Rhine Getaway: Day 2
We woke up to see the lights of Rotterdam outside our window. There was a group of 30 people who were going out into the country to visit a cheese making farm.
After dropping them off, we got up and ate our breakfast. YUM! We sat with two brothers and their wives from Missouri. (Don't ask me because I was so confused - they may have been from Kansas. Apparently Kansas City is in two states, and I never quite understood when they were explaining it to me.) 80% of the boat has been on a Viking trip before! That astounds me. When we did this five years ago, there was maybe three couples out of 148 people!
The breakfast had a full buffet with local cheeses and also specialty orders. I was just hungry for Eggs Benedict, and yum!
We arrived at Kindijk at 10 am. It has a rather large concentration of windmills. We have already been on a tour of these windmills. So while the rest of the group went on that, we rented bikes from the souvenir shop. And here is what we did:
How fun to ride against the wind by the windmills with my honey! We were going to go out to another set of windmills in another town, but our bikes were only one speeds. So the trip was a little slower than we can usually go. We couldn't quite figure out how to do a loop. So we turned back and went the other way, but how fun to get another view of those fantastic windmills! We ended up doing 10 glorious miles. One little note, a very kind elderly woman on her bike told us we were going down the wrong path so she took us to the right one. I think Dutch people are quite kind.
We returned our bikes and found out that pannenkoeken was right next store! I got it to go and feasted with George on a bacon and cheese one. OH MY! Delish.
After this we had a muster drill which was pretty painless. We met another couple from Kansas City, but they really were from Missouri (I think). After this was a glorious lunch: veggie soup, salad, and sandwich with Peach Melba for dessert. There was a couple from Atlanta and a couple from Boston. No one from Missouri (or is it Kansas) this time.
Then we went to the top of the boat to walk around and enjoy the partial sunshine! Then we sat at the bow of the boat in rocking chairs, and I had a little time with God in Pray as You Go my little travel devotional called God is With You Wherever You Go. I really love it! Then I listened to my audiobook as we rolled along the river. So peaceful. It really wasn't too cold. That was nice.
Then we went back to our room. I was going to have some Spiritual Exercises time (meditating and praying through God's presence in my life from 2001-now), but I took a long one hour nap. Then I got some tea. People are all chatting in the common areas now. This is a great group of people. It is the shortest tour we have ever been on. So, I wonder if relationships can form in that short of time.
All that said, the most important relationship is with George, and that is going great. :)
After a long afternoon rest and rolling along the Rhine toward Cologne, we had a Captain's Welcome Toast. This captain is much more animated than on our last cruise. Everyone is more animated. I like the program director, Nancy, so much. I want to know her story! She is from Belgium and fluent in about four languages.
After a wonderful dinner (I loved my Chateaubriand), we played a fun musical trivia game! Nancy got us all dancing, and Mike was our helper. We scored really high on the game, but the "Travelers" won. This group is much more interactive, and we don't have any drunk people like the last cruise. I realize now how much that group was difficult on that last cruise.
We fell into our bed at about 11pm. I am still adjusting to the time difference so had some time in the Spiritual Exercises before I went to bed.
It was a great second day on the Rhine. Now on to Cologne!
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