Baltic Cruise 2010 - July 26 through August 10

After an early breakfast we disembarked the ship at 10am. Our friend Pat from Belgium had come up to Amsterdam for the weekend and he met us at the ship terminal. We all hopped in a cab and headed to the Sofitel Grand Hotel where we checked in and dropped our bags. Then we walked around to a couple of shops but realized we were very hungry. We found a nice cafe on the Dam Platz and had lunch. Then we walked about 15 minutes and met Pete and Kevin by their hotel, then we all walked to the parade route to watch the Gay Pride parade. Amsterdam's Pride Parade is held on boats that run through the central canals. There were people stacked up 4 deep to watch the parade, it draws about 500,000 people to the city each year!

After about an hour or so we decided we'd seen enough, so we headed to the hotel and were shown to our room. It was huge, with a separate living room and a big bathroom, wonderful! We rested for a bit and did some unpacking, then Pat met us in the hotel for pre-dinner drinks. We then walked over to a restaurant that was bustling with activity due to all the people in town for Pride. Dinner was nice and it was good to get a chance to chat with Pat some more.

After a quick change into going-out attire, we met the rest of the group at a bar named Prik for a drink. Then we walked around the city towards the Rembrandtsplein area where the festivities were hopping. There were a number of outdoor dance venues, searchlights and lots of loud music. We had a drink and then made our way to the club A.I.R. where we had VIP passes which got us in past the long line outside. It was pretty empty initially, but it filled up quickly. We danced for a while and then decided to head back to the hotel for some sleep.

We had breakfast and then the rest of the boys met us in our room for a walking tour of the city. The weather was very pleasant and we just wandered around. Rick explicitly wanted no maps or phones to be used in the navigation process!

Back on the Rembrandsplein we found a little cafe for a bit of coffee. Then we headed back to the hotel to rest a bit. At 5pm we all met at Paradiso, a huge club along one of the canals. Once again our VIP passes got us right in. The club had a massive 3 story main dance floor that was packed with guys, and a second one in the back with high energy techno that Rick loved. We spent about 2 hours there which was just enough. It was a great finish to all the partying that we'd done over the previous 2 weeks!

After breakfast in the room we met Jason and Alex and Alex's friend Kiran for lunch. Afterwards Pat headed back to the hotel with us where we relaxed and watched the movie Shutter Island.

In the evening we all walked to an Indonesian restaurant named Indrapura for a tasty 18 course(!) meal. Then we said our goodbyes to everyone and walked back to the Sofitel where we finished packing, watched the end of Up In the Air and fell asleep.

At 10:45am Pat came by the hotel to pick us up, then drove to the airport to drop off Randy for his flight home. Rick continued on with Pat for a week in Belgium and France. Randy's trip home was long, but uneventful. He was home by 7:30pm.