The Keil Canal

the ship is approaching the Keil Canal. Rick and I had an early breakfast on the deck. It was wet so their were not too many people on the deck. There were lots of ships in our view and the sky was very cloudy and ominous. Rick is at his Bike class. I just sent a letter to our kids. I have only received responses from Walker. Yesterday we got off the boat and took a city bus to the small town of Edam where we thought we would see them making cheese. They only make it on Wednesday didn't see anything but we did walk around and look at the old houses and also bought some cheese to send it back to America. We went to another small town on the ocean but it was very touristy and did not like it as much. We did like riding the bus which gave usa a view of life outside of Amerserdam: lots of dairy farms and suburbs.
I am in the computer room. It looks like Michael is going to do a private lesson. He is the young man who is teaching the classes. He told me he played tennis for Indiana University and has played at the Boar's Head.

When we got back for our bus trip we took a one hour canal ride through Amsterdam and saw lots more of the city. The boats people live on look very dilapidated and I have a feeling don't have bathrooms. I thought it would be a very unappealing way to live.
Today we will just take in the scenes of Germany from the deck or our state room.

Today we are in Edinburgh. We leave in about half and hour. Rick is taking a nap. I just went on a tour of the royal ship Britannica which was quite interesting. We saw the private quarters of Queen Elizabeth which were quite ordinary. About fifty family members can travel on the ship and I think I learned 143 crew. It was very old and none of the rooms very large except the state dinning room and the living room across the way where they got together after dinner to play cards or play the grand piano. We also saw haw the officers lived and socialized.

Last night we saw the Tatoo which is a spectacular show of the Scottish bagpipers in full regalia marching and playing. There were also other military bands; the Swiss band and the Royal English band and a group from Tonga and Australia. It was a bit like going to a basketball game. We were lucky with the weather since it had rained five times when we were out touring during the day.
It was a bit complicated getting to the city. First, we tendered, then we took a train and then we walked but ended up on Royal Mile where there were lots of young actors and actor and singers and dancers from all over the world preforming. We took a free tour of the Central city by a group that advertised free tours. Our picture will be on their website. I am going to wake up Rick and then we will go to lunch.

We are cruising the North See on "The Journey." We left Oslo yesterday and are sailing toward Scotland. We have had beautiful weather which is surprising since we are so far north. In Oslo the ship docked right beside a castle. We walked through the grounds on our way back to the ship. There is water everywhere in Oslo.
We were the first people off the ship. A Hop on Hop off bus was waiting for us. We got on and had a tour of the city which included a sculpture park, watching the tennis championships and two museums, the viking ships from 800 AD and the Kontiki museum.