Blogs from North Holland, Netherlands, Europe

Made only in exceptional years, vintage Champagne is a rarity, and rosé versions are even scarcer. Produced exclusively with grapes from Grand Cru sites, this ballet slipper–colored sparkler is composed of 70 percent Pinot Noir and 30 percent Chardonnay. The yield was very small but exceptional, a result attributable to not only the harvest but also the more than 12 years the Champagne spent aging in chalk cellars dating to Gallo-Roman times before being exposed to light. This elegant cuvée—just 450 bottles of which were reserved for the U.S.—exhibits persistent effervescence with a frothy mousse cap. It has great mouthfeel and is incredibly lively on the tongue with flavors of red cherry, pink grapefruit, tangerine peel, and dried sage. Vintage Champagne only gets better with age, and this will mature beautifully for another 15 years. $400 ... read more

Big sleep in and leisurely breakfast …showered and packed up check out over here is noon ….Down to Port side midday and onto scenic boat started with a glass of bubbly (drinks always put in front of you and all inclusive … had to pace myself) and amazing food!!!…. At 2.30 they took us through to our room and we settled in nice to unpack for a couple of weeks!!!…back up to the lounge at 5 pm for more bubbly and the capitains welcome and general tour information followed by dinner at 7pm amazing food !!!… ... read more

Had a sleep in and leisurely breakfast and went for a walk Harbourside of the hotel down by central station to see where the river boats doc saw plenty of Viking and Avalon boats. We got a pretty good idea and we booked in with tickets and tours for tomorrow Zaans Schans Marken and Volendam tour. Back to the hotel around lunchtime had a hot drink and some snacks and a rest for a few hours ….I caught up on the blog and a few bits and pieces headed out around about 4 pm and slowly wandered into town had an early dinner at 5:30 of Maccas and along to the cheese shop bought a fair amount of cheese and continued to wander ……hundreds and hundreds of people arrrrgh and as it got darker noisier !!!!! ... read more

On Thursday, after breakfast we waited for rush hour to be over. While in our room we watched as one of the large ketch exited through the swing gates at St Katherine's Docks right beneath our window. Fascinating!! Wethen walked to Tower Hill Underground and went into Picadilly via Embankment. Our main aim was to visit the three main books stores and stock up as books are so much cheaper here. Emerging into Piccadilly Circus made me feel like I was really in London!! We strolled along Picadilly to Waterstones which is huge. Here we found several titles. From there to Hatchard's a beautiful old book shop where we browsed and bought a few more. By this time we were feeling our age and so much walking was getting to us but we soldiered on to ... read more

Catch up from karaoke night! About 16 of us got Ubers, and went into town. We headed straight for the karaoke bar…. By massive demand. Jamie booked us in at 24 karat Karaoke, and I have to say, everyone delivered, some more than others, but I’d say that’s normal! I certainly did my share of entertaining! It was an all round great night. Jamie blasted it out of the water! We got back to the hotel at around 1:30am. That’s my latest night in a long time! …. And I had 3 halves of lager!!! I certainly haven’t done that for a long time too!! I have no picture evidence, but some might leak out later! Breakfast went well today, a huge improvement on yesterday! Everyone seemed to make it to breakfast this morning, which I ... read more