We’re in Amsterdam…A world apart…Wow!…

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We’re hoping to go on a canal cruise sometime tomorrow.

This morning, returning the rental car was somewhat of a hassle. We’d chosen a company, Easirent, based on reasonable pricing for a new car which we did enjoy during the three months in Ireland.  

However, there were two drawbacks: it wasn’t conveniently close to the airport, located in an obscure office park, and two, they required a considerable sum to be charged to our credit card for damage possibilities.  

In, our case for three months in Ireland, they took Euro 2677.80, US $3000. I guess they like having free use of our money, especially since we won’t get it back until 20 days from today. We’ll be checking with the online credit card app frequently to ensure it was returned.

It was well worth paying a little more for this view.  Also, we used two free nights we’d accumulated from Hotels.com here on our site.
After considerable effort, we finally were able to get the SIM card working on my phone, making it possible to find the place. Once we checked the car in, a damage review was done (none). We were on our way to the Dublin Airport in a large shuttle bus provided by the car rental company.
Nonetheless, we arrived at the airport three hours before our flight (Tom, the worried early bird). Still, we found a comfy spot in a restaurant to park ourselves for the wait, which is when I began writing this portion of today’s post to be completed once we arrive at our hotel.  
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Oh my, oh my, oh my! We’ve arrived in Amsterdam, and we’re in heaven! What a beautiful city with so much wonder and excitement at every turn. Our hotel, Eden, is located on the bustling Amstel canal, and we have a canal frontage view. 

The photos posted here today are those I took moments ago through the glass of our hotel room window. I could spend hours looking out at the canal. But the reality remains, we will only be here 36 hours until we board the cruise, leaving little time for much sightseeing.

If you look closely, you can see a person in the left window of this permanent houseboat on the Amstel Canal, as seen from our room. Check out the owner’s means of transportation.

We’re trying to decide what we’d like to do that will be most fulfilling while we’re here…a canal cruise…a ride on the Hop-On, Hop-Off  Bus, or grab a taxi to drive us around the city.

As much as we enjoyed the cruise on the Seine in Paris, perhaps after a day of wandering about the stunning city, a dinner cruise may be in order. Tonight and tomorrow, we’ll pack everything in that we can since, on Sunday, we’ll be up bright and early to pack and get checked in for the Baltic cruise by noon.

Today was a day including lots of walking, although we’d arranged a wheelchair for me. There was no way I could manage the long walks on the tarmac and in the terminal.

The hour-long flight ended up taking our entire day. We arrived at Dublin Airport at 10:30 am and arrived at our hotel in Amsterdam at 1750 hours, 5:30 pm, thinking about freshening up to head for happy hour and a nice meal. 

Since I’m too pooped to walk to another restaurant, we’ve decided to dine in the hotel’s highly rated French Bistro. This upscale restaurant is pricey, as is most venues in Amsterdam, but the menu looks enticing with many options for each of us.

Last night’s dinner at the Crown Plaza in Dublin was good, along with the ambiance. We’re hoping for as good, if not better, experience tonight as we had last night.

Dear Readers, hang onto your chairs…a lot of excitement is on the horizon.

Happy day!

Photo from one year ago today, August 9, 2018:

Little Wart Face, whose name we later changed to “Little,” often napped in our garden. He was so at home with us. I’ll always miss him. For more photos, please click here.