Aug 13 - Off to Home

We were really organized last night...everything ready to go.  Only one small suitcase for last minute things, shuttle to pick us up at 9:22 (really?), to bed at reasonable hour.  Up at 7; leisurely breakfast in the lounge, packed up and in the lobby at 9ish.  Then it began....9:30 - no shuttle; 9:45 - no shuttle; Concierge checked - bus broke down, Taxi would be at hotel to pick us up in 15-20 minutes; No taxi.  Taxi finally arrived at 10:30.  After loading our 'stuff', driver said he had to pick up another person but no room for his luggage.  After a discussion about how late we were, he called his office, another driver was assigned to the other passenger and off we went into Amsterdam's morning traffic.  Finally arrived at the airport...unloaded luggage and found out that they had comped our fare (saved 32 Euros!).  Almost worth the aggravation!

Check-in was a breeze...Sky Priority with Delta works in Amsterdam!  Then off we were to obtain tax refunds for our watch purchases.  Long walk (with back hurting) to the other end of the airport for customs stamps, then all the way back to their Customs 'bank' to get our money...long, slow line.  Finally done and after a quick sunglasses purchase for Art, off we went to our gate.  Very efficient and short line again for Sky Priority (worth all of Art's commuting years with Delta) and we were first in line at the boarding entrance.

We had a really good flight...in Economy Comfort, near the front, excellent Flight Attendants, good food and drink - lunch, 2 drink services, sandwiches 1 1/2 hours from landing; slow, old entertainment system, and long flight.  We arrived on time, luggage arrived quickly and the Ellen Fiori Taxi Service was efficient - communicated from Cell Phone lot and despite lots of traffic, we were soon off and headed home.

Countryside near runway 

Leaving Atlanta

Summary 

We loved Amsterdam...could have enjoyed a few more days (one for a trip to the Windmills, another for a few more museums,  a more thorough visit to the Jewish history area and a couple of evening meals along one of those beautiful canals.  The cruise was lots of fun and also exhausting.  Long 10 hour touring days with early beginnings but not enough sea days to recover.  We met a lot of very nice people and made some wonderful new friendships.  We look forward to cruising again with Patti and John and staying in touch with our group that met each day at the Elite Captain's Club Social Hour.  The staff in Michael's Club were amazing - always served our favorite drinks and hors d'oeuvres with a smile.  Lionel, the Captain's Club Host was the best ever.  We wrote a special commendation for him that was well deserved.

Of the Ports that we visited, we, especially, loved St. Petersberg, Russia and Tallin, Estonia.  They are beautiful cities with amazing architecture.  Russia was a real surprise to us - St. Petersberg was so clean and beautiful, the guides all spoke English very well, and we learned so much.  We were unimpressed with Helsinki...likely because we were not there long, did it on our own and, except for a few places, the architecture didn't wow us.  Copenhagen had a lot of construction going on in the middle of the city, but we had a great walking tour...again not enough time and we were tired after walking for 3 hours...would be nice to go back and see more.  Stockholm was the only city we had visited before...it is a lovely city, with magnificent water views and sailing the Archipelago was breathtaking.  Since we had spent 5 days there previously, we just enjoyed wandering through old town.  Warnemunde is a very pretty resort town and we were sorry that, on a hot day, we spent time on an unairconditioned train to and from Rostock.  We should have stayed in Warnemunde.

It was a very good trip and we are certainly glad to have experienced so many new sites and speak to locals in all places.  Once again, we are impressed by the multi-lingual abilities of people in other countries and wish we could do the same at home.  And we are glad to be home :)