Mont-Saint-Michel

 Finally I'm getting back to writing the blog for the last cruise, only 3 weeks after we got home. But as usual, real life took over and it is only now on a rainy day that I have the opportunity to focus on it.

Our first port stop of St. Malo was the closest point to the famous island abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel. St. Malo itself is a medieval walled city which looks like it would also be a great place to walk through.

Sailing in to our anchor position.

St. Malo from the ship

Since Mont-Saint-Michel is on the bucket list for many people, the tours booked out quickly. We managed to get one that provided a tour of the tiny medieval town surrounding the base of the abbey, but didn't include a tour of the interior of the cathedral. The drive from St. Malo to the parking area took about 45 minutes and ran through some beautiful Normandy/Brittany countryside.

Once we arrived at the small town of Pontorson and left the bus in the immense parking lot, our guide led us to the lineup for the free shuttle bus that takes people out to the bridge to the island. More on that a little later. This lineup seemed ridiculously long, but she explained that it really did move rather well. She was, however, quite surprised at the number of people, and warned us that the town would be rather crowded once we got there. Apparently almost everyone in France is on holiday from mid-July to mid-August and when the weather is sunny they go to the beach. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast, at least it had been all morning, so they all chose to come to Mont-Saint-Michel instead.

Our first view of the famous island abbey.

We could have walked to the island, a distance of about 1.5 kilometres, but we would never have found the guide again for the walking tour, so we stayed with her and took the shuttle bus. Mont-Saint-Michel is an island at high tide, but one can walk across the sand at low tide....as long as one can avoid stepping into the quicksand, which is a true hazard. We visited at low tide, so there were little groups of people out on the sand, using stones to create patterns that would last until the tide came rushing in.

The island was well protected with thick stone walls, dangerous mud and a rushing tide with a swing of up to 14 metres (46 feet) which was fine during medieval times but doesn't work so well in modern times for visitor access. A bridge was built in 1879 to replace the causeway that was flooded over during high tide, but the bridge prevented the silt around the island from being washed away when the tide came in. In 2006 a project was established to replace the old bridge and create a hydraulic dam to use the power of the Couesnon River and the tides to flush out the silt at every high tide. This bridge and dam were opened in 2014 and have been operating since then.

From the shuttle you can see the bridge

On the bridge walking toward the island

Once we left the bus and headed into the town, we realized just how crowded it would be. The 'town' is really no more than a small village. No cars are allowed inside the walls, not that one would fit anywhere anyways. It was so busy that we already knew we didn't have much chance of finding anything for our 'lunch on our own'. We would only have about an hour and a half after our tour and every restaurant looked full up.

As much as she could, our guide led us through the main 'street' of town and explained the history and significance of the abbey. It has a rather interesting 'raison d'etre': apparently in the early 8th Century the Archangel Michael appeared to the Bishop Aubert of Avranches and told him to build a church on the rocky island. This happened more than once with the bishop refusing on the first two occasions. On the third, in 708, the Archangel Michael was a little more insistent, tapping him on the temple when making his demand. This time Aubert gave in and built the church. Legend has it that when Aubert passed away, there was a hole in the side of his head, attributed to the touch of the Archangel.

Our first glimpse of the town...

This is as close as we got to the abbey. The
people on the stairs are all lined up to buy tickets!

The view from the ramparts over the bay, the bridge
and the marshy land around it. The river and the dam
are just to the right of the bridge.

We weren't the only ones on the ramparts!

Here are a few more photos of the town and the abbey. From what I've read and watched, the only way you can really see the town is by staying overnight in one of the hotels - outside of prime vacation season, of course. The entrance gates are closed to tourists at 7:00 p.m. and only the 20-odd people who live there permanently and hotel guests and employees remain to stroll around and enjoy the history and medieval ambience.

We ended up walking all the way back to the Visitors Centre rather than waiting for a shuttle bus. Once we got there, after having had only a gelato to tide us over since breakfast, we bought some locally made potato chips and a small bag of cookies. Half a bag of chips each ended up being our lunch, so we were extra hungry for dinner when we got back to the ship!

It would be interesting to see Mont-Saint-Michel again in less crowded circumstances, but at least now we've checked it off the bucket list.

A Weekend in Amsterdam

 Once again we had a comfortable flight with Air Canada. We weren't sure, however, what we would come up against at EU Immigration as they have instituted a new Entry and Exit system that requires you to register a photo of your face and your fingerprints against your passport for ease of access in the future.

It was an easy process to do, provided you didn't have any fingerprint issues. Unfortunately, one of my prints is very faint and the system kicked me over to the manual check line while Larry managed to get through fine. An hour and a half later I finally saw the Immigration officer and got my details entered into the system. Larry had already picked up our bags and was waiting patiently. Good thing we have international roaming on our phones so we could check in with each other.

The ride into the city was quite short and pleasant. We were staying at the hotel Crystal used for its pre- and post-cruise packages as they were also offering the transfer to the ship from there. Serenity would be docking in the seaside town of Ijmuiden, a 45-minute drive from Amsterdam.

We arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Conservatorium, and the limo driver was roundly chewed out by the head bellman for bringing us to the wrong entrance. He was very friendly, though, and explained that, not only do you have to climb stairs, but you lose all the grand effect of the lobby by coming in the street side instead of the courtyard.

The separation between the lobby bar and
the restaurant Ottolenghi

From the third floor, where our room
was located

The main foyer display. The hotel
was previously a Music Conservatory,
hence the violins.

The only advantage to the long wait at Immigration was that our room was ready for us when we arrived. This hotel has some interesting room layouts, and we had one of these overlooking the street entrance. It is a loft room, with a sitting area, bathroom, desk and TV on the main level and the bed and a smaller bathroom on the upper level. We didn't even find the upstairs bathroom until the room attendant came in for turndown service and showed it to us, the door is so neatly fitted into the wall.

It was a comfortable room except that it was rather warm upstairs at night unless we turned the thermostat down. Then it became too cool downstairs in the morning!

We dropped our bags and went downstairs to have lunch at the lobby bar, which had a really nice menu for lunch and dinner. The portions were a good size and, for a hotel, the prices were very reasonable.

I had Caprese Salad with a large ball of
fresh Burrata

Larry chose one of the homemade Focaccia
Sandwiches with parma ham and burrata

After lunch we strolled over to the Vondelpark which was not far away. We were also only a block away from the Rijksmuseum and almost across the street from the Van Gogh Museum. The park was full of locals taking in the warm weather and sunshine, as well as lots of tourists. 

This was the middle weekend of World Pride, a festival that is held in various cities around the world every two or three years. This was the first time in Amsterdam to mark the 25th anniversary of legalization of gay marriage in The Netherlands. Our friendly bellman warned us against going to the Prinsengracht on Saturday afternoon as there was a huge boat/float parade going on there, and partying into the night.

So we spent the rest of the afternoon in the hotel, even having dinner at the lobby bar, just because lunch had been so tasty. We shared a Caesar Salad, Larry had Lasagnetta, a single serving lasagna, and I had some homemade pasta in a pesto sauce. Somehow I managed to forget to take photos.

The next morning we ventured out to find a breakfast restaurant, something we like to do. Just down the street from the hotel we found Blushing, a coffee shop, breakfast and lunch restaurant. Rather quirky, and obviously celebrating World Pride, it was a great spot for breakfast and a start to my search for Amsterdam's most famous wool shop, Stephen & Penelope.

My breakfast of Shakshuka, a Middle Eastern dish
of tomatoes, spinach, feta and poached egg. I've made
it at home, too.

After breakfast we started our long stroll to the wool shop. It is located on Haarlemerdijk, a street that crosses the Prinsengracht at the north end of the canal. Google Maps said it would take about 45 minutes to walk there and it was right. We found our way from the Rijksmuseum to the Leidseplein and from there to the familiar surroundings of Prinsengracht. The last time we were in Amsterdam we stayed at a hotel on the canal. We knew exactly where the parade and festivities had taken place on Saturday, as there was garbage all over the place and crews were dismantling bleachers that had been set up for parade viewing.

We actually arrived in the area of the shop about a half-hour before it opened, so we sat down at a café/bar and had something to drink. We chatted a little with the man seated beside us having coffee and taking care of his five-month old daughter. You want to know how much Holland is a bicycle culture?? He told us his two-year old is already riding! Probably still with training wheels. They seem to get kids on bikes as soon as they can stand up without falling over!

We got to Stephen & Penelope not long after they opened at noon, but there were already a half-dozen customers inside. What a colourful and inspiring shop! One of the owners, Stephen West, is an American knit designer who has lived in Amsterdam for a number of years. He has a worldwide following on his YouTube channel and is constantly coming up with new and interesting patterns for shawls and socks, his two favourite knits. I had to come see the place for myself, and also had a few ladies from Casting Off the Cold who wanted photos. They'll also get a little surprise when I get home.

The shop isn't huge, but they display lots of Stephen's shawls, socks and other knitwear, and even sell the sample knits. His patterns are so popular that he has his own brands of yarn, and some established yarn companies dye special lots just for his online Knit-Along projects.

There are two versions of a lovely shawl on this mannequin. I bought the pattern and enough yarn to make one of them for myself.

That was lots of fun! We walked back slowly as we had no other plans for the afternoon. The cleanup crews had been working pretty hard; there wasn't nearly as much garbage around as in the morning.

The people in this little boat were picking garbage off
the water. Every little bit helps!

Not sure why this park is filled with iguana
sculptures....

In the evening we had a reservation at Ottolenghi, the main restaurant in the hotel. Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli-British chef based in London who specializes in Mediterranean cuisine. He's sort of like the Gordon Ramsay of the eastern Med, from the sound of it. So this meal was going to be an adventure.

The menu is divided into Nibbles, Small Plates, Large Plates, and Sides, and our waiter suggested that a good meal for two people is 2 Nibbles, 2 Small Plates, 1 Large Plate and a Side. So we chose some things we'd never had before:

The Nibbles:

Smoked Labneh with za'atar and shatta. Labneh is a thick yogurt; za'atar is a Middle Eastern spice mixture, and shatta is a hot sauce made with chili peppers. It was delicious: cool, creamy and spicy at the same time.

Kimchi and Gouda Fritters. What an odd combination, but they were also really tasty!

The Small Plates:

Beef Carpaccio with Jerusalem Artichoke and Tulum. Tulum is a crumbly aged cheese. This one disappeared quickly, just like the others.

Grilled Halloumi with Black Lime Honey. Halloumi is a very popular cheese in Middle Eastern cuisine. It is dense enough to stand grilling or frying, and tastes like a cross between feta cheese and mozzarella. Goes great with olive oil and sage.

Large Plate:

Here we chose the whole Seabass. Larry wasn't sure about this since he's not the biggest fish eater, but even he ate all of his half of the fish! It is prepared with butter, capers grilled eggplant and kohlrabi.

Since he was trying all these new things, Larry chose the crispy potatoes for our side dish. The sauce on top is lovage, an herb that smells like celery, and preserved lemon butter. They were really delicious, too.

And even though we weren't stuffed after all that, we opted not to have dessert.

Another good night's sleep and we finished packing in the morning for our 10:00 'bags out' for the transfer. We had breakfast in the hotel this time since it wasn't busy. Rather than the buffet we chose items from the à la carte menu. Larry stayed with his eggs, but I chose something really different - a gouda and bacon pancake with spinach, yogurt and sambal oelek. That's the red paste. It is a very popular spice in all Middle Eastern cooking and packs quite a punch. That breakfast was delicious!

So that concludes our time in Amsterdam for this cruise. It is always a fun city to visit, and we enjoyed this stay just as much as our previous ones.

Now on to Ijmuiden and Crystal Serenity. The port of Amsterdam is putting hefty controls on the number of cruise ships they are allowing to dock in the city, so Serenity ended up at the port in Ijmuiden, a seaside town on the coast. As we sailed out, we passed by the local beach where a number of people were enjoying the weather and the calm sea.

Our first day was spent sailing through the English Channel toward St. Malo, France. At one point we were so close to Dover you could see the famous White Cliffs.

Up next: St. Malo and our excursion to the famous Mont Saint Michel.