And we have wi-fi!
I posted on my Facebook wall that we had breakfast in Amsterdam, lunch in Brussels, and dinner in London. It sounds terribly world-traveler-ish, doesn't it? In terms of mileage, it is the equivalent of having driven from our house to the IL-IA border (our drive from Amsterdam to Brussels) and then taking a train from the border to Omaha (the train ride from Brussels to London). The European trip just crosses more international borders and bodies of water.
It turns out that it was a very good thing we rented the car. For a brief moment yesterday, it seemed that the Amsterdam-Brussels train would go, though significantly delayed. This wouldn't have helped us as we would have missed our London train. Upon arrival to Brussels, we heard ticket agents repeat over and over that no trains were arriving from or departing to Amsterdam, so it looks as though the train didn't go after all.
We are now in our hotel across from Heathrow Airport so we can catch our early flight home tomorrow morning. P. has done an amazing packing job of condensing the contents of her huge sea bag into the smaller, carry-on friendly, duffle bag we bought her in Amsterdam. The things which don't fit, we'll squeeze into our other suitcases. While she was doing that, I uploaded over one hundred photos which I couldn't do earlier because of the internet issues.
Don't worry, I won't share them all with you now. I'll stick with the ones concerning the whole reason for the trip... the Class Afloat ones.
On Thursday morning, the Gulden Leeuw sailed into Amsterdam. Well, she sailed around the corner of the harbor because they were docked at a nearby island.
If you look carefully, you'll see quite a few students up in the rigging. P. wasn't up there for the arrival, though she had done her share of going aloft.
The parents and other family members were gathered on the dock to watch her come in and there was a lot of shouting and waving back and forth as the ship approached.
It turns out that it was a very good thing we rented the car. For a brief moment yesterday, it seemed that the Amsterdam-Brussels train would go, though significantly delayed. This wouldn't have helped us as we would have missed our London train. Upon arrival to Brussels, we heard ticket agents repeat over and over that no trains were arriving from or departing to Amsterdam, so it looks as though the train didn't go after all.
We are now in our hotel across from Heathrow Airport so we can catch our early flight home tomorrow morning. P. has done an amazing packing job of condensing the contents of her huge sea bag into the smaller, carry-on friendly, duffle bag we bought her in Amsterdam. The things which don't fit, we'll squeeze into our other suitcases. While she was doing that, I uploaded over one hundred photos which I couldn't do earlier because of the internet issues.
Don't worry, I won't share them all with you now. I'll stick with the ones concerning the whole reason for the trip... the Class Afloat ones.
On Thursday morning, the Gulden Leeuw sailed into Amsterdam. Well, she sailed around the corner of the harbor because they were docked at a nearby island.
If you look carefully, you'll see quite a few students up in the rigging. P. wasn't up there for the arrival, though she had done her share of going aloft.
The parents and other family members were gathered on the dock to watch her come in and there was a lot of shouting and waving back and forth as the ship approached.
P. is there standing on the right.
This was as they were actually docking
Once docked, we were able to get a tour of the ship.
The students had shore leave for the rest of the day. We (including P.) did some walking around and also visited the Maritime Museum. (I'll share pictures of that later.) One other thing we did was to stop by the ship because P. wanted to take J. and D. up in the rigging. D. went to the first platform while P. and J. went up to the top sail. I stayed on deck. Someone had to take the pictures.
P. and D.
P. (on top), D., and J.
That evening the students went back to the ship for their last night on board. The next day, Friday, was the graduation.
The students walked from the ship to the building where the graduation would take place. During the graduation, each student was introduced with their watch groups and the non-graduating senior high school students were given their various certificates.
Afterwards was a reception and much hugging and crying and good-byes.
P. is in there somewhere.
Once we get home, I'll share a little bit about some of the things we saw and did. Don't worry, it won't be all 150+ photos! Now to bed. We have a very early morning tomorrow.
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