One look out of my window
A wonderful child-like excitement engulfs my being as I look out of my living-room window towards the left towards the Amsterdam Passenger Terminal.
The late spring and summer months present a spectacle of visitations on the waters that form the harbours of the old Amsterdam port from the sailing school just below my window through the open waters that host the sailing regattas and the then further on where it is deep enough to float ocean going cruise liners.
Satisfying my curiosity
Yesterday, in fact, the day before, there was a huge cruise liner docked at the terminal, I had to see it up close so I cycled up the embankment with my camera to take a few pictures.
That was not enough to observe the cruise liner in all its splendour, I needed to know when it was setting sail again so I for the first time stepped into the terminal and asked at the information desk when it was leaving.
The scheduled time was in another 24 hours at about 17:00 hours, so when I returned home I went online to the check the Cruise Calendar [1] and found out it would be an hour later.
Setting sail
So, yesterday evening, I rode out to see the cruise liner leave and it quite a ceremony weighing anchor that took about 15 minutes and then another 30 minutes to turn the bow astern to sail out of Amsterdam.
It was quite windy and there was a chill in the air as I took pictures from many vantage points and even planned to race the liner to the point where it finally sailed out of Amsterdam and the chain on my bicycle broke just as got behind the central train station which fortunately had a bicycle repair shop in the front.
It was worth it
My pursuit ended with the wheeling of my bicycle to the shop with the hope that I will see the cruise liner when next it docks in Amsterdam.
It was the Cunard Queen Elizabeth [2] with 12 decks that measured the height of 9 storey building, it has a length of 964.5 feet (294m), a width of 106 feet (32.3m) and a draft of 25.9 feet (7.9m) – the draft is the ship’s depth below the water.
We should expect at least 20 cruise liner dockings every month until September with Queen Elizabeth returning later this month and then in October, meanwhile there will be a lot to see until then.
This is my slideshow of pictures taken.
Sources
[1] Passenger Terminal Amsterdam – Cruise Calendar
[2] Queen Elizabeth Cruise Liner Facts : Luxury Cruise Ships : Cunard Cruise Line
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are accepted if in context are polite and hopefully without expletives and should show a name, anonymous, would not do. Thanks.