Day 5 – June 3, 1981:
Today,
we had to get up super early (5:30 am), after going to bed at 2:00 am, so that
we could get ready to go to Victoria Rail Station for 6:30 am. It turned out that we got there very early by
taxi and ended up waiting around for something to happen. (This was where we were to start our bus tour
with a big group.) Finally, at about
8:00 or 8:30 am, we got our final travel documents and train and boat (ferry)
tickets from the Cosmos representative – the person responsible for our bus
tour group.
At
about 9:15 am, we boarded the train, which left the station at 9:30 am for a 1
½ hour trip to Dover, England on the south eastern coast. When we arrived at Dover (at about 11:00 am),
we boarded the Sealink Ferry bound for Ostend, Belgium. This part of the trip would take about 3 ½
hours. When we arrived at Ostend (at
about 2:30 pm), we got off the ferry and boarded the tour bus and headed for
Holland. Cosmos Bus Tours always looked
after passing through customs.
We
passed through Amsterdam, Holland and arrived at the Hotel Spander in Volendam,
Holland at about 9:00 pm that evening.
This hotel was very charming, small and comfortable. After a late dinner in the lovely dining room
of the hotel, we settled into our rooms (Gloria’s and mine was room # 110) and
I wrote out some postcards to mail home to my family.
Tomorrow,
we’re going into Amsterdam to see the various sights (as tourists do) and then
come back here to spend another night at this hotel. This hotel faces the open sea and I hope to
take some pictures of the scenery tomorrow.
Day 6 – June 4, 1981:
Today,
we went on a morning excursion to Amsterdam, which included a visit to the Diamond-Cutting
Factory (the diamonds produced there are perfect, blue-white ones!). Then, we went on a very brief visit (1 hour)
to the Rijksmuseum, which was followed by a boat tour on the canals of
Amsterdam, then we went back to the hotel for lunch, (however, it was a
somewhat small and unsatisfying lunch, so I was disappointed with it.) After lunch, there was an optional afternoon
excursion to see the windmills, but Gloria and I opted out and went for a very
pleasant walk around Volendam with a pal on the tour, Philip.
We
took pictures, of course, of the town, harbour, shopped for souvenirs and
stopped off for dessert and “kaffee” (coffee).
Later, we walked along the shoreline until dinnertime.
After
dinner, Gloria and I went bar-hopping, finally meeting up with two Dutch
fellows who sat drinking with us until about 12:00 midnight. After ambling back to the hotel, we all went
to our rooms, not knowing what time (yet) that we have to get up to pack our
suitcases and leave for Germany tomorrow.
As it happened, we found out we had to be up at 7:00 am so that we could
eat breakfast and leave by 8:00 am.
Day 7 – June 5, 1981:
Today,
we had to get up at 7:00 (no time for an early-morning shower!), got washed and
dressed, ate breakfast at 7:30 am and left at 8:00 am for Germany. The first stop was just inside the West
German border to get some Deutsch Marks and get refreshed.
Our
next stop was for lunch at a little restaurant-cafe in Cologne (a.k.a. “Koln”),
Germany overlooking the Rhine River.
After that, we stopped at the Koln Cathedral to see the inside of it and
to do some shopping for ¾ of an hour.
After
that, our next stop was in Bonn, Germany and we wandered around the market
square and shopped some more. Here,
Gloria and I went into a sex shop and bought some pornographic magazines for
our boyfriends back home, (but we decided we would have to mail them home, as,
it might be difficult or awkward getting them through customs when coming back
into Canada!).
Finally,
we stopped at a little hotel in Arrembareistadt in the Koblenz (Germany) to
spend the night. Tomorrow morning, we’re
off to do the Rhine River cruise and then, in the afternoon, we will take off
to go to Switzerland.
Day 8 – June 6, 1981:
Today,
after getting up and dressed and eating breakfast, we went on a cruise of the
Rhine River at about 8:30 am. This
cruise was to last about 1 ½ hours. The
cruise itself was very nice, but the weather was somewhat overcast. However, we managed to take some good
pictures of Castles of the Rhine River.
It
was Irene Rowland’s birthday today (our friend from Lacombe, Alberta on the bus
tour), so I gave her a birthday hug.
After
the cruise, we got on the bus and drove to Rudesheim, Germany where we stopped
for ¾ of an hour and walked around. While
there, we came upon a cafe and I asked for two “apfelstrudels and tee”, in
German, for Gloria and I. However, my
German is not all that good. Later,
Irene and her mother, Bea, also joined us there.
When
we re-boarded the bus, we then drove about 3 hours before stopping for lunch at
Offenburg, Germany. Some of the German
fellows were commenting on the young women on our tour (namely, us) and said
that they hoped we would come back. They
were very attractive young men and I was really tempted.
After
lunch, we took off for another long drive, this time to the Swiss border where
we stopped for the customs passport check and to get some Swiss Francs at the
currency exchange bank. Finally, we got
back on the bus and drove through Switzerland, past Basle to our hotel, the
Tourist Gasthaus, which was in the town of Fluelen, Switzerland. The hotel was on Switzerland’s Lake
Luzerne. This is some of the most
beautiful countryside I have ever seen and I certainly want to come back in the
future!
The
morning after our arrival there, Gloria got up early (I was still sleeping) and
took our room key with her. Later, when
I had gotten up myself and gotten dressed, I went to open the door to the room
and found that I was actually locked in!
Well, I pounded on the door for someone to let me out, and lo and
behold, there was Voni Rowland, using her own room key to let me out! (Try to figure that one out!).
copyright 2014, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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