VIKING TRAVELOG GRAND EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE RHINE-MAIN-DANUBE RIVERS

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” (Sufi)

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/europe/grand-european- tour/2019--budapest/index.html DAY 1 - AMSTERDAM

We arrived at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on May 16, 2019. We were met at the airport by Viking representatives, and by a gigantic wooden shoe structure.

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Upon our arrival on the Viking Vali, I noticed a symbolic painting and a mythic description of the longboat we would be sailing on. Vali was the son of Odin: The son of Odin and the giantess Rind, Vali was conceived strictly to avenge the death of Baldur, another of Odin’s children. To achieve this, Vali grows into manhood in just one day, developing courage and perfecting his marksmanship with the bow and arrow. https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/ships/longships/viking-vali.html

We had lunch on the ship before we headed out to explore Amsterdam.

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Waterfront of Amsterdam. Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age (17th century). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam

Amsterdam Centraal (railway station) was designed by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers and first opened in 1889. It features a Gothic, Renaissance Revival station building and a cast iron platform roof spanning approximately 40 metres.

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We decided the best tour in Amsterdam was the “Hop on, Hop off” canal boat tour. Amsterdam, capital of the , has more than one hundred kilometers of grachten (canals), about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals (Herengracht, and Keizersgracht), dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the . Alongside the main canals are 1550 monumental buildings. The 17th-century canal ring area, including the Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht and , were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, contributing to Amsterdam's fame as the "Venice of the North". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canals_of_Amsterdam

We hopped on the blue canal boat tour near the central station (west).

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EYE Film Institute Netherlands (white building) is a Dutch archive and museum in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. The EYE building was designed by Delugan Meissl architects, which specializes in buildings that appear to be in motion.

The much admired 85m/275ft high Westerkerk Tower, built in 1638, dominates above most of the Old City centre. Westerkerk is the burial place of the famous Dutch painter .

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Right in front of the was a tour boat named “Anne Frank”. Located on Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal), the fourth and the longest of the main canals in Amsterdam. The Anne Frank House is shown here behind the tree, and a museum entrance is to its right. The Anne Frank House (Dutch: Anne Frank Huis) is a writer's house and biographical museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank. The building is located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, During World War II, Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the 17th-century canal house, known as the Secret Annex (Dutch: Achterhuis). She did not survive the war but her wartime diary was published in 1947. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank _House

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The canals in Amsterdam are now used for tourism, recreation, house boats, and a relatively small amount of private transport compared to the main modes of walking, light rail, subway, and bicycle. Most of the canals are paralleled by automobile roads on both sides.

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Heineken Building. Heineken Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij -- Tile tableau with the name of the company on the façade of the former brewery complex at the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam. It concerns the 1911-1913 dating brewing House.

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Rijksmuseum. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en Rembrandt billboards adorned the building when we passed by the museum. See his art in the museum: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/artists/rembrandt-van-rijn Or online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt

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Westerkerk (a Reformed church within Dutch Protestant Church). Today the Westerkerk remains the largest church in the Netherlands that was built for Protestants, and is still in use by the PKN (Protestantse Kerk in Nederland). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerkerk

Classic low-rise canal houses

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Houseboats on the canal. There are around 2,500 houseboats in Amsterdam, many of which are moored in the city center. The original houseboats are charmingly restored ships that hail from Amsterdam’s seafaring and trading legacy. Many of these are more than 100 years old and retain original features alongside modern amenities, such as electricity, heating and running water. In the 1960s and 1970s, an influx of more modern houseboats appeared as a solution to increasing demand for housing. This type of houseboat, known as a woonark (literally a house ark), is built on a floating pontoon and typically isn’t motorized. Luxuriously furnished houseboats, sometimes built over multiple floors and complete with adjoined terraces and gardens, can be seen all around Amsterdam’s most picturesque canals. https://www.holland.com/global/tourism/destinations/amsterdam/houseboats-in-the-amsterdam- canals.htm

A city of bicycles.

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The Basilica of Saint Nicholas (Dutch: Basiliek van de Heilige Nicolaas) is located in the Old Centre district of Amsterdam, very close to Amsterdam's main railway station. It is the city's primary Roman Catholic church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Nicholas,_Amsterdam

Bikers have the right of way in the city. You have to watch for bikers as you would for cars. Bikers lanes are usually drawn right alongside pedestrian walkways.

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We finally arrive back at the Viking Vali longboat, which will be our dwelling place for the next two weeks. We are ready to set sail on the Grand European tour via the Rhine- Main-Danube rivers. Little do we know what awaits us on the long-anticipated, and long- planned, journey.

In the evening we had our orientation to the Viking Vali’s 1st maiden voyage on the Grand European Tour (Rhine-Main-Danube). We were told there were 184 passengers and 52 crew members. Our tour director, Stephen Guy, prepared us for tomorrow’s excursion in Kinderdijk. Dinner that evening included Ahi Tuna, salad, and ice cream. Afterwards, I went to my room 114 and tried to sleep.

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I barely slept my first night on the longboat Viking Vali. I was recovering from jet-lag, and I was also very excited about the upcoming journey to my homeland, the place where I was born on Sept. 25, 1945 in a small village named Tann, near the town of Pfarrkirchen, which is between Passau and Munchen (Munich). It was like a homecoming of sorts, a rediscovery of origins (roots), and a hopeful recollection of my childhood. I was six years old when I left Germany for the promised land of the United States of America. I had previously visited the northern port of Bremerhaven, from which I had emigrated to the USA. Now I wanted to visited the place in Munchen (Munich) that my brother told me we had lived in for about a year before we headed up north on our way to the west (USA). When I woke up at 6:30 AM, I checked the Ship Tracker to see where the ship was. We were on our way to Kinderdijk to see the world-famous windmills. The Ship Tracker showed that we had already arrived at our destination Kinderdijk, near the town of Nieuw- Lekkerland on the River Lek.

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