August 5, 2026–Scandinavian Serenade, Part 2:  Antwerp, Belgium to Amsterdam, Netherlands

We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday morning after spending two days in Antwerp.  I’m not sure why the powers that be named this cruise “Scandinavian Serenade” because half of our cruise has been in Europe and it’s not a serenade, it’s a journey. I guess to make it sound more exotic than a typical European cruise? I wasn’t quite sure what countries are considered Scandinavian, so I googled it:  Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. We are going to Sweden, Denmark and Finland, so there you go.

The first day in Antwerp we went on a tour of the city with Marcus, the testy Belgian tour director.  At the beginning of the tour, a couple of ladies were up in his grill asking a million questions and he finally snapped at them with “If I answer all your questions in any detail, we won’t be able to complete the rest of the tour.”  In other words, shut it.  I was kind of glad he said that because it was hot and they were asking dumb, totally googleable questions.  By now you are probably thinking, “Wow, Ann is the one who is testy.” Guided tours will do that to you.

Antwerp is a large port city in Northern Belgium known for the Antwerp-Centraal railway station, a global diamond trade, and an artistic heritage tied to the works of Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish Baroque painter.  Marcus showed us all of this, including the Cathedral of our Lady, where many of Peter Paul Rubens’ works are displayed.  It was a pretty interesting tour until Marcus got bogged down in the interpretation of Rubens’ paintings in minute detail.  Rubens’ voluptuous figures, Rubens’ vibrant shade of red, Rubens’ bold, dramatic brushstrokes. Uh, okay, Marcus, maybe take it down a notch.

On the second day in Antwerp Doug went by himself on a tour of the Breendock SS Transit Camp, a Nazi prison camp from WWII.  I won’t go into detail here, because it has such a sad history, but if you are a WWII history buff, you might want to google it. Below are a few of the pictures Doug took, along with photograph of the SS agents who ran the camp.

In Amsterdam we took a tour that seemed kind of weird at the outset: a countryside tour of windmills, the city of Delft, and The Hague. It was a long tour so I kind of dreaded it, but Delft was a beautiful little town with the Delft Pottery Works factory and a medieval town square with a church, federal building, and shops and restaurants.  Of the more than 30 pottery factories that were located in Delft and the surrounding area around the middle of the 17th century the one we visited, De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles Delft, is the only one left.  We had lunch at a little outdoor restaurant called Het Konings Huy, where Doug ordered an Amstel beer. Amstel is brewed in Amsterdam but the waitperson, who was Dutch, said she had never heard of Amstel. Anyway, the tour turned out to be worthwhile. Sometimes a tour that is off the beaten path can be the most enjoyable because you see the countryside and towns that are more indicative of the actual way people live outside of the large cities.

Our cruise has roughly seven hundred people on board, with the majority being senior citizens, many of whom are single, often widowed.  For instance, when we flew into London we met a single widowed 80ish year old lady on the shuttle to the hotel who was going on the same cruise.  I sat by her and she talked my leg off, so I didn’t get a chance to ask her name—let’s call her Rosalind.  Anyway, Rosalind was nervous about going on a cruise by herself for the first time.  And I was a bit worried about her because we saw her in the hotel bar the first night, sound asleep on one of the banquettes.  Not to worry.  A couple of days ago at lunch we saw Rosalind cosily walking the deck with an older man and yakking her head off, so she has met a special friend after only four days.  It’s like the Love Boat around here.  I’m not sure how she hooked up with this guy, but they do have a Solo Travelers group who meet every night for drinks and dinner.  You don’t get Captain Stubing at your table, but you do get a nice young British woman who coordinates it and who has finally found the love of her life after several false starts.  I know, because I was sitting close by and I am an unabashed eavesdropper.  

By the way, WordPress is glitchy, so some comments I have received are anonymous.  I know all of the people on my list, so not sure how this happens, but if I don’t answer, that’s why.  Maybe just sign your name to your comments?  Stupid WordPress.  Tomorrow we will be in Lysekil, Sweden.