We started the cruise with no incidents, thankfully! And this is a special cruise for the AMA Waterways line – the christening of the AmaLucia, the ship we are on! So, the owners are here, the children who are the “godparents” of the ship are here, lots of travel and food writers, you name it. And all the guests are treated like gods. Not bad!

Our first excursion, still in Amsterdam, is the Floriade, an ecological extravaganza that occurs every 10 years.

Of course, loads of flowers decorated everything, even though we are here in mid-Summer, rather than Spring, when the flowers are at their best. No tulips here now!

More interesting are the green displays, explaining how the people of Amsterdam are dealing with their water and pollution problems. Their difficulties are vastly different from those in Colorado; however, climate change is affecting them in a big way. Now, all the rain and snow water come down the river at almost the same time, with very little water flow the rest of the year. Many of the canals they have built are actually reservoirs for water storage, so the city has water year round.

The uses of plants, many to decrease the local temperatures in urban areas, are exciting to explore. These solutions are not easily transferable to Colorado, but the ideas could be adapted. Clare felt like she could have stayed at the Floriade extravaganza for days and not learned everything it has to offer.

The ship is new, with slight improvements from our trip 4 years ago on the Danube. Brian noticed spare propellers, and asked about them. Of course these are unique to the ship, and if one breaks, they need another immediately. The next one is our room. Cozy. And the restaurant is first class. The usual draft beer is Bitburger from from Bitburg in the Mosel River region of Germany.

• Europe 2022