Nuremburg was the end of the line for our cruise. We spent our last night on board, but it was cut short by our need to make an early flight. For some reason we (along with quite a few others) had been scheduled for a 6 am flight from Nuremburg to Amsterdam. So we had to get up at 3 am. (This is another reason I prefer independent travel – you don’t get stuck with itineraries that other people pick.)

But the cruise crew took good care of us, even now at the bitter end. They got up and made breakfast for those of us who could face it at 3 am. And they hired a bus to take all of us early-birds to the airport. It was a quick trip! They even sent a shepherd to make sure we got to the right check-in counter.

When we got to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport we had to say our final goodbyes to our fellow Viking travelers. They were all going on to other places, but Karen and Joyce and I had planned a weekend in Amsterdam. Joyce had somehow got a later flight, so Karen and I were on our own. We located the transport company that I’d reserved for our hotel transfer, and they took us to the Apple Inn in Amsterdam. There we stowed our luggage and set off to explore the town.

The central part of Amsterdam is a series of concentric circular canals – really half-circles. The canals are quite peaceful and beautiful, lined with trees and Dutch buildings of all sorts. Very photogenic. There are lots of great art museums in Amsterdam and the Van Gogh museum was at the top of our list. We also wanted to see the Anne Frank house but I checked online and all of the tickets were sold out for the weekend. The Apple Inn was outside the rings of canals, but we decided to walk down to it and see if we could get into the Van Gogh.

The walk down was interesting. The streets are filled with bicycles. Every street has a bike lane. The bike lanes are painted red (“red with the blood of people who try to walk in them,” said one tour guide) and as a pedestrian you always have to watch out for bikes. They come from all directions, and they come fast. The bigger streets also have trams running down the middle. Of course there are buses too. I didn’t see a subway/metro system so later, on the way back, we decided to try the trams. But I couldn’t figure out where to buy tickets. Karen got fed up with my looking, boarded a tram, and asked the driver – it turns out we buy them from him! Who knew?

We got down to the Van Gogh museum and of course there was a long line for tickets. But it seemed to be moving pretty good, so we got in it, and bought our tickets and a “multimedia guide” for each of us. This turned out to be a good idea. The guide was about the size of a small iPad and you could choose any language. It came with a headset and the guide would talk to you while showing pictures on the screen to correspond with your location in the museum. The museum was packed with people, but we enjoyed looking at Van Gogh’s art and learning about him.

We ate a small breakfast in the museum, but on the way home decided to find a place for lunch. We saw a interesting sign on the corner: “Small Talk Coffee Corner”. So we went in. The place was full – the only available seats were in a window. And omelets were on the menu. So for the second time on this trip we ate breakfast at lunch time in a shop window, and watched the street traffic. This would never happen in the U.S.