The eight of us took an exciting train trip from Amsterdam to Basel on a high speed EuroRail train. The first segment of the trip to Frankfurt was in Coach Class, but the segment from Frankfurt to Basel we were able to go 1st Class! The trip took slightly over 7 hours to complete with the train speed ranging up to 186 MPH.
The trip was had some excitement starting with our failure to validate our Eurail Pass and getting lectured by the guy checking tickets. We had 20 minutes between trains in Frankfurt to validate the Passes for the next segment and get the luggage on the train. David and Larry gathered the Passports and had the Passes validated and almost missed getting back on the train! But, their excellent physical shape and ability to run pervailed with seconds to spare. We have named our travel group “The Invalids” as a result of this experience.
The second segment was also exciting as Vicki, Kathy L and Larry got off the train at the first Basel stop, which was 6 minutes from the Basel stop that was our destination. The rest of The Invalids watched us as the train departed! The three Left Behind Invalids were able to catch the next train in 20 minutes and rejoined the group at the Central Train station in Basel.
The evening was spent with dinner at a Swiss Restauarant a short distance from the Hotel (we stayed at the Metropol Hotel). We have decided to take a train to Lucerne on Saturday as the women determined that the shops would likely be closed in Lucerne on Sunday (the guys lost out!).

The women on the trip decided for the group (the guys agreed) that we should go to Lucerne on Saturday as many stores were likely going to be closed on Sunday. After breakfast at the hotel, we got on an 11:04 train for the short 1:13 hour train trip to Lucerne. We had purchased a 5 day Eurail Select Pass that allowed us to go to Lucerne at no additional cost.
Upon arriving in Lucerne we took a cruise for 2.5 hours on Lake Lucerne, which had great views of the city and the Swiss Alps. The Eurail Pass allowed up to take the cruise for no additional cost.
After the cruise we walked around the Old Town area in Lucerne and the group did some shopping until the stores closed at approximately 4:30. We had dinner while in Lucerne and then caught a train back to Basel in the early evening.
The evening concluded with the group getting together for drinks and food at a hospitality room provided by the hotel. At midnight, after many stories and other great conversation as well at hamburgers from Burger King, we crashed and went to our rooms for the evening.

We all took a lot of photos while in Lucerne, so check the Photo site for them when I can update it: http://ljl-photos.llanie.com/2015-Europe-RiverCruise

As was mentioned in the last Blog Message, a Cruise was arranged by David and Ellen to see Amsterdam from the view of the many canals in the city. This was simply 2 hours of great views. I will try to upload the photos to SmugMug, but it may take some time as the internet access at the hotel is very slow. I will add a link to the SmugMug website to a future Blog when I have some photos too show. The following is the website for the photos: http://ljl-photos.llanie.com/2015-Europe-RiverCruise
Please check the photos website for updates, which will occur depending on Internet Connection availability and speed.

Our flight arrived at 11:30 into Amsterdam and was slightly early. Randy/Kathy & John/Kathy were waiting for us at a restaurant in front of the baggage claim. I got a Text from Ellen letting me know that she was on the way to the airport to meet us and surprise Vicki!

Vicki and I went with Ellen to their Apt and the rest of the travel gang went to their hotel, which is close to the train station and close to the Red Light District!!! They are filming a movie in Ellen’s neighborhood, so we also have some excitement.

Ellen and David have planned a cruise in Amsterdam for this afternoon and then plan to get to bed at a reasonable hour, considering that we had very little sleep on the plane.

Photo’s will follow in the next message!

Upon the receipt of their boarding passes from AMA Waterways yesterday by Randy & Kathy, everyone has their boarding passes for the trip!

Train reservations have been made between Amsterdam and Basel and the focus is now on the train reservations from Basel into other areas of the Swiss countryside

This is the first Blog about our up coming trip to Amsterdam and a River Cruise from Basel to Amsterdam in late July, 2015. Trip participants include the San Antonio Lanie’s, Randy & Kathy Lanie, John & Kathy Francis and David and Ellen Buck. The trip begins on July 22 with flights from San Antonio and Wichita to Amsterdam by the Lanie & Francis couples where the parties will join the Bucks, who are living in Amsterdam.

Once in Amsterdam, the plan is to take a train to Basel on the 24th where we will spend three nights before boarding an AMS Waterways River Boat for a 7 day cruise to Amsterdam. We have purchased a 2 month Eurail Select Pass that provides train access to Switzerland, Germany, France and the Benelux Countries. So, during the three days in Basel we will plan additional train trips into Switzerland. An additional 3 nights will be spent in Amsterdam after the River Cruise during which we will also look for additional train travel to other cities. Our return flight back to the U.S. is on the 3rd of August..