heart. It's based on a story in a daily paper about a boy who saved a dog that was fallen in the canal. The location is on a busy square, spui. Edited May 10, 2023 by Jim_Iain 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted May 10, 2023 Author #1795 Share Posted May 10, 2023 (edited) Just some of sights that struck my eye. Don’t feed the birds or you will be sorry. Love the one on her head Edited May 10, 2023 by Jim_Iain 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneRetired Posted May 10, 2023 #1796 Share Posted May 10, 2023 On 5/8/2023 at 9:24 AM, Jim_Iain said: Next on our agenda was to figure out how to get to the Concert - Gebouw where we have tickets on Friday for Wiener Philharmoniker - Sjostakovitsj' Symfonie Nr. 5 (Vienna Philharmonic Symphony - Shostakovich Symphony Number 5) We decided it would be easier to walk from Central Station so off we went Munttoren next to Flower market. Love the Delfts Store next to it. No trip to Amsterdam is complete without a stroll along Bloemenmarkt. @Jim_Iain long time follower/lurker. I am so jealous you are visiting the Amsterdam Concertgebuw. It's on my travel music wish list. We try to see classical concerts in every major European city, stumbling upon I Musici 4 Seasons in Venice wafting from a church once. The annual Brecon Baroque Festival in the small village of Brecon Wales was a full week retirement exclamation point in 2019. Once on an Alaskan cruise, we stumbled upon the Bach's Lunch Music Festival in Sitka! Just typing these brings back so many wonderful travel memories! Thank you for a great travelogue and tips! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgman1 Posted May 10, 2023 #1797 Share Posted May 10, 2023 Have fun at Keukenhof when you go - DW and I were there last Friday for the first time ( traveled to Amsterdam for 3 days after Silhouette TA cruise), simply awe-inspiring and breathtaking experience. Can't wait to show my florist buddy all of my pictures ( about 100) ( he'll get jealous). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WrittenOnYourHeart Posted May 10, 2023 #1798 Share Posted May 10, 2023 This has been great! Thanks for taking us along!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DaKahuna Posted May 10, 2023 #1799 Share Posted May 10, 2023 4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said: We always pack for 7 days Plus Jacket, dress pants and dress shows - Regardless of Cruise Lenght. One Suite Case each - Back Pack for me and Hand Bag for Iain. We do have an advantage to many others because we can swap off. Usually the bags come in at about 45 Pounds.... all my electronics probably account for 20% of my allocation. Lol. I wish we could pack that light. We took one large, one medium, and one small suitcase on our recent cruise. When we flew home we had two large and one medium suitcase, the small one was inside a new large one we had shipped to our son's house. When I checked the bags for our flight home the two large were 56-lbs each and the medium one was 39-lbs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetblue Posted May 10, 2023 #1800 Share Posted May 10, 2023 5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said: David, That looks incredible and as I would expect. I'm sure one day we will make it on that cruise. Really reminds me of a combination of Iceland and Greenland all wrapped into one. Were you able to do any hiking or climbing to the top of the falls? Or is that you in Red by the stone house waving at us. We've done Iceland before but this is on another level, Norway is so beautiful and majestic. Unfortunately my hiking days are over with 2 herniated discs in my back so we just enjoyed the train round-trip but it's quite a site. The sailaway from Flåm is about 6 hours long. You have to sail through an extensive amount of fjords before hitting the the North Sea and then we will be entering the next set of fjords at about 2am tonight to arrive at Geiranger in the morning. It's just amazing a big cruise ship can go so far inland, it's like Alaska on steroids! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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