Wednesday 6th September
The rain has persisted over night leaving wet shiny cobblestones on the pathways below our hotel window. We have a late check out around midday giving us time for a leisurely breakfast before finalising our packing. The breakfasts are good here catering for all tastes, we still find it fascinating the variety of food people do eat to start the day. Breakfast over we return to our room and open up the windows looking out over the canal, buildings in Europe do tend to build up heat in summer becoming ver stuffy. The scene outside is quiet, mornings tend to be so, then slowly as the day reaches late morning the cafes and restaurants start to fill with lunch time crowds. We have made some observations about the people here, they are very tall, we check the statistics with Mr Google and sure enough Dutch males are the tallest on average in the world averaging 6′ or 180cm the other statistic is that the society is not as multicultural as the other countries we have visited and sure enough again according to Mr Google Dutch ethnicity is 79% of the population. With 17 million people in 41,543 km² there is not a lot of room for expansion. Compare that with Australia at 7.692 million km².
We watch a little TV trying to catch-up on any news from home, mostly though a another potentially catastrophic hurricane, this one named Irma is heading into the Caribbean and has the worlds news attention. The hotel Pulitzer, is a great place to stay, fairly central in a city that is walkable or bike-able if you so incline. The name Pulitzer of course refers to the famous book prize of the same name, in 1960 Peter Pulitzer (grandson of Pulitzer Prize founder Joseph Pulitzer) saw great potential in the beautiful but dilapidated canal houses of Amsterdam. He purchased twelve houses along the Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht canals and created Amsterdam’s first five star hotel, references to books can be found around the hotel in subtly placed artworks.
Time arrives for us to depart, we checkout, our taxi arrives and we are off again in search of the River Duchess, we have the address a meaningless jumble of letters and numbers, (Ruijterkade oost IJRO6) hopefully this means something to someone, the concierge was most optimistic having seen many a traveller off to the same address, however it’s a little daunting especially when our Turkish driver asks us in very broken English where we are going and doesn’t appear to have any idea. We show him the address and his eyes light up, thank goodness. Actually the ride is a very short one, into the same district we canal cruised a couple of days ago. River boats are lined up double parallel to the docks, we spot the River Duchess tucked in behind another boat before the taxi driver does. We pull up, and alight, the driver helpfully wheels our suitcases right to the foot of the boats on ramp. Just a little incline, as the entry point is not as far up as it would be on a cruise ship and we are onboard and checked in. Just as well, as the wind off the river is chilly indeed, the coldest we have experienced since leaving home, now nine weeks ago.
We have arrived about 1.00pm in the afternoon our rooms are still in the preparation stage, estimated time of entry around 3.00pm until then we retire to the lounge bar for a coffee and tea, happy to be inside as rain drops start to appear on the windows overlooking the river. On the opposite bank sits a building a modern building twenty stories high, above the cube of glass and steel sits a circular glass floor and above that again sits another square floor that is diametrically opposed and cantilevers over the circular floor below, on top of this a glass balustrade and within this space there are two giant swings that apparently swing out over the river, giving riders a nerve racking view of the river below every time the pendulum swings over the glass balustrade. In my picture of the building you can just see the swing in the topmost right hand corner.
With nothing else to do except watch the river traffic, while the lounge slowly fills with passengers awaiting their room keys, that is how I fill my time while Amanda is hungrily devouring another book opposite me. A giant ocean cruiser the MRC Magnifica completely fills our window view as it glides by, the sheer scale of the ship highlighted when it’s bulk blocks out the buildings on the opposite bank as it turns following the curve of the river towards a passenger terminal closer to the city.
A little later than suggested we are finally shown to our state room, stately it may sound but tiny it is. The bedroom is dominated by the large bed that faces out towards the water, we have a little dressing room and surprisingly a very large bathroom. Our valet, knocks on our door and introduces himself as Valentin, he shows us the rooms features and benefits that include a fully loaded bar, all included. Amanda is anxious about the laundry service, that too is included and picked up everyday, perfect. We unpack and as we do so the boat silently takes off from the dock, so quietly we don’t even notice it until objects on the bank opposite that shouldn’t move are doing so. The sensation is just of gliding silently along with just the most tiniest amount of rocking movement. Our stateroom has a so called French balcony that opens up allowing the outside in, the smell of the water and surrounding air combined with the floating sensation is wonderful. We have to assemble with the rest of the passengers in the lounge bar at 5.15pm for a mandatory safety briefing, this is conducted by our German Captain, Michael Hoffman. The briefing is carried out in an entertaining way, the Captain able to convey both the funny side and serious side of the safety and security briefings, keeping everyone focused on the message.
As darkness falls we adjourn to dinner in the restaurant, the dinner menu has a variety of ingredients featured, I decide on mussels, out of their shells in a light broth, followed by grilled Plaice, a locally caught flat looking fish. Amanda has roast poussin (a very small chicken) with cauliflower, broccoli and carrots Both meals are beautifully presented and delicious. The wines a Pinot Noir and a white that is a blend of six varieties, served so quickly, then whisked away that we didn’t have the opportunity to identify them completely. We share our table with a couple from the Albury Wodonga area, enjoying conversation involved around family and travels, a very pleasant evening that all too soon sees us back in our room to be lulled asleep by the strange sensation that floating along a river in the middle of the night brings with it, and so into our river of dreams we float looking forward to tomorrow and the city of Cologne, Germany.