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RIVER BOAT CRUISING IN HOLLAND and BELGIUM by Janet Y. Rinehart

My husband and I experienced a wonderful vacation in August 2002 with a
Vantage tour in Europe.
We opted for the pre-cruise extension to Paris and three extra days in
Brussels. Having been on large ships for cruises before, we didn't
exactly know about what to expect on a smaller "ship."
I laminated several copies of the French language Restaurant Card from
Jax Peters Lowell's "Against the Grain" resource. An acquaintance in
Holland translated a similar one into Dutch. Our Program Manager used
the restaurant cards to demonstrate specifics of my GF diet to personnel
in restaurants. She was very caring and facilitated very well for me.
The same group (ours was the "blue group") who went to Paris was kept
together for other tours off the ship. I found another celiac on board!
I gave her a set of restaurant cards and we had a good time laughing
about our diet. The chefs and wait staff soon learned who we were and
were attentive to our needs. We discovered that most of the soups were
safe because they used cornstarch to thicken them for everyone.
Because of the open seating policy at dinner (unlike most large ships),
we discovered we liked this opportunity to meet new people!
The regular cabins had fold-up bunks, but the availability of storage
was adequate. There were more spacious cabins on the highest floor. We
really didn't spend much time in the cabin anyway.
We fell in love with Paris and left quite a few things to do when we,
hopefully, return on our own. The ship went through locks on canals and
rivers, which process was interesting to watch. Tours had been arranged
to hit the highlights of the cities and villages we visited. We enjoyed
visiting Delft; the Delta Works (huge dam project); Bruges, a charming
Belgium city of art and historical architecture; Antwerp;
Kinderdijk, an area with 19 old active, picturesque windmills; Volendam;
and Amsterdam. We visited many beautiful cathedrals and very interesting
museums. We were fortunate to hit the Amsterdam area during the Floriade
when special acres of displays of floral gardens are presented every ten
years.
The weather was great most of the time, with a light jacket needed
occasionally. Although the rest of eastern/southern Europe experienced
floods, our area was fine, thank goodness. We were happy to eliminate
the high heat of Houston for a few weeks elsewhere. Such a relaxing and
interesting vacation! We would definitely consider another Vantage tour
- but only after doing the Orient tour with Bob & Ruth's Gluten-Free
Dining and Travel Club next summer. Bob and Ruth, the Vantage tours
would be definite possibility for a group celiac tour in the future!

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