There were three of my grandchildren that I had missed traveling with when they were young teens. Two of them had been 24 and 26 years old. I thought that maybe I could still travel with Mike or his brother or sister. Mike and his sister had visited his parents when his mother was on a job exchange in England, but he hadn't been elsewhere in Europe like his sister and brother had.
I needed more help now than I did when I was traveling even in 2018. I had recently had a problem with blood clots in my lungs. I was taking a blood thinner and I was supposed to fly with compression stockings - which I could not put on or take off myself. After the clots were removed, for some reason I lost my appetite and had a problem eating - I couldn't eat much even of things I liked. While I needed a scooter for long distances and could still walk around a room without an aid, I needed something like a walker to go outside my room.
Mike was 42 and his SO Lesley agreed to do a cruise on the Rhine with me. It started in Amsterdam.
Because we worried about luggage not being transferred if we had to change planes -especially if we had to go through Heathrow, (since I could no longer fly with just a carryon) we wanted a direct flight. There was a direct flight from Dulles or Boston. Lesley and Mike live in Vermont, so Boston it was
Mike
1 November 2022
Since I had a window, and Lesley and Mike were in center seats, I took photos of the landing in case they wanted to see it later. [But when we came back at the end of the cruise, they had a window and could see it for themselves]
Windmills by the port
Canal
Golf course
Green fields
Flying over a highway
Some kind of tower
Rolling across a canal
Taxiing across a highway
After we landed. Lesley collected the carry-on luggage and Mike took the battery out of my backpack. He went back and got the scooter and waited for us at the end of the first class jetway. I had a wheelchair up the jetway and then Mike put the scooter together. Next, we had to get to baggage claim. The first elevator was broken and we wandered around the airport for a little while (and Lesley used the bathroom which she said were awesome) until we found an elevator that worked. Went through passport control, got our luggage, and almost immediately found our AMA people that were meeting us including a driver who took us to a lovely Mercedes van.
It was a fairly long drive to the city and the van driver told us some history on the way.
Front desk
Got here to the hotel and checked in
HOTEL NH COLLECTION AMSTERDAM BARBIZON PALACE
Prins Hendrikkade 59-72
1012 AD Amsterdam Netherlands
We are on the second floor next to each other but not adjoining rooms. The hotel is nice, but the TV remote is hard to work, and there appear to be only about 4 channels that are in English - three of them are BBC. I miss having the TV on with the weather.
TV over desk - scooter in front. Fridge on the left. My cane on the bed and also my foot in a compression sock. New rollator bag on the floor on the right
Bedside table with phone reflected in the mirror
The bathroom is such that the toilet is almost too low for me to be able to get up from it - photos taken from the toilet
]
Tub/ shower
Hair dryer over the sink
Lesley unpacked the rollator so I can use it in the room. I have the scooter so that I can plug it in by the window, and my computer is plugged in by the side of the bed in Lesley's multi-plug. The hotel is cold, so I need a sweater most of the time.
Mike and Lesley went out and got lunch, but I wasn't really hungry and just ate a roll I took from the tray at breakfast and had a nap. While I was napping, Lesley and Mike went exploring. They tried to find a restaurant that I could get into with the scooter. Without success. They reported That the hotel is right on the edge of the old district. Very convenient
I think the scooter has gotten charged up, and I've gotten onto wi-fi and charged my phone. I have taken all those photos with my phone.
Floor of lobby with red hotel logo and Chandeliers
After my nap, we went down to meet with the tour director Frederico. There are only seven of us on the pre-cruise. Two people from Arizona who came in after we did, and two other women that I haven't met yet who will arrive late tonight. There is a group of 70 Canadians coming in for the cruise part day after tomorrow. Frederico explained what was going to happen, and then I showed him the photos Daddy took in 1950 - he commented that it was a long time since he had seen photos printed
After the meeting, Mike went up to the room and Lesley and I ate at the bar (the regular restaurant wasn't open). It is called Bottles and Jars.
She ordered olives, and I ordered sour dough bread and butter, sweet potato fries and dessert.
Raspberry meringue
I ate an olive, and then two pieces of the bread and a couple of fries and dessert and that was all I could eat. Lesley ate the fries for me.
I went to bed about 9:30 I woke up about 2 and then went back to sleep.
I needed more help now than I did when I was traveling even in 2018. I had recently had a problem with blood clots in my lungs. I was taking a blood thinner and I was supposed to fly with compression stockings - which I could not put on or take off myself. After the clots were removed, for some reason I lost my appetite and had a problem eating - I couldn't eat much even of things I liked. While I needed a scooter for long distances and could still walk around a room without an aid, I needed something like a walker to go outside my room.
Mike was 42 and his SO Lesley agreed to do a cruise on the Rhine with me. It started in Amsterdam.
Because we worried about luggage not being transferred if we had to change planes -especially if we had to go through Heathrow, (since I could no longer fly with just a carryon) we wanted a direct flight. There was a direct flight from Dulles or Boston. Lesley and Mike live in Vermont, so Boston it was
Mike
1 November 2022
Since I had a window, and Lesley and Mike were in center seats, I took photos of the landing in case they wanted to see it later. [But when we came back at the end of the cruise, they had a window and could see it for themselves]
Windmills by the port
Canal
Golf course
Green fields
Flying over a highway
Some kind of tower
Rolling across a canal
Taxiing across a highway
After we landed. Lesley collected the carry-on luggage and Mike took the battery out of my backpack. He went back and got the scooter and waited for us at the end of the first class jetway. I had a wheelchair up the jetway and then Mike put the scooter together. Next, we had to get to baggage claim. The first elevator was broken and we wandered around the airport for a little while (and Lesley used the bathroom which she said were awesome) until we found an elevator that worked. Went through passport control, got our luggage, and almost immediately found our AMA people that were meeting us including a driver who took us to a lovely Mercedes van.
It was a fairly long drive to the city and the van driver told us some history on the way.
Front desk
Got here to the hotel and checked in
HOTEL NH COLLECTION AMSTERDAM BARBIZON PALACE
Prins Hendrikkade 59-72
1012 AD Amsterdam Netherlands
We are on the second floor next to each other but not adjoining rooms. The hotel is nice, but the TV remote is hard to work, and there appear to be only about 4 channels that are in English - three of them are BBC. I miss having the TV on with the weather.
TV over desk - scooter in front. Fridge on the left. My cane on the bed and also my foot in a compression sock. New rollator bag on the floor on the right
Bedside table with phone reflected in the mirror
The bathroom is such that the toilet is almost too low for me to be able to get up from it - photos taken from the toilet
Tub/ shower
Hair dryer over the sink
Lesley unpacked the rollator so I can use it in the room. I have the scooter so that I can plug it in by the window, and my computer is plugged in by the side of the bed in Lesley's multi-plug. The hotel is cold, so I need a sweater most of the time.
Mike and Lesley went out and got lunch, but I wasn't really hungry and just ate a roll I took from the tray at breakfast and had a nap. While I was napping, Lesley and Mike went exploring. They tried to find a restaurant that I could get into with the scooter. Without success. They reported That the hotel is right on the edge of the old district. Very convenient
I think the scooter has gotten charged up, and I've gotten onto wi-fi and charged my phone. I have taken all those photos with my phone.
Floor of lobby with red hotel logo and Chandeliers
After my nap, we went down to meet with the tour director Frederico. There are only seven of us on the pre-cruise. Two people from Arizona who came in after we did, and two other women that I haven't met yet who will arrive late tonight. There is a group of 70 Canadians coming in for the cruise part day after tomorrow. Frederico explained what was going to happen, and then I showed him the photos Daddy took in 1950 - he commented that it was a long time since he had seen photos printed
After the meeting, Mike went up to the room and Lesley and I ate at the bar (the regular restaurant wasn't open). It is called Bottles and Jars.
She ordered olives, and I ordered sour dough bread and butter, sweet potato fries and dessert.
Raspberry meringue
I ate an olive, and then two pieces of the bread and a couple of fries and dessert and that was all I could eat. Lesley ate the fries for me.
I went to bed about 9:30 I woke up about 2 and then went back to sleep.
- Next entry in the series 'Go to Amsterdam First (1950, 1965, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2022)': Ama Walking Tour 2022 - Part I
- Previous entry in the series 'Go to Amsterdam First (1950, 1965, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2022)': Wooden Shoes, and Windmills in 2018
