We got up, again in a leisurely fashion, and had some breakfast, packed up, left the key for Maria (who'd gone off to Germany), and headed in the direction of the supermarket and the tram stop.
I bought more cheese things, and tried but failed to get some comprehensive lunch. While I was in the supermarket, asking for tram tickets, the other two had found out on the internet that you can buy them on the tram. We had a bit of a wait for the tram, and when we got on, the conductor came up to us, and luckily spoke good English. But we got stuck talking to him the whole way. He claimed to have lived in England for a while, told us about how many injuries he'd caused on the football field when he played 'professionally', and how much he hates Amsterdam in a football rival sense. We were relieved to get off at Centraal, though he was harmless.
We looked for a train, and one was about to leave, so we walked fast, then ran, to the train, and the lovely female conductor waited for us and a couple of others to get on. She checked our tickets, and we stood in the vestibule talking until she told us to move. I went to sit in a seat on my own, and the other two chatted to some locals.
We managed to get off at the right stop (the second last one), and walked into the ferry terminal. We checked in, and checked our luggage, and walked up the massive gangway onto the ship. The first thing we did was get some lunch. I had a baked pasta dish that was quite nice, and we shared a wobbly chocolate and custard dessert. After that, we went out on the deck. Hugh and Christian found a table in the shade next to the basketball court, but I was keen to be in the sun, where it was warm. Then a basketball game started up (it's OK, they were fenced in). We decided to find a better spot, and went upstairs onto the other side of the ship. We sat there for a while, me in the sun, getting wet and salty off the deck. We watched the beach pass us by, and then the ship went out into the open sea. Christian found a deckchair, but then it got too cold, and the other two went in. I stayed a bit longer, but it wasn't terribly comfortable, and a little cold. As we didn't have a cabin this time, we found a table in the bow.
Christian did some photo editing, Hugh played some games, and charged his devices. I ate some grapes. Time passed. Christian followed our progress on navigation charts. I waited for my phone to find England again. Time passed. We went into the Felixstowe channel and headed to Harwich. It was a bit busy. As the ship pulled up, we went outside to watch, and saw that some past carnage appeared to have broken the docks, and the gangway. They called us to disembark, and we went down into the bowels of the ship to find the bus. It took us to the terminal. We got in the passport queue, and Christian thought it would be a good idea to follow the people moving into the short queue. Hugh stayed put. Unfortunately, this turned out to the be the non-EU queue, and so we were stuck there while everyone filed past. We rejoined the first queue before the next wave of disembarking passengers arrived, having wasted a good ten minutes.
Hugh had moved on to the station, so after collecting our luggage, we waved at him through the window. We went over the bridge, paid the parking ticket, found the car, and drove on our way. We stopped in Chelmsford (getting a little lost), and had dinner at Chiquito at about 9pm. It was nice. We got back to Hazlemere quite late.
I bought more cheese things, and tried but failed to get some comprehensive lunch. While I was in the supermarket, asking for tram tickets, the other two had found out on the internet that you can buy them on the tram. We had a bit of a wait for the tram, and when we got on, the conductor came up to us, and luckily spoke good English. But we got stuck talking to him the whole way. He claimed to have lived in England for a while, told us about how many injuries he'd caused on the football field when he played 'professionally', and how much he hates Amsterdam in a football rival sense. We were relieved to get off at Centraal, though he was harmless.
We looked for a train, and one was about to leave, so we walked fast, then ran, to the train, and the lovely female conductor waited for us and a couple of others to get on. She checked our tickets, and we stood in the vestibule talking until she told us to move. I went to sit in a seat on my own, and the other two chatted to some locals.
We managed to get off at the right stop (the second last one), and walked into the ferry terminal. We checked in, and checked our luggage, and walked up the massive gangway onto the ship. The first thing we did was get some lunch. I had a baked pasta dish that was quite nice, and we shared a wobbly chocolate and custard dessert. After that, we went out on the deck. Hugh and Christian found a table in the shade next to the basketball court, but I was keen to be in the sun, where it was warm. Then a basketball game started up (it's OK, they were fenced in). We decided to find a better spot, and went upstairs onto the other side of the ship. We sat there for a while, me in the sun, getting wet and salty off the deck. We watched the beach pass us by, and then the ship went out into the open sea. Christian found a deckchair, but then it got too cold, and the other two went in. I stayed a bit longer, but it wasn't terribly comfortable, and a little cold. As we didn't have a cabin this time, we found a table in the bow.
Christian did some photo editing, Hugh played some games, and charged his devices. I ate some grapes. Time passed. Christian followed our progress on navigation charts. I waited for my phone to find England again. Time passed. We went into the Felixstowe channel and headed to Harwich. It was a bit busy. As the ship pulled up, we went outside to watch, and saw that some past carnage appeared to have broken the docks, and the gangway. They called us to disembark, and we went down into the bowels of the ship to find the bus. It took us to the terminal. We got in the passport queue, and Christian thought it would be a good idea to follow the people moving into the short queue. Hugh stayed put. Unfortunately, this turned out to the be the non-EU queue, and so we were stuck there while everyone filed past. We rejoined the first queue before the next wave of disembarking passengers arrived, having wasted a good ten minutes.
Hugh had moved on to the station, so after collecting our luggage, we waved at him through the window. We went over the bridge, paid the parking ticket, found the car, and drove on our way. We stopped in Chelmsford (getting a little lost), and had dinner at Chiquito at about 9pm. It was nice. We got back to Hazlemere quite late.
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