Greetings from MaryAnn! (That REALLY is her name). She was our Viking Cruise's concierge. After a long day of travel on Monday, MaryAnn helped us pick our tour for the next day... So after a quick bus tour of Amsterdam Monday night, we were fast asleep for a good night's rest in our beautiful cabin then off we went Tuesday morning to HAARLEM!
We started out Tuesday morning with fresh cooked omelets on board our ship. Then we were off to our walking tour of old city Haarlem as we listened to our guide through the use of these head sets that Brent is so graciously modeling here.
Haarlem is a cute city, and I hate to say it, but I think my husband is pretty cute too! (Cheese!) Its a little chilly in the mornings but such pleasant weather by the early afternoon. Onto the program...
One of Brent's favorite things about European cities are the town squares. Everyone loves an outdoor meal in the fresh air and plenty of people-watching. These squares are packed by noon!
Don't you just love tourists, we take pictures of every little thing! The first cheese shop we passed by was a novelty. (By the 33rd, we were over it!) This cute store-keeper invited us to come in and buy cheese, not just take a picture of it! Tourists!
We are waiting to go inside the Frans Hals Museum that housed a number of paintings from the Golden Age. We had our own private tour before they opened to the public. Rock stars!
After our tour of Haarlem, this was were we had lunch! Can you believe it! This Viking River Tour really knows how to do it up right! The meal was slow-roasted pork on top of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Oh, so good. (And apple pie for dessert!)
Our lunch was inside this old mansion that is now used for group banquets. We won't leave the port till late tonight, so this evening we have our Christening Ceremony.
Pictured here are 2 of the 4 ships that were Christened. The ships recieve their names, and a Godmother is chosen to do the Christening. The ceremony included a broadcast from the workers at the shipyard. Pretty cool stuff!
The stage of the Christening Ceremony is placed here between the 4 boats, 2 on each side. The 4 Godmothers have Christened each boat and we are awaiting a cocktail celebration to start.
These 4 women holding the frames are the 4 Godmothers who were honored to each represent one of the boats. Forgive me for not placing their names, I can give you a full account later if you want!
This is the beginning of beautiful sunsets we enjoyed every night, followed by perfect weather every day. No one could believe how warm it was for us! The meals on the ship were just as fantastic too! Our dinners looked as beautiful as that lunch did, but I won't go into too much detail to not make you jealous. (It was awesome food though! I threw my diet right out the window!)
2 comments:
So you feel pretty good about hanging these hints of delightful food and stuff and then you don't go into detail - that's just so wrong.
Too late, we're already jealous!!! But my stomach hurts just looking at all that cheese!
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