End of the Cruise Amsterdam & Copenhagen

Sunday 9th September 2007 Cologne to Amsterdam (Holland)

We travelled at night and I understand we arrived at Amsterdam about 2.00am. We awoke at 6.45am, had breakfast and had to be out of our rooms by 8.15am as they need to get things ready for the new cruise which departs tonight at 5.00pm. We were allowed to stay on board until after lunch which meant we could leave our bags and go and see a bit of Amsterdam. At 9.00am we headed off to do a canal cruise with our NZ cruise mates (ex police inspector and police lady). The canal cruise started at 9.55 and was like the London Red buses (i.e. hop on hop off) so we headed for the Anna Frank museum. The canals of Amsterdam are dirty and not as picturesque as Venice, however a number of the houses that front the canals and the houseboats on the canals themselves have a real character about them. One of the points covered by the guided tour commented that most of the houses sloped out at the top and, as they are four or five stories high, they have a pulley at the apex of the roof so that they can lift things into the house from the road or canal below. This was particularly important in the 17th and 18th century when the houses were built, as many of the houses were owned by merchants who had their warehouses in the top stories of the houses. We arrived at the Anna Frank museum and the house that was the hiding place of Anna Frank, and now a museum designed to reflect the living conditions of the Frank family as described in “The Diary of Anna Frank”. The Frank family were Jews that were hidden for 2 years during the Nazi persecution. The tour of the house with its many quotes from the diary, was a sober reminder of the friendship shown by the family that hid the Franks, the conditions under which they lived, and the horror of the persecution and subsequent death of most of the Frank family. The Frank family were betrayed by someone (we do not know who) and sent concentration camps. Anna believed that all her family were dead, (when in fact her father was still alive) and it is felt that she also gave up the will to live and died only a short few weeks before the liberation. Her father eventually died at the age of 93 and is seen via video in the museum discussing his daughter and the family. Pam spent longer here and found it very very sobering. Did not want to talk to anyone – just to sit quietly and reflect. After this we rejoined the canal trip and returned to the river boat where we had lunch. We had arranged for Nick Marshall, who was near Amsterdam (Urtrech) studying, to join us for dinner that night and he met us in town and we caught a taxi to the Hilton Hotel at the airport (as we have an early morning flight to Copenhagen the next day to deposit our bags) and then back into town where Pam did some shopping and Paul and Nick walked through the “red light area” which was an interesting part of Amsterdam’s culture. Nick explained that there was a vast difference between a “cafe” where you could simply buy a coffee, and “coffee shops” where you could purchase coffee and marijuana and whatever else. Paul went into one but the smell was enough to put him off his coffee, so he left! Caught a train back to the Hilton and had a lovely steak dinner with Nick, who then caught the train back to his Uni and we had an early night.

Monday 10th September 2007 Amsterdam to Hamburg (Car to Odense in Denmark)

Flew to Hamburg where Britta met us, after having driven 3 hours from her home in Odense, (pronounced Oonze). Called into Abena on way to Britta’s and dropped off one of our small bags so it could be sent to the office in Sydney, as we were concerned about having too many bags when we do our tour with Martin as they have strict baggage restrictions. Had a lovely typical Danish lunch at Britta’s home with husband Bert (pronounced Biert), Mikkel aged 12 and Linnear aged 10, and two Siamese cats (Tim) and ? (cannot remember). Afternoon tea at Britta’s Mum’s home, which she offered Port and Baileys. Her late husband had a hobby of setting gemstones in various shapes in sterling silver and she showed these to us with a mixture of pride and sadness (he only died 10 months ago). Back to Britta’s where we had a look at Bert’s work and he demonstrated his machine that creates models from a computer program and layered plastic. We had a typical Danish tea. It was chicken breast fillet stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and this was then wrapped with thin Danish bacon and baked in an oven and served with potatoes (baked with a sweet onion mix) and salad from their garden. It was a great family meal as both the children tried to speak to us in English as they are both learning it at school. Britta and Bert were really the most hospitable hosts and although we were only in Denmark one day, it was a most memorable time for us. They even gave up their bed for us and they slept on the floor with the children. One of Britta’s expressions, when asked how she does something, is to say “we have people to do that” which usually means she buys it from the shop and doesn’t actually cook it herself.