Traveling: April 2015

Sunday, 19 April 2015

Holland - Belgium River Cruise - Part 1

Going On A River Cruise

Tuesday - March 31st 2015

My wife Claudia is vegan and has already published her first vegan cook book and because of that book she was asked by Vegan River Cruises, if she wanted to do a baking presentation during the upcoming vegan river cruise. We had already participated in the first vegan river cruise last year, but this year's itiniary sounded much more interesting and since we hadn't had any plans for Easter yet, we booked the cruise. This year the cruise started in Amsterdam and ended there as well.

Itiniary

Tuesday after work we grabbed our stuff and drove to Munich Airport. Since our flight should have departed early morning, we decided to get a room at a hotel near the airport. We chose the Novotel Munich Airport and once we arrived there, we parked the car and checked in. Then we took the shuttle bus to the terminal to do the airline check in, so we could save some time in the morning. Due to the bad weather in Europe, many flights got cancelled and so it wasn't sure yet, if we were going to fly at all. The KLM employee advised us to keep the luggage, because he didn't know when we might depart. What a great start for the vacation. Afterwards we got an avocado bagel at Coffee Fellows to eat, had a beer at the Airbräu Pub and then we returned to the hotel. There we had one last drink at the hotel bar before we went up to the room. Our room was very nice and included a mini bar, a TV and free wi-fi. After a shower we watched some TV and then we went to bed.

Novotel Munich Airport

Coffee Fellows

Avocado Bagel

Airbräu Pub

Airbräu Beer

Hotel Bar

Beer at the Hotel Bar

Our Room

Bathroom

Friday, 17 April 2015

Holland - Belgium River Cruise - Part 2

Going To Amsterdam

Wednesday - April 1st 2015

We got up early and took a taxi to the airport. There we found out that our KLM flight will not leave Munich at 7:05am, in fact it was delayed for two hours. At least it wasn't cancelled like many other flights. After we checked in and dropped off our luggage, we headed to the international zone and had breakfast with coffee and pretzels. Then it was time for boarding and after another delay we finally departed around 10:00am. Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we took the train into the city and walked to the ship. Unfortunately our cabin wasn't ready yet and so we decided to return to the city and have lunch at Wagamama. I ordered fried rice with vegetables, Claudia got an Asian soup and for a starter we shared gyoza. Since we had already been to Wagamama in London, we knew what to expect and like the last time, the food was very good.

Breakfast at the Airport

Amsterdam

Wagamama

Gyoza

Asian Soup

Fried Rice

After lunch we had an ice cold beer at the Hard Rock Cafe, which was located right next to the Wagamama restaurant. Then it was time for the Heineken Experience. Since we got the tickets online, we could walk right into the exhibition. We had already been to a brewery exhibition in Austria, but it was on a much smaller scale. Heineken is one of the largest breweries worldwide and of course that meant that their museum is also much more international. There guest learn about the history of Heineken, how beer is made and about Heineken's engagements in sports, culture and music. We enjoyed our time there a lot, especially the free beer samples. It was already late afternoon and so we returned to the ship, but before we had a coffee at Starbucks. Back at the ship, our cabin was ready and so we unpacked and checked out the ship. It wasn't our first river cruise, so we knew what awaited us.

Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Heineken Experience

Heineken Experience - Beer Tasting

Heineken Experience

Amsterdam

Amsterdam Central Station

The Ship - MS Inspire

MS Inspire

The MS Inspire is a five star river cruise ship and one of the newest ships of the Scylla fleet. It made its maiden voyage in 2014 and has 71 cabins for 142 guests. MS Inspire is 135m long and has a 30 crew members to take care of the guests and to operate the ship.

Deck Plan

Our cabin with the number 203 was located on the Ruby Deck and featured a French balcony. The room was equipped with a bathroom, a safe, a telephone, a TV and a mini bar.

Our Cabin

Bathroom

After we unpacked our stuff, we explored the MS Inspire and then we attended the Welcome Party at the Panorama Lounge. There they served some snacks and champagne and the cruise director talked about the upcoming journey. Then it was already time for dinner at the ship's one and only restaurant. Later we had another drink at the bar and then we headed back to our cabin, watched TV and after a shower we went to sleep.