Day 9 - IJmuiden/ Haarlem, Netherlands

Back to some rough seas overnight so I had a bit of trouble sleeping. Woke up to organized chaos on various decks as all the people that managed to get an excursion in our last minute port change were rushing around to various meeting points. We decided to take a more adventurous route and discover Haarlem on our own. Haarlem is a city about 35 kms outside of Amsterdam. Once a major North Sea trading port surrounded by a defensive wall, it retains its medieval character of cobblestone streets and gabled houses. Off the ship and started walking around the port to pick up the bus to Haarlem, about 11.5km from where we docked in IJmuiden - glad we did cuz we heard there was a huge que for the bus from the port, cabs were charging $100US and that people got crazy with pushing and jamming onto the bus, so much so that somebody was even hurt. This city has electric buses with tap payment and their own lanes, at least sometimes, on the road. Streets are pretty quiet with the main mode of transportation being bicycles - they don’t even lock them…. Once we got off the bus, the rain started, but just like Calgary, you wait a few minutes and everything changes. We happened upon the Grove Markt that was full of stalls and our initial reaction was that it was pretty quiet for a Saturday morning. We had done a bit of research the night before so we headed towards the canal system where we caught a 90 minute tour down the Binnen Spaarne; cool way to see the city and peak in on a number of houseboats along the way…even saw 2 people getting ready to plunge into the river, without wetsuits…brrrr. Made our way back through the streets of Haarlem and returned to the markt as I had my heart set on buying some stroopwafels - a treat I had been introduced to in Hong Kong. The markt was absolutely packed by this time. Paul and I shared a fresh one and then brought back a small package to the ship. Wandered aimlessly along the canal for a bit and then back on the public bus for an uneventful, thank goodness, ride back.

Two nights ago we had been seated for dinner at a table with 2 couples from Australia that were traveling together and a couple from Newmarket who the Australians had ‘picked up’ at the first dinner seating. Had a very enjoyable evening and were invited to join them for before dinner cocktails last night, if we dared. We ended up eating dinner with them again - we were seated with a mother daughter twosome from New Zealand who looked horrified at first when we joined their table but by dinner’s end, lots of funny and interesting conversation. At this rate, we will be looking for a table for 20+ by the end of the first half of this cruise.Read more