Viking Ve left Amsterdam at 01:00 to sail across Ijsselmeer (once known as the Zuiderzee) now the largest lake in Europe, and the view from the boat when I woke on Day 3 was unexpected for a river cruise as it looked like we were at sea.
We moored at Enkhuizen and joined a walking tour at 09:00. A few moments from the boat we were invited to eat herring. The proper way is to take the whole herring by its tail, tilt your head back and slide the fish down your gullet. For those who didn't want the full experience there were slices of fish on cocktail sticks.
Then a tray of battered fish nuggets was passed around. It was said to be cod, but the man behind the counter said that it used to be cod but they now used pollock.
It was bitterly cold as a strong wind blew from the Ijsselmeer. I sheltered in the warmth of the small shop.
Then the walk continued, stopping to see the city gatehouse, our guide said we were lucky because today we would be able to see the Half Moon ship leave the harbour.
Half Moon is a replica of Halve Maen, the ship that Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609. The replica was constructed between 1988 and 1989 at the Snow Dock in Albany, New York.
Assisted by an inflatable and launch Half Moon was turned and passed under the now opened bridge towards Ijsselmeer.
Lunch was A Taste of Holland with the waiters in what I suppose was local costume but I didn't see Dutch Caps on the waitresses...
Food was a self-serve buffet
and there was a chocolate fountain.
In the afternoon we strolled around pretty Enkhuizen.
Back on board there was the VES Cocktail Party. I remember on our first trip wondering who the half dozen people quaffing drinks in a Aquavit Lounge were. This cruise 116 people (out of 184 guests), having cruised before with Viking, were Viking Explorer Society members and so the event in the lounge was open to everyone.
Dinner menus had two pages. On the left was the Always Available dishes, plus wine suggestions for that night's menu (with the price for those who didn't have the drinks package) and the red and white wines they were pouring for everyone. The white was a (rather nice, crisp) Riesling.
By the way, Riesling is pronounced 'reezling', note the 'ie' like in 'field'. I heard one guest 'correcting' her waitress who pronounced it as reezling by telling her that she should call it ryezling.
On the right are the dishes for that night.
There's a different menu every day, both lunch and dinner, plus the 'always available' dishes. The dinner menu will have three local dishes, then a choice of international starters, mains and desserts. You can pick from each menu as you like and make substitutions - I loathe mashed potato so I swapped that with fries from the 'always available' menu.
Some people have two starters instead of a starter and main. Some people have two mains and quite a few have two desserts. As if........
Click on the menu images to get them full size.
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