Category: Travel

Toronto has one of the easiest and fastest customs systems I’ve used.  They have sleek entry modules (basically a laptop keyboard, screen and fancy camera) after you get off the plane.  You enter in your information, scan your passport, take a selfie, and get a strip of paper with your group’s photos that you take to the next station. They check it over, put a checkmark that it’s ok and off to the next station where they take it away and you go pick up your baggage.  No stamp in  your passport though at least for short visits.

At the airport, we took the train from the airpott ($1Canadian) to Union station.  It was a bit confusing getting to the train, (just keep following the signs, and ask questions if necessary) but ticketing was a breeze, just wave your credit card or phone over a presto reader and then hop on the train. There are luggage racks at the train entrance, which I highly recommend using.  The train starts out empty but is quickly standing room only.   Union station is the last stop and is well situated downtown. 

If you take a taxi from union station, make sure it’s an authorized taxi not a gypsy cab.  Uber and Lyft are available too.  Depending on where your hotel is located and how much luggage you have, you may find it easiest to walk there.  We had been traveling since 4 am so we took a Lyft to the Westin Harbour Castle, a huge hotel complex on the shores of Lake Ontario.

We lucked out and got a lake view room.  Stunning.

We spent the morning walking around the harbour. Toronto is a great city for walking, and has an extensive trolley system which uses the same presto system as the trains.  (More expensive, though — around $3.60/ trip.  That includes two hours of transfers, so you only have to swipe your phone the first time until the two hours are up.)

We also saw some fun buildings yesterday while waiting for our Lyft yesterday

Meanwhile, back at home, our dog Luca is having a grand time at doggy day care

Tips for the mobility impaired on AMA waterways or other river cruises. (And yes, I have some mobility limitations) I’ve addressed AMA specifically because that was the line I was on, and their staff tried so hard to meet guest’s needs 1) AMA Waterways does a great job with their gentle versions of excursions. But not all excursions can be made into gentle options, so if something is a must see, verify that there is a gentle option available before booking. If not, you might be able to arrange a private tour through an outside vendor. 2) How much of a problem are stairs? There is a very nice elevator onboard, but because of the ship layout, one still has to do a handful of stairs on each level, at least in the Ama Lucia. Also, the elevator does not go to the sun deck. Because of docking constraints, we had to climb the stairs to the sun deck to cross over the other boats to start several of our excursions. If this will be a problem for you, talk to the ship staff, they might be able to get you a special dispensation to go through the lobbies of the other ships to avoid the stairs. 3) if you can do the regular excursions as long as there are handrails on the stairs, speak up even though it might be embarrassing and ask if there’s an alternative option if you’re confronted with stairs sans handrails. Europe has a surprising amount of stairs without handrails. Fortunately, most have a wall on one side that one can use for support. 4) while I have heard that ama has hosted wheelchair users on their ships, I suspect it’s partially mobile wheelchair users who can do a few steps without the chair. ( I have been corrected on this. On at least some ama cruises, full-time wheelchair users have been accommodated and helped to get on and off the ship for gentle walk tours. If you are a wheelchair users, please ask lots of questions before booking as some routes/ships may be better suited for your needs than others.) On the beautiful ama Lucia, the hallways are very narrow, and the entry to the bathroom would be difficult to navigate in a chair. However, the new larger ship, Ama magna, might be more accommodating because of its larger size.. And the largest suites on the Ama Lucia might be more conducive to wheelchair users. I was in a bb unit. 5) if you have difficulty standing, particularly on hard surfaces, you may want to borrow a walker with seat for some tours. One example is the chocolate making tour on the tulip time cruise. It was one of my favorite tours, but a couple of the guests were struggling with standing so long on concrete. The chocolateier had a couple of stools so we were able to accommodate them, but it’s something to be aware of. I hope this helps. My best advice: ask lots of specific questions. Most people without mobility issues aren’t aware of potential pitfalls. You know what you need, so ask the questions to find out if there will be a problem. Ama is great about helping guests meet their needs, but they have to know what you need. Happy travels.

Even more than most European cities, Rotterdam has more modern architecture because so many of its beautiful old buildings were destroyed during WWII.  Instead, it has really fun modern structures.

I bought extra for friends.  They ship to the US if you want to try this special chocolate.  https://www.chocolatesvanhecke.be/shop/

The workshop was educational and fun.  But the best part was trying lots of chocolate, and enjoying a glass of prosecco as a palette cleanser.

Afterwards we had the option of spending the afternoon in Ghent but we decided to rest up. 

The Delta works is an impressive flood control program that protects the Netherlands coastline from flooding. It is a model for other countries.

A rubber mat was used in construction of the pylon bridge solution

They have an excellent video describing the installation.  For more details, or if you can’t visit in person, https://www.holland.com/global/tourism/getting-around/interests/land-of-water/delta-works

We had a fun tour of the wheelhouse with captain Rolf.  In the background is a huge collection of rubber ducks and frogs collected by Captain Rolf and the other ship’s captain. 

Fortunately I had planned ahead and booked us a canal cruise.  We were still exhausted so we took a cab to the wharf.  We arrived too early for our cruise so we wandered around the city in a light rain, then took our cruise. Here are a few funky pictures from the area

The last pic is a family from Miami who we enjoyed talking to.  The whole cruise was Latinos (from Miami, Argentina, Madrid, etc) so we all had a great time talking Spanish together.