Boomsmas in Europe 5

Woke this morning in Germany - the ship is so quiet and we slept well - moored in Düsseldorf and bussed to Cologne. David went to the Neanderthal Museum and I did the Cologne historical walking tour, starting outside the Cathedral. 

First stop was a Roman pavement excavated 12 feet below ground level, dated to 230 AD, probably the floor of a rich Roman's dining room:

We walked and walked in the Old Quarter, all rebuilt since the bombing of Cologne in WW2. The cathedral fared relatively well with only one corner hit by bombs. 

These are two iconic Cologne characters posing with our guide: if you rub the nose of the left one you get a happy, warm personality; if you rub the right nose you are lucky in money. So everyone rubs both. 

This man under the clock on City Hall sticks out his tongue when the clock strikes the hour. Across the square a statue moons back at him. They're a hooligan lot in Cologne. Except when it comes to their cathedral, started in 1248, nominally finished in 1880 but continually worked on since. 

Inside is very calm and quiet with beautiful stained glass windows 

We had to wait at Cologne dock for Scenic Jasper to arrive 

then it was lunch, barely time to draw breath and back into the bus to visit Castle Burg for a tour of the castle and dinner. 

That's the castle in stained glass, in real life the keep is shrouded in scaffolding as major restoration is underway thanks to a recent federal grant of 30 million euros. They have constant functions: a pop music event was setting up in the courtyard, a wedding reception was happening in the cellars and 168 Scenic cruisers were dining in the banquet hall. 

In the foreground is Angie from Millicent and her daughter Di. The entertainment was three medieval-style musicians on pipe, lure and drum plus singing and they were very good. Probably made the event, food was OK but not as good as the ship. 

Boomsmas in Europe 4

Amsterdam turned on its rainy face so we spent the morning before boarding the ship in the hotel lobby cafe - a Starbucks and very popular today. 

It was still raining as we bussed for 2 minutes around the block to the docks where Scenic Jasper and 10 other cruise ships were waiting. Scenic Jasper looks the newest and spiffiest, all gleaming chrome and white paint. They call it a Spaceship because there is so much space - certainly our cabin is bigger than others we've had. The shower looks overwhelming but turned out to be quite easy to operate:

Lots of lovely L'Occitane toiletries. 

Scenic is an Australian company and 90% of the passengers are Australian, interspersed with a few Brits, Americans and Canadians. I met Angie from Millicent whom I played bridge against at Robe recently so we will try for a game - if there is time in the busy itinerary. 

We spent the night at Amsterdam docks and next morning set off in bus trip to Edam and the heritage windmills of Zahnse Schans. 

At 8.30 am Edam (as in cheese) is a sleepy village with only a few people on bikes and a worker sweeping the canal. 

We saw the church:

the magnificent church cat:

and a lovely illicit glimpse into a private home:

Then we took the scenic route across what used to be Lake Beemster, 4 metres below sea level and ringed with dikes, which has been drained and turned into arable land for sheep, cattle, horses, fruit orchards and vegetables. Our guide waxed lyrical about the hortensias, which turned out to be hydrangeas of a brilliant red-pink colour:

We joined hundreds of tourists at the windmill park - a small group of restored windmills representing the hundreds that The Netherlands used to have. 

We've been given nifty little gadgets to hang around our necks with an earpiece through which we can hear commentary from a guide but David and I nicked off ahead and were rewarded by finding the last windmill is a reconstructed working sawmill - alas not working today due to no wind. 

David was in seventh heaven, questioning the guide and even tut! tut! going behind the ropes to look closer. 

The bus returned us to Amsterdam docks and Scenic Jasper in time for noon sailing and lunch, followed by a leisurely afternoon sailing between flat green meadows dotted with cattle and horses, sitting on our balcony with our Dutch cheese and gin and tonic, followed by the obligatory safety drill:

Boomsmas in Europe 3

Our foodie tour with Hungry Birds was fantastic. We met our guide, a Singaporean named Charmaine outside Macdonald's in the suburbs and quickly moved next door to somewhere more authentically Dutch - which was in fact Indonesian as Dutch food is heavily influenced by their many past colonies. In common with most of the places Charmaine took us, I wouldn't have looked twice at it; but inside what a treasure trove of spices, cooked dishes and fresh vegetables and the longest greenest snake beans ever. Here we had little meaty bites dipped in different sambals (chutney/jam) of varying degrees of chilli heat. 

At the next "tako" - Tjin's - we ate bom from Surinam, another colony in South America, inside baguette and so delicious! 

That's Charmaine, holding the tray. To get to Tjin's we walked through a vibrant market all along a closed-off street with stalls selling everything from flamingo-patterned scarves to hardware to the most luscious-looking strawberries - and no time to browse. 

And the flowers!

And the fish!

We stopped for fish and chips - Kibbeling - and herring. Loved the herring (in a small serve) and even liked the beer, Heineken naturally. Of the thousands of beer available in Amsterdam apparently Heineken is what you have with Kibbeling. 

Next stop Poffertjes, tiny little Dutch pancakes, a vehicle for lashings of best butter and maple syrup

Sorry to leave the market, but more awaited in the city, quite a trek through parks, over canals and through the flower market. Remember the flower market Jenny? David and I kept getting left behind through stopping and looking 

Ah...peonies!

At this tiny cafe we had spinach pie and exquisite green pea with mint soup. There are jars of biscuits on the table for customers to help themselves and take home for free - because the owner loves to make people happy with her food. 

Ah...more peonies, seen as we whizzed by. 

There had to be some culture so we stopped for a while at the sculpture of Rembrandt's famous painting "The Night Watch".

The pigeon seems underwhelmed. 

Then we dived off down an alley to a weird little bar that specialised in Dutch croquettes. Charmaine said to think of them as deep-fried gravy which is rather off-putting, but I liked them with a soft filling and crisp crumb coating.  This place has had virtually the same menu since it started in 1945, and it's not on the tourists' agenda. 

The croquette place around the corner is on the tourist trail and it's automated: put in your coin and receive your croquette. We didn't sample. 

Next stop Dutch Delicacy - the most amazing cheese shop. We'd walked past so much cheese but this was special. 

Charmaine with the two girls from Tel Aviv; we were an eclectic group, 4 Australians, 2 Swiss, 2 Israelis and Charmaine from Singapore, married to a Dutch chef. 

Inside we had a cheese tasting with Robert and a glass of South African wine

All the cheeses were good, especially the truffle cheese (dearer because made with real truffles.)

I was fascinated by the coloured cheeses

They are soft cheeses, flavoured with various pestos, and natural colours except for the bright blue which has food colouring. 

A beautiful shop!

Onwards and upwards - nearly finished now - to a tiny shop in a back alley with a line stretching around the block. Fortunately Charmaine had pre-ordered ours. This shop sells only one thing -  a chocolate cookie with white chocolate inside 

To die for! and certainly worth lining up for. In 6 months the business has built by word of mouth to selling 1700 cookies a day, hand-made on the premises in 2 little domestic ovens. 

You can go up-market and buy them 6 in a tin (a tin is going to Tel Aviv) or wrapped in a ribbon. 

Last stop - the pub across the lane where we had a final drink together. 

What a great tour - five hours of eating, drinking, walking and looking at a foreign city. Can't beat it!

Boomsmas in Europe 2

These are the representatives of Scenic Cruise Company waiting at Schipol airport to drive us and 3 others to the hotel. 

Here's our hotel - Doubletree by Hilton - rising out of a sea of bicycles. The cyclists sail around serenely without a helmet between the lot of them. 

After a welcome hot shower we headed out amongst the bicycles for the obligatory walk in sunshine and resetting of time clock. Best attempted on water so we grabbed the last two places on a canal tour - so peaceful with quiet electric motors and commentary through earbuds. 

Love the mix of 16th century houses and houseboats. 

Boomsmas in Europe 1

We left the cats at Fur Family Pet Resort: Mallory was highly indignant and refused to emerge for a goodbye photo

I have heard from Ann since that they are perfectly happy and we can relax. 

Travel is NOT relaxing - the combination of hyped-up security, long waits and boredom is mind-numbing. We endured 14 hours from Melbourne to Doha in Qatar in an Airbus 380-800 which holds 517 passengers and it was nearly full. When we landed at 5.30 am there was a massive wave of people going to the restrooms and cafes. We had a drink in a nice cafe in preparation for the 6 hour leg Doha to Amsterdam. I knitted - wooden knitting needles seem to be ok though it's a bit like knitting with toothpicks. 

The most cheering sight of travel is seeing your case heading along the carousel:

and some welcoming faces outside waiting to drive you to the hotel in a Mercedes limo. 

Great wool from the UK

for Alison

still socking

I haven't posted on this blog for ages but I'm still knitting socks.
Last winter I even knitted for money! A lady at bridge admired  my socks and asked wistfully if I could knit her some. Not really wanting to I named a high price of $35. "Yes!" she said "I'd like five pairs!" "Could I have a pair too?" asked her friend. So there I was committed to knitting six pairs of socks. I had fun getting the yarn, as they both wanted cream, blue and brown to match what they usually wear and Regia yarn produced the perfect thing - Ozon in 75% wool and 25% nylon. Sadly it is discontinued and I had to scour England and the US to get enough.
I finished the six pairs in a month and then made a bonus pair with the left-overs.

Ozon by Regia

Then in October 2011 on our trip to Nova Scotia two more ladies on the bus requested socks which I was happy to do as I had extra cash to buy more yarn - so everywhere we went I sought out the yarn shops to see what goodies were on offer. October is a good time as they all had new shipments of very desirable yarn.

David now has 24 pairs but the green Maizy socks are wearing thin at the heels - and I don't do mending. Maizy too is discontinued which is a shame as David loves them for summer - not so hot and don't attract grass seeds. I bought tencel to see if they will be an acceptable substitute.

tencel socks