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| Welcome to the Aurora - as lovely as shown on their website |
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Today we start our official "Luxury Tulip Tour" of Holland, aboard the Aurora - a luxury barge which will be our home for the next 6 nights. It's a beautiful boat - as advertised, with 4 large cabins, each with it's own bathroom and shower.
The passengers include 8 people - 2 other US couples, from Houston and Cincinnati, and two sisters from Edmonton Alberta. Our bike leader, Willem, picked us up at our hotel in a van and drove all the US couples from Amsterdam to Schiedem, a town outside of Rotterdam. Willem has an easy sense of humor and told great stories about the history and culture of Holland during our drive.
We arrived at the boat quay and got to see the Aurora up close. Once on board, we met Karina, the wife of the husband and wife team that own and staff the Aurora. Unfortunately, Karina had some sad news to share when we arrived. Her husband Steve - also the boat pilot - is in the hospital. They do not have an additional pilot, so we will stay anchored here in Schiedem, living on the boat, but not cruising the waterways.
That, in turn, puts more emphasis on our biking. The proposal is that we bike about 30 miles every day - making the circle via bike that we would have done via barge. We will leave our bikes at the end of the day, locked up at our new location, and return in the van back to the Aurora for our evening and dinner together. That way we will see most of what was planned, and we will be biking (the maximum) of what was generally planned for each day.
Everyone was in good spirits about trying this approach, with great flexibility. Of course, we felt very bad for Karina, with Steve in the hospital, and she is trying to take care of our vacation plans at the same time as worrying about him.
So, deep breath - a little different than expected, but it should be a good adventure.
In the meantime, the boat is beautiful - filled with cut flowers and beautifully furnished.
We were welcomed with champagne and canapés when we arrived around 3 PM. And got a chance to settle into our rooms, which are large, spacious and immaculately clean. We have a huge private bathroom with two sinks and a large shower.
I'm looking forward to sleeping here the next 6 nights.
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| Main outdoor deck on the Aurora - our bike helmets are lined up and ready to go! |
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| Lounge and dining area |
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| Cut flowers everywhere - including two large vases of lilies - reminding us it's Easter Sunday |
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| Delicious offering of canapes - not all made it in the photo. Loved the olive tamponade. |
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| A fully appointed bar - nice for end of day after bike riding... |
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| The fresh flowers fill the common rooms with beautiful fragrance |
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| We have the Red Room - spacious and bright with lots of room for our gear |
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| A large, comfortable bathroom - nicer than many hotels |
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| This beautiful bouquet welcomed us to our room |
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| We even have fresh flowers in our bathroom. This flower lover is smiling big time. |
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