Day 17 - Thursday 25th April

Last night's storm had cleared to a cool day that was sunny with some clouds. The temperature was 9C with a forecast maximum of 19C. Our balcony was still wet from last night's rain.

Earlier this morning, we had crossed into the Netherlands. I even saw a (traditional) windmill in the distance just before we went to breakfast. We had left the Rhine River and we were travelling on a canal that goes from the Rhine to Amsterdam. Now the land is flat and green on both sides of the water.

Emma gave a talk at 10am about The Netherlands, Amsterdam and the activities for this afternoon and this evening. She said to watch out for cyclists and pickpockets.

After her talk, we went back to our room and started packing in anticipation of leaving the ship after breakfast tomorrow morning.

I then put on my puffer jacket and went up to the top deck to admire the view. There was pleasant green farmland with cattle and sheep, farmhouses, little villages, trees and irrigation canals. There were frequent trains on the railway next to the canal.

We docked in Amsterdam on schedule at about 12:45pm while we were having lunch in the ship's restaurant.

It's a busy port with a large number of cruise ships and other vessels. Instead of tying up near the bank, there are walkway platforms built into the canal. Ships tie up to these platforms and still often need to moor next to each other meaning you might need to walk through another ship to get ashore.

This afternoon's outing was to the Keukenhof Gardens. These are the famous tulip gardens located about 45 minutes outside Amsterdam. We boarded the buses at 1:30pm. The journey took us past the airport and so we saw planes landing and taking off.

Most of the trip was on motorways. Some motorways had up to five lanes in each direction.

Suzy and I were sitting in the front seat and we had a clear view of the driver. While we were travelling at about 90km/h on the motorway, I was alarmed to see him pull out a sheath of papers in a plastic sleeve. He then proceeded to leaf through the sheets to find the one he wanted. He rested it on the steering wheel and proceeded to work through it, ticking off items.

All this time, the bus was wandering from one lane to another. Luckily there were no cars in the nearby lanes. It was also fortunate that it was a divided motorway so there were no vehicles coming the other way.

Next he decided to recharge his mobile phone. He searched around to find a cable and then plugged it into a USB port on his dashboard. Finally he plugged it into his phone. All this while the bus drifted across the lane lines and with more than 30 passengers on board.

Keukenhof Gardens is a very popular destination. There were more than 50 buses parked outside the entrance and the car park was full of hundreds of cars. Apparently the gardens are only open eight weeks per year and so people take advantage of seeing the tulips when they are at their best.

There were some gardens with tulips outside the entrance to add colour and interest while our guide bought tickets. The gardens inside were even better.

Before coming on this outing to see the tulips, I'd expected just to see fields of tulips like you might have seen photos of flowers elsewhere in the world. This was very different. The layout is not only colourful but also artistic.

Our guide showed us through various pathways curving through the gardens with spectaculat tulip displays on either side and as far as the eye could see. I couldn't keep up with her because there were so many photo opportunities.

She took us past ponds with fountains and eventually stopped at a directions board that explained the various parts of the gardens. There she left us to explore on our own.

Nearby there was a building that contained more displays plus a coffee shop. By this time, it had started to rain and so it was time to get out our wet weather gear to wear on top of our cold weather gear.

One of the attractions in the garden was a traditional windmill and so we headed there first after we left the building.

Next there was another building with more colourful tulip displays. In fact, it was possibly too colourful. Everywhere you looked was a treat of colour. We climbed up a staircase to a platform to look down on the spectacle below us.

Leaving this building, we walked through the light showers to see more of the gardens. There was another building with more flower displays including old vehicles. Back in the first building, we found a table to stop and sit to enjoy a coffee.

There was a special disply near the entrance with a steel platform and stairs to view the exhibit. With the light rain, it was slippery walking up and across and down the platform.

We met our guide near the entrance at the appointed time and made our way back to the bus. This had been an amazing experience. A fitting climax to our river cruise.

On the way back to the ship, we encountered heavy traffic leaving the gardens and when we got back to Amsterdam.

Our group had dinner again in the separate room. After dinner we set out to explore the streets of Amsterdam including the red light district. Afterwards we enjoyed the music from the band before retiring to bed after another great day.