Going Live on Scenic "Chef's Culinary Adventure of Belgium and the Netherlands with Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk"

[ontheweb]

Just back earlier this week from a Tulip time cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium. Other than a lot of rain, it was a wonderful experience. The Keukehhof Gardens are spectacular, and luckily it was one of the few days with no rain.

 

Also looking forward to your account. Have a great trip (and hopefully better weather than we had.

[1of4]

13 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Thank you so much. 🥰

You’re very welcome. There is a video at the bottom and I had to watch it a few times because she used fabric that you can’t tell the front from the back. I found attaching the second cotton pocket fabric to the zipper confusing the first few times or after I haven’t made one in awhile. 

[1of4]

16 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Just back earlier this week from a Tulip time cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium. Other than a lot of rain, it was a wonderful experience. The Keukehhof Gardens are spectacular, and luckily it was one of the few days with no rain.

 

Also looking forward to your account. Have a great trip (and hopefully better weather than we had.

How exciting!  Glad you enjoyed your trip. Unfortunately we can’t control the weather so I just figure it will rain and be surprised if it doesn’t. 

[1of4]

39 minutes ago, pontac said:

I got back from Amsterdam yesterday after a Viking cruise to many of the same places you are going to.

 

Weather - very cold vary strong winds an lots of rain, but clearing in the afternoon. Thursday afternoon in Amsterdam was pleasant - sunny and not cold.

 

Are you actually mooring at Arnhem? Viking sent an update before our cruise substituting Nijmegen for Arnhem. They are quite close and the excursions to Arnhem went ahead, The mooring area at Arnhem is  being developed.

Thanks for your report. We haven’t been told of any deviations but I think that type of change would only be communicated onboard so I will find out Wednesday. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, 1of4 said:

How exciting!  Glad you enjoyed your trip. Unfortunately we can’t control the weather so I just figure it will rain and be surprised if it doesn’t. 

Good attitude, and actually the one day that started with really hard rain as opposed to light rain ended up being a nice sunny day. So, be prepared with your sunglasses even if it is pouting, 

[1of4]

Best laid plans…DH somehow locked his suitcase last night and now is trying to find someone to unlock it!  And Air Canada just notified us the plane is delayed 50 minutes but our taxi is arriving in 2 hour and 45 minutes which is now 5 hours and 20 minutes before takeoff. 
 

I guess this is a true case of hurry up and wait!

[1of4]

Update. The tumbler in the lock is broken so we have to destroy the lock to get it open. 😢 we have one more so that’s an issue for when we return. Right now it is getting into the suitcase. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, 1of4 said:

Best laid plans…DH somehow locked his suitcase last night and now is trying to find someone to unlock it!  And Air Canada just notified us the plane is delayed 50 minutes but our taxi is arriving in 2 hour and 45 minutes which is now 5 hours and 20 minutes before takeoff. 
 

I guess this is a true case of hurry up and wait!

Good luck with Air Canada. We have had 3 flights with them (all connected to cruises), and only one was on time. And that was a connecting flight after the first one was delayed and then waited at the airport in Montreal to find a place to park! We ended up running through the terminal to get to the boarding gate. They were already loading. I guess we were lucky our boarding passes were #3.

[1of4]

48 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Good luck with Air Canada. We have had 3 flights with them (all connected to cruises), and only one was on time. And that was a connecting flight after the first one was delayed and then waited at the airport in Montreal to find a place to park! We ended up running through the terminal to get to the boarding gate. They were already loading. I guess we were lucky our boarding passes were #3.

Yeah, their on time record is the worst. But we have little other choice unless we go with a non Canadian carrier. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, 1of4 said:

Yeah, their on time record is the worst. But we have little other choice unless we go with a non Canadian carrier. 

Yes, we had another passenger in our row who was a Canadian on the flight to that connecting flight who said to us "Air Canada is always late".

[Canal archive]

They used to have a superb name and my mum always loved flying with them albeit a few moons ago now, because they used proper china crockery. She went as often as she could because her sister had emigrated there in her early twenties.

[1of4]

15 hours ago, Canal archive said:

They used to have a superb name and my mum always loved flying with them albeit a few moons ago now, because they used proper china crockery. She went as often as she could because her sister had emigrated there in her early twenties.

 

16 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, we had another passenger in our row who was a Canadian on the flight to that connecting flight who said to us "Air Canada is always late".

We were 50 minutes late plus some but we had real crockery!

[1of4]

Well here we are and the weather is amazing. I can only hope it holds. We flew premium economy on Air Canada from Toronto direct to Amsterdam and sailed through customs in less than 5 minutes. Luggage took about 20 minutes and we were out of the secure area and being met by a Scenic representative and driven to The Hilton Doubletree Centraal Station. We must have passed 50 river boats from all brands, even some I had never heard of before. Economy flights were included in our river cruise fare so we only paid the difference with Scenic’s purchasing power. 
 

We arrived just after noon but couldn’t check in yet. I chose to upgrade the room to a corner king for €25/night and saved €21 each on breakfast. I booked the hotel myself instead of going through Scenic as I am a Hilton Honours member and I could get 3 nights using cash and points for half of what they charged Scenic for 2 nights in the smallest queen room. I gave our TA the booking number so we still qualify for free transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to ship and ship to airport. 
 

So we went out for a little walk to enjoy Amsterdam on a sunny Sunday afternoon and now we are in an amazing room (if you don’t look at the carpet) with a spectacular view. 

[Daisi]

One set of flights I am looking at for next year have Air Canada returning from Amsterdam. I have avoided travelling with them, but unfortunately, unless we wish to go Amsterdam-Zurich-Montreal, we are stuck with them. We usually fly KLM, but wanted to avoid Amsterdam this year after the fun we had last year with a slightly delayed delayed flight as it took us over an hour to get through Passport Control and then major run to get to our connecting flight in time. I am looking at Swiss Air for next year, hope they are OK. Glad to hear you made it through quickly.

 

[puppycanducruise]

Glad you made it to Amsterdam.  Enjoy the city.

[*Miss G*]

Funny, it just dawned on me that you are traveling with Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk!  (Sometimes I am pretty oblivious.) We spent a lot of time at their restaurant and private parties.  Amazing chefs and very lovely.  Enjoy!

 

Glad you made it to Amsterdam.  Love your view!  It looks like you were on a Dreamliner.  Love that plane.

 

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

I am looking at Swiss Air for next year, hope they are OK. Glad to hear you made it through quickly.

 

 

Swiss Air is amazing.  I would choose them over any other airline in a heartbeat.

 

Edited April 7 by *Miss G*

[pontac]

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

One set of flights I am looking at for next year have Air Canada returning from Amsterdam

 

I returned from Amsterdam on Friday. Only passport control was e-gates after security and it took moments. I remember they accepted US passports with chips but I cannot recall the other acceptable countries.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, 1of4 said:

 

We were 50 minutes late plus some but we had real crockery!

Funny, I do not remember anything about the crockery. All I remember about the flight is I am glad we somehow made it as the connecting flight was both delayed and sitting at the terminal waiting to park. The only thing I remember other than that is being glad we made it to Heathrow.

[Daisi]

We can do the gates with our passports. I think part of our problem was we were flying around hurricanes, and there were a number of flights that were delayed. We were worried we wouldn't even be able to get out. I do have to admit, Amsterdam is great for trying to ensure everyone connects for their flights, as they were calling people out of the lineup and putting them through the e-gates, which they did for us returning back after sitting for an hour on the tarmac in Prague.

[1of4]

Our walk on Sunday wasn’t far as we had to carry our essentials but sure was pretty. We weren’t really hungry but went upstairs to the bar area with a spectacular view. We could have been seated outside but it was windy and we were both just wanting our bed. I collapsed around 6:30 and our son phoned from a hospital in Maine 😳 at 10:30 local time. That woke me for just over an hour. 
 

today is a historical walking tour I booked privately. 

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I did manage to capture one tulip farm while flying into the airport 

[1of4]

Our first full day in Amsterdam. Once again the weather was fantastic. We thought it was going to rain but it didn’t and it was way warmer than expected. 
 

We went down for breakfast and were surprised to find the best laid out buffet in our memories. It had something for every taste/culture from fruit and yogurt to sliced meats and cheese. From baked cod to eggs and bacon and waffles of course. 
 

I had booked a private WWII walking tour with a local. Turns out our guide, Ben, is a retired university history professor with experience in foreign affairs and espionage!  He was amazing!  Not your typical happy tourist tour but that isn’t what I was looking for. Since my 3 uncles served in Europe and 1 was in The Netherlands, I was very interested to fill in the gaps of family history. It was fascinating and I learned more than a few things. 
 

Enjoy some pictures. 

[knoxclone]

Wonderful photos - thank you for sharing!

[ontheweb]

Beautiful pictures. I can't wait to see your pictures after you have been to Keuekenhof.I know my wife never put her camera down except for the time we were looking to buy souvenirs.

[1of4]

Today was another great day. The brief rain held off until we were back in our hotel but it was windy and a high of 12 C. On recommendation from a fellow CC member I had booked a canal cruise via Captain Dave who now ownes the 1928 teakwood boat that used to belong to the Dutch royal family. 
 

Our captain, Jan, was full of interesting facts as he guided the electric boat through the canals. For instance, an average of 40 bikes/week are thrown into the canals by vandals; the homes have such big windows as there are no side windows; there are over 1600 bridges in the city and he doesn’t recommend visiting the Red Light district as it is now considered an embarrassment for the city as over 50% of the girls are from sex trafficking. 
 

The cruise lasted 90 minutes and we really enjoyed it. We then walked to a haberdashery so I could browse and then on to do a bit of shopping. A good day and we saw the Senic Jade as we returned to the hotel