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Thursday, 1 June. We were up before 07:00 for breakfast and left at 08:15 to walk a few blocks to the canal boat for our tour of Amsterdam. (Jane and I had been to Amsterdam three times before and had taken a tour by canal boat in 1995 on our second visit.) It was still cold, overcast, and windy with occasional light rain. (The sun later managed a brief peek through the clouds.) When we boarded the boat, we were struck by the resemblance of the driver (Maria) to the actress who plays Marie, Raymond’s mother, on Everybody Loves Raymond.
Boarding the canal boat | 
Us on board | 
Is this Marie Barone? |
Seven bridges in a row |
Streetcar crossing a bridge |
The boat tour started at 08:45. There were several canals in concentric crescents facing the harbor, and other canals connecting them. We saw the “Seven Bridges” you can see all lined up in a row. (In fact we saw it from both sides.) We passed many house boats, Anne Frank’s house, the “Skinny Bridge,” the West Tower (16th century tower on the 14th century Old Church), and much more.
One of many houseboats | 
The "Skinny Bridge" | 
Anne Frank's house |
We finally debarked at Museum Square just before 10:00 for our visit to the Rijks Museum. We had about an hour in the Museum. We had visited twice before (1970 & 1995), but just about everything seemed to have been rearranged. We saw a great deal we hadn’t seen before. We also had half an hour to browse in the Museum gift shop.
The Rijks Museum | 
Rembrandt's "Night Watch" | 
Antique doll house |
At 11:45 we left by bus for a city tour. We passed by the Heineken Brewery, the Mint Tower (originally built about 1487 as part of the city wall), the floating Flower Market (barges moored along the canal that are street-level flower shops), and Dam Square with the Royal Palace (1665). We continued down the Dam Rak (the main street) and past the Central Station. As we crossed a bridge, we saw an old sailing ship from the Dutch East India Company. As we headed back for the Rhapsody, we went by what Katy said was the last windmill in Amsterdam. We got back to our ship at 12:45, in time for lunch. (Except for those of a few of the optional tours, all meals were aboard the ship.)
Floating flower shops along the canal | 
Mint Tower in the disitance | 
Dam Rak & Central Station |
Royal Palace | 
Amsterdam's last windmill | 
East India Company ship |
There was a tour to a diamond exhibition in the afternoon, but we skipped it in favor of a little rest and reading. The ship sailed at 16:10 and I can’t say we were sorry to leave Amsterdam with its terrible weather. There was a briefing on the optional tours at 17:00, followed by a welcoming drink and introduction of the Captain and crew. The Captain’s dinner was at 19:00 and we were among the four couples invited to sit at his table (as the most frequent GCT travelers). The three Tour Directors (Katy, Jutte & Matthias) also joined us. After dinner we went to our cabin, organized some of our materials, and chose the optional tours we would take.
We were in bed when the ship passed through the first two of the 66 locks we would encounter on this cruise. Our cabin (#214) was in the front of the ship and apparently there was some kind of engine or pump just below us caused a tremendous noise and vibration as the ship maneuvered. Fortunately these were the only locks we encountered until we left the Rhine, but this problem was especially bad later when we entered the Main River and the Main-Danube Canal where the locks were very frequent.
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