It was foggy again this morning, but appeared to clear up by nine so we said goodbye to Joan & John and headed into the sunshine. It disappeared within about 10 minutes and the fog got quite dense as we motored on, we had about 30 yards visibility. We slowed our speed and I stood at the front of the boat in case some fast moving boat came out of the fog. I’m not sure what I would have done if one did appear, yell “go away”. The fog started to lift after about 15 minutes and it’s been another lovely sunny day. It was a little strange being by ourselves in the locks, we had got quite used to having Joan & John ahead of us in the lock for the past four days. We heard from them that a new transmission is being shipped to them at St. Johnsville, arriving tomorrow. I’m sure our paths will cross again as we both head south.
We did five down locks today and arrived at Amsterdam around 2:25. We’re staying at a dock in Riverlink Park. The Montreal catamaran was docked here and one of the guys helped us dock, meaning I didn’t have to leap off the boat – always a good thing. They left shortly after that but I’m sure we’ll see them again, I really need to try to get a picture of the boat. We’re dining out tonight,
It will be good to do a bit of walking, we have to cross the river to get to where the shops and eateries are.
The previous sentence was written before dinner. The restaurant that’s a 15 second walk from the boat is closed on Mondays & Tuesdays, as is the restaurant on the other side of the river that got a good review on trip advisor. Based on a Google review we found an “Italian” restaurant on this side of the river but on the other side of the railway tracks that run on the north side of the river – it had a promising name, The Basil. We took the walkway over the railway track and found ourselves walking in what looked like a somewhat depressed area. The Basil turned out to a glorified pizzeria that did not serve alcohol, but our pizzas were ok. It was also seriously over air conditioned so poor Bob who had just a short sleeved shirt on was freezing. Even our server was wearing a hoodie, but without the hood on. It was a relief to leave and get warmed up outside.
We decided to believe Mr. Google on an alternate route back, just to do a bit more walking – we should not have trusted him. It took us to an area with a bunch of parked tractor trailers and of course no people in sight. We reached the end of the road at a closed gate in front of the tracks. Rather than walking all the way back we skirted the road that sort of paralleled where we’d walked and dodged traffic, there wasn’t much, to get across close to The Basil. Live and learn.
I have such visions of your happy faces as you explored the canals of ancient Amsterdam. Oh, not that one,? Well there’s always Rome and Ithaca.