Bike and Barge 2026

Anchors Aweigh We found our ship near the A’dam. She looks handsome and seaworthy. My cabin is small - bed, closet and washroom which includes a shower. The top deck has a hot tub. At 2:00 while the crew was introduced, safety instructions and dos and don’ts were discussed, the ship set sail. I have to come clean here. There are 5 ships called Magnifique with the numerals indicating oldest to youngest (which is Magnifique X). I am sailing on III not IV, but the blog address stays the same. 🤪  The boat is a different company from the tour operator.  We enjoyed sitting on the after deck watching pleasure craft and ocean going monsters pass by. Fellow cyclists (40 all told including we three) hailed from England, Australia, Norway, Germany, Brazil, North Carolina, Boston, California and Minnesota.  Our South African chef is certified Cordon Bleu. Supper consisted of 4 courses - shrimp croquette, Vichyssoise soup, sea bass and a layered pudding/gelatin dessert. All were pres...

Madam I'm A'dam     After very little sleep on the planes and the marathon walk yesterday, we slept in until 8:30 am. The hotel's buffet breakfast was a great way to start Day 2. The serving trays and platters were rather small by plan. Over the 2.5 hours of service, items were refreshed often so nothing sat for long at become less appealing. Plus there is little waste at the end. It takes two of these small coffee cups to hit my morning ration of caffeine, although it is stronger than ours.  We took two trams to the Central Station instead of walking again. Our Iamsterdam card gets free transportation. When boarding, one beep scan gets you on; a two beep scan gets you off. But if you forget to scan out, your card can not be used again for trams. A free-to-the-public ferry took us across the river to Amsterdam Noord.                               The A'dam is a tall look-out-over-Ams...

  Up Close and Personal The only glitch on the trip over was that my plane was delayed by half an hour. The Burns KLM flight left Toronto 15 minutes early, so they had to wait for me. The good news is, due to the bet, they had to buy the first round of drinks LOL.  The best news was that the Internet predicted 2-3 hour wait  standing in line for the EES (European Eye Scan biometric) was 8 minutes. Glad my plane was delayed! The eye and fingerprints scan takes 2 minutes. The 20 minute taxi ride to the hotel was 70 Euros.  Our Chasse Boutique hotel was originally a church and a rectory, the latter which is now a dance studio. Our room wasn't ready so our luggage was locked into a secure room.  There is a bicycle under all the flowers  We wanted to purchase Iamsterdam cards which give free public transportation - tram, bus, train and Metro - within the city. Many attractions and museums are free as well. It was a 90 minute walk to the Central Railway stat...