05-20 Transition Day in Rotterdam

Today is the last day of the cruise for some people and the last call for everybody to leave ship was 9:30. We walked off the ship at 9:35 with no stops. No customs, no checking of anything, just bypass everything and out on to the street.

We walked over the bridge and started our walk through the city. Down a shopping street we strode. There were a couple of antique stores not open yet. We found Pat some new tennis shoes and threw away the ones he'd been wearing up till now. Hope these work out. We've got Pulpit Rock coming up in a couple of days.

We stopped at a McDs for a couple of quarter-pounders. Sometimes American burgers just taste so good.

There is a Saturday Market a few streets away and we join in. The first part, the fruits and vegetables and cheeses is very, very crowded. The next part, clothes and assorted swap meet items, is more manageable.

Time is getting short before we need to re-board the ship so we head on over to the Euromast Tower. When we get there we are told it's a 30 minute wait at the top to go all the way to the top. So we decide we do not have enough time. Where did the day go? Sometimes when we just try to relax, the day just flies by.

We walked through a park, stop for a coke, and continue past some really large houses on our way.

Getting back on the ship is very easy. We just show the cards they gave us for returning guests and walk right on; just like we walked right off. We were told to take our passports with us but no one ever wanted to see them.

Back on board the group that saw us off last week is here playing again on the dock, but we don't really notice them as much this time because the ship is turned around the opposite way and our cabin is looking at the Euromast Tower side not the Rotterdam Cruise Ship Terminal side.

During Sail Away, Brian and Karen play ping pong, then we all three played Dutch Shuffleboard.

We went up one floor and watched as we sailed past the city of Maasluis again. There are people waving again and all the tug boats are out blowing their horns and we are blowing our horn all the way past the city. Fun sea stuff.

The kids' areas are usually open for a few hours when you get on board. We were out in town so we missed seeing inside so we just took some pictures through the windows.

We are close to the Lido Restaurant, so we go down and get a table by the window for dinner. We have about a 10 minute wait for 6 pm and serving. Back to the room for a short while before heading down to the Mix Bar for trivia with Coen. Brian beat us there and had a table for us. Half way through Garth and Julia walked by and joined us. We needed the help. Hopefully they will come by often. We still didn't win, but we had fun.

Brian and Pat went to play ping pong and Karen stopped by the shop to get the coupon book. There's nothing in it that she will use but at least she checked. She went upstairs to ping pong, where she got a chair by the window and worked on writing this day up while Pat and Brian played.

When they were finished we talked for a bit before we came back to the room. There isn't a show tonight, only a movie.