Amsterdam

We arrived at our final stop around breakfast time again, and pulled into our slot and rafted up with a Scenic ship. 

Centraal Station from the sun deck

Early morning visitor

The Amsterdam excursion began with the standard canal boat cruise that ended at the Gassa Diamond Factory. From there people could either tour the diamond factory and shop or do a guided walking tour. Ann and Larry chose the walking tour, and since Vicki and I had been in Amsterdam earlier in the year we told the guide that we'd set off on our own and make our way back to the ship for lunch. We walked by our favorite places and dropped in on the Reypenaer cheese shop and tasting room. We decided to pick up some cheese for us and for Larry and Ann. When we went to pay, we mentioned that we'd attended their tasting in June, and they immediately cancelled the credit card transaction and redid it giving us the discount that people who've attended the tasting get. 

After lunch Avalon offered two optional excursions: Zaanse Schans and a escorted bicycle ride. Larry and Ann were interested in windmills, so we decided to do Zaanse Schans on our own. Instead of the €36 a person optional tour, we got round trip train tickets for €6.20 each. The walk from the ship to Centraal Station took about 5 minutes, the train ride was 20 minutes, and the walk from the Koog-Zaandijk station to Zaanse Schans was about 10 minutes. 

Train at Koog-Zaandijk

Some of the Zaanse Schans windmills

Ship group on the official tour

 We went into two windmills. One was an oil mill, and the other was a sawmill. Both were interesting. Before we left we visited the large cheese store there and sampled several tasty cheeses. Before taking the train back to Amsterdam

Crushing wheel in oil mill 

Saw mill 

One set of windmill driven saws

The woodworker checks it out

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After a final dinner on board we packed up and got ready to leave. We were scheduled for a 7:30 bus to the airport and had to have our luggage packed and outside the room at 6:45. The dining room opened for breakfast at the same time, so I got to enjoy one last omelet before leaving. 12 of us were on the bus for the airport, and we were all taking the same flight to Philadelphia. Check in and security went fine, and we were at the gate about an hour before our 10:45 flight. 

The flight was uneventful, and we parted with Ann and Larry at passport control as we headed to Nashville, and they flew to Dallas. We breezed through with Global Entry and took the bus to our terminal. All of us made our connections with no problems, and pulled into our driveway around 5:30. 

The blog is almost done. I'll do one more post about our impressions of Avalon and the ship. It was a great trip with people we love. We met new friends, saw new sights, and remembered why we love river cruising so much!