Day 13: From Ship to the Shores of Lake Mendota

LEGO Traveler at Copenhagen Airport ©2018 Bo Mackison

October 6, 2018

It took us 25 hours to get home — 25 long sleepless hours. But it all went smoothly — no lost tickets, no lost luggage, no missed connections.

Flying Over Amsterdam ©2018 Bo Mackison

Flying over Amsterdam, I was able to spot the Viking Sky in the Cruise Ship Terminal. (near the bottom of the page — where the harbor splits into an upside down V, that skinny white ship is the Viking Sky)

From the ship (1 hour) to the Amsterdam Airport where we had a long wait for our first flight (3.5 hours) to our first flight to Copenhagen (1 hour) to our second long airport wait, but this time with lots of shopping options, so not as tedious (4.25 hours) to our second flight of the day to Chicago (9.25 hours) to going through customs (1.25 hours) to waiting for the bus (1 hour) to the bus ride from O’Hare to Madison (3 hours) to a car ride to our front door (.75 hours)

Home, safe and sound, with memories to last forever.

Day 12: Amsterdam and Van Gogh

Painterly © 2018 Bo Mackison

The light in Amsterdam is a painterly light, indeed.

Amsterdam Centraal Station was designed by Pierre Cuypers who is also designed the Rijksmuseum. It’s an impressive work of architectural art. We were racing the clock as we walked by Centraal Station, on our way to our timed admission tickets at the Van Gogh Museum.

Van Gogh Museum ©2018 Bo Mackison

And here we are — two buses in busy Friday afternoon traffic — but we all arrived in time to claim our tickets. This museum is BUSY.

Van Gogh’s Sunflowers ©2018 Bo Mackison

No photographs allowed — though their were plenty of visitors taking photos while pretending not to be taking photos. This copy of Sunflowers was one of the few permissbale photo stops.

Van Gogh ©2018 Bo Mackison

Of course, there was no limitations on photos of prints in the gift shop, so I made do with a photo of a copy. But mostly I enjoyed studying the many paintings. There is an extensive display of his self-portraits — so many self-portraits because Van Gogh would not have had the money to pay a model, thus he painted himself. For free.

Bob the Artist ©2018 Bo Mackison

Bob found a “Bob the Artist” book and was more than content to share.

van Gogh Museum ©2018 Bo Mackison

The van Gogh Museum’s new entrance hall opened in 2015. The curved glass structure, positioned between the museum’s two buildings, connects the spaces while providing shelter for waiting visitors.

Mirroring Cube ©2018 Bo Mackison

A mirroring cube between the entrances of Stedelijk Museum and van Gogh Museum, it reminds me of The Bean in Chicago’s Millennium Park with people talking photos in the reflective surfaces.

We walked past the Rijksmuseum  and through its center tunnel. It was designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885. It consists of two squares with an atrium in each square. In the center is a tunnel with the entrances at ground level and the Gallery of Honour on the first floor.

The Rijksmuseum ©2018 Bo Mackison

The Rijksmuseum is on the Museum Square near the van Gogh Museum.

Amsterdam is famous for its canals and its lovely light. Well deserved.

Painting the Town Red ©2018 Bo Mackison

Painting the town red.

 

Amsterdam ©2018 Bo Mackison

 

Light on the Canal ©2018 Bo Mackison

 

Van Go ©2018 Bo Mackison

A decorated bicycle near the Amsterdam Harbor.

Last Toast ©2018 Bo Mackison

The last toast; tomorrow we fly home.

Day 12: Celebration Buffet on the Viking Sky

Buffet Cocktails ©2018 Bo Mackison

While we sailed our longest leg of our cruise at sea — 23 hours from Hamburg to Amsterdam — this delightful buffet offered us sustenance of the finest quality.

No words are really needed…

All the Fine Chefs in a Row ©2018 Bo Mackison

…except for commendations to the many chefs aboard the Viking Sky that made the food a cruise highlight.

©2018 Bo Mackison

Who’s that looking at me? Gah!

Dessert anyone? How I wish I had just a single sample now!

Cheers!

Day 12 Sailing from Hamburg to Amsterdam

Hamburg on the Elbe ©2018 Bo Mackison

October 5, 2018

The trip from Hamburg to Amsterdam is a half day plus all night plus another half day affair. We leave Hamburg around 2 PM on October 4 and we arrive in Hamburg around 1 PM on October 5. It’s a quiet time after many days of constantly being on the go. We cruised the Elbe, past homes terraced along the banks of the river.

Lighthouse on the Elbe ©2018 Bo Mackison

Lighthouses dot the shore at frequent intervals.

Sheep on the Shore of the Elbe ©2018 Bo Mackison

Near the mouth of the Elbe, sheep graze on the river’s flood plain.

Tidal Chart of the Elbe

There was a conversation in the Explorer’s Lounge about tides in this part of the world, so I looked up tides and took this screenshot. The red dot on October 4th signifies the tide is going out and will be at low tide at 8:35 PM.

We were happy to sit back and enjoy some down time, not that there is ever any “nothing to do” time. Just a look out of any nearby window proves there is always something to see of interest. But Bob read a book — his second on the cruise — and I worked on my travel journal. Then we toasted to a “cruise well enjoyed.”

North Sea Sunrise & Netherlands in the Mist ©2018 Bo Mackison

By the time the sun was rising, we were approaching the Netherlands.

North Sea Channel, IJmuiden, Netherlands ©2018 Bo Mackison

IJmuiden is the newest city in North Holland, and was christened a city in 1876, when the North Sea Canal was officially opened, connecting the Amsterdam harbours to the open sea.

IJmuiden is located at the mouth of the 27-kilometre-long North Sea Channel that links Amsterdam with the sea.

Locks ©2018 Bo Mackison

 

All ships traveling between Amsterdam and the North Sea must pass through the locks at IJmuiden. The four sea locks form a barrier in the mouth of the channel, which offers protection against flooding from the North Sea.

New Lock Construction ©2018 Bo Mackison

New locks are being built to accommodate the newest generation of large ships.

Forward on Deck 10 © 2018 Bo Mackison

 

Entering the Locks ©2018 Bo Mackison

 

 

Botel on the Elbe ©2018 Bo Mackison

Wanna stay near the water? How about on the water? Here’s what the Botel’s website has to say about its boat-hotel.

“The Amstel Botel is Amsterdam’s floating hotel. Stay in our hotel with unique design in appearance. We are located in the center of Amsterdam just 3 minutes walk from the Central Railway Station and 18 minutes ride from Amsterdam Airport, which offers a splendid opportunity to discover Amsterdam’s history, culture and beauty. The Amstel Botel has 175 rooms, smoking and non-smoking rooms available, all with toilet/shower, hot/cold water, safe, AM/FM clock radio, writing desk, telephone.”

Yea or nay?

Canal ©2018 Bo Mackison

A’Dam Lookout is an observation deck with a panoramic view of Amsterdam. Visible is the city’s historical center, the port, the surrounding landscape, and the famous canals which are listed on the UNESCO world heritage list.

Amsterdam Canal ©2018 Bo Mackison

 

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands ©2018 Bo Mackison

The white low slung building is the EYE Film Institute Netherlands, a museum that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. The museum’s extensive collection includes 37,000 film titles, 60,000 posters, 700,000 photographs and 20,000 books.

And soon we will be arriving at the terminal of Amsterdam.

Day 9: Cruising the Kiel Canal

From my journal dictated October 2, 2018 19:00

The plan was to set sail and enter the Kiel Canal around 4 PM. However, due to strong winds, the ship had to wait for a tug escort, thus we were delayed by several hours. Still, it was enjoyable sitting on the Explorers Lounge, watching both the people waiting with anticipation and nearby ships plying the choppy waters.

We were scheduled to travel through the Kiel Canal all night long and reach Hamburg around noon. The 62-mile-long Kiel Canal links the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. More than 30,000 ships pass through the canal every year and it is ranked as one of the world’s busiest artificial waterways.

If you like facts and figures, this information about the Kiel Canal from the Encyclopedia Britannica is perfect:

Kiel Canal, also known as the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (North Sea–Baltic Sea Canal) is a waterway in northern Germany, extending eastward for 61 miles from Brunsbüttelkoog (on the North Sea, at the mouth of the Elbe River) to Holtenau (at Kiel Harbour on the Baltic Sea). The canal has been enlarged twice and is now 526 feet wide and 37 feet deep and is spanned by seven high-level bridges that have about 140 feet of clearance for ships beneath them. The locks are 146 feet wide by 1,072 feet long. The canal constitutes the safest, most convenient, shortest, and cheapest shipping route between the two seas.

Here is Kiel Harbor on the Baltic Sea and the begining of the canal.

And here is the bow of the ship, nosing her way into the locks. The Viking Sky is 745 feet long with a beam of 94.5 feet so it was an easy fit inside the locks, but with the winds pushing us around it felt like we were much closer to the sides of the locks than in actuality.

Once we were inside the locks, the front gates slid into the side walls and we were free to pass.

After that sailing highlight, it was time for an eating/drinking highlight — the buffet offered a variety of German beers and German food including bratwurst. It felt almost like being back in Wisconsin!

And of course, the obligatory picture of setting sun, this one taken as we cruised through the Kiel Canal.

And here’s the sunrise, twelve hours later.

I was awake in time to see the ship exiting the locks at Brunsbüttelkoog and then we sailed the Elbe River making our way to Hamburg. We passed small towns with rows of terraced houses and views of the river. We arrived in Hamburg about noon.