LAT report
Today we started out after breakfast on a tour to one of the palaces of Queen Beatrix. Some of the drive was thru the most beautiful park and wooded area, it lasted about 1 hour. Upon arrival we saw a beautiful estate with great gardens. It was not like a musty old palace but really a very nice estate. The rooms were not to my decorating style but very ornate with lots of delft pottery and Chrystal chandeliers. The rooms were ornately decorated and plush but for the most part dark and not cozy. The gardens were very carefully couture and were being renovated. My favorite part was an entire floor of portraits of queen Beatrix that were part of a contest held for public entry. I took some pictures of the different medium used ..such as knit, bottle caps, stamps, glass and even blocks of wood.
The afternoon was spent preparing for "Chuck from California's birthday" celebration at dinner. The four of us went into Arhemn and shopped for cheap birthday gifts. The town is quiet and lovely ..and we could walk anywhere from the ship. We looked for tourist type shops were you get this type of cheap stuff. Candy and Dick bought an orange glittery hat and a belly button tattoo ... Linda got a miniature river cries ship that we marked the room that Chuck and Danni have with their name and I bought an "adult" card and the cheapest worst bottle of beer I could buy..It was €5.19 a six pack!
At the six o'clock briefing Dick sat at a place he could get out of early to go to the restaurant and save a table for six. We went down for dinner and had a great table and after we ate the main course the staff brought over a wonderful birthday cake with a sparkler on top and set it in front of "Chuck" ..we all sang happy birthday and laughed and laughed at his "reception" of the nights festivities !!!! We gave him his gifts... And laughed and laughed... Then we headed for the lounge and they had Holland dancers that were my age plus plenty...we made Chuck dance with the "prettiest" one and we took pictures and laughed some more. We closed the bar ...and all headed for a good mights sleep...since.tomorrow is a cruise day until mid afternoon ..we don't have to get up early.
LMR report
Went thru some locks early this AM. Happened to be awake and I looked out our stateroom window, it looked like we were going to scrape the sides and might have to put into reality our safety drill coverage. The is a safety drill video on TV which Linda and I have not watched yet, but we did go to the mandatory coverage wearing out life vests. Guess they did not care about our safety in Vietnam as we had no training there. We are not even sure if the boat had life jackets.
AM tour of the Dutch royal family summer estate. Truly a magnificent place.. Lots of gorgeous furniture. Great display of Queen Beatrix pictures and clothing. Pictures were made out of many mediums. Lunch buffet on the deck in Aquavit lounge. PM went to town with Dick and Candy for birthday gifts for Bryan (Chuck) our new friend from York, England. It was a huge surprise for him and his wife Danielle. Probably for his mother too if she were here as she thinks his real birthday is in August! We had a great time with lots of joke gifts-- ended up dancing, singing, laughing and closing the bar! Good thing Wednesday is a sailing day so we can all recover! More tomorrow....
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