April in Amsterdam

....and a number of other locations in The Netherlands and Belgium.  I took a vacation and went on a Craft Cruise - finally!  For years people have recommended them, including my parents who have crossed paths with them on Holland America, but finding the time to do one hasn't been possible.  Then they announced a Tulip Time cruise on rivers in Europe, just a week, and it sounded interesting.

I invited my parents to join me (but in a stateroom on a completely different deck, and theirs had a balcony), as they have wanted to do a river cruise but most of the ones they saw were winery-oriented, which is not of interest.  This one overlaid an AMA Waterways cruise which focused on history and culture and sounded much more interesting for all of us.  And it was!!

They do multiple tours every day, and at multiple ability levels.  My parents usually did the "gentle walkers" tours while I took the more active ones.  Sometimes we would go to the same place and then take our own pace; other times the tours were completely different.  Sometimes there was free time, and did I join the knitters in the lounge?  No, if we were docked I went into town and checked out a museum or did some touring on my own!

I went to the homes of Rembrandt and Reubens, and assorted churches, and because I have a friend who is from Amsterdam and happened to be there at the same time, we got to worship at and then take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Portuguese Synagogue.  It is still lit only by sunlight and candles.

Just a very few random photos:

Stephen West's shop in Amsterdam

          

Crocheted cover on the bicycle!

There were two KALs on the boat.

If you saw the film "Monuments Men"
you will recognize this sculpture.

Hands of a lacemaker in Bruges.

The oldest lacemaker - almost 90 years!

I get lost after a tour, I find a yarn shop......

......which also sells fabrics.  I bought yarn.

Crafts shop in Gouda.  Some people bought
just to have something but I didn't.

This is my sort of Gouda souvenir.  And stroopwafels!!

Of course, windmills.  

The theme of this year's Tulip Festival at Keukenhof Gardens was the 60's and:

 

A tulip made of tulips.

My parents, amid the tulips.  My mother knit her sweater.