Back Home Again

A bit of a belated post, but we got back to Detroit last evening after a 22 hour travel day. Overall the trip went pretty well. The SAS flight was very good - I'd fly them again. Good service, personal movie screens and nice meals. We did have some tense moments at Dullas (Washington DC) since we had to pass thru Customs and change from SAS to United. We had 2 hours between flights and as we were taxing to the gate the flight attendant announced that there was a 1+ hour wait at Immigration. Fortunately the line moved rather quickly, we flew through Customs, and made it to the gate for our next flight just 15 minutes before they started boarding.

Our flight to Detroit left the gate ahead of schedule, but due to weather congestion over the east coast, we had to power down and sit on the taxiway for 35 minutes before taking off. But with that assist I nearly finished my 3rd book of the trip.

All in all we ended up getting home pretty late after a long day. We had a late pizza supper, left the suitcases for the morning and hit the sack. We both woke up early today so by 8:00 a.m. we had all suitcases unpacked and many other post-vacation tasks competed.

That wraps up this trip. Mary and I agree this was our best cruise since Alaska. In some respects it might have been a bit better, but your first cruise is always special. I hope you enjoyed traveling along with us!

Back to Copenhagen

Today they kicked us off the ship so we caught a cab to the Marriott in Copenhagen. Since we got there by 9:30 am, we had a lot of time before we could get a room so we headed out on a walk. The Amalienborg (Royal) Palace was about 45 minutes by foot so we headed there and got some good pictures. The official changing of the guard is at noon, but at 10:00 they had a small ceremonial changing which was cool to watch. Then official church of the Royals (called the Marble Church) was there as well.

After having lunch to break up the walk back to the hotel, we waited for our room which is very spacious, then headed out to Tivoli Gardens. It is a very neat place to walk around. Has some Disney-like features, but is much older. I was fascinated by a bubble fountain they had in the center court. Very neat! I took a short video of it since it's really hard to explain. We also found a Cold Stone Creamery in Tivoli so we just had to have a shake after our Trellenborg sandwiches. Thankfully the waiter told us that hakket oksekod was ground beef and kyllingbryst was chicken! Oh - a Trellenborg is a loaded bacon cheeseburger.

So tomorrow we pack up and fly back to Detroit. Been a nice trip, had great weather and a very good time.

Oslo

We had a beautiful day in Oslo, Norway today. Sunny, clear and very warm (for a change!). This is the first day of the cruise that we wore shorts as the temperature got into the upper 70's.

We had a planned excursion that visited the Vingate sculpture park and the Olso open air museum which is a Norwegian version of Greenfield Village. The excursion would have been a whole lot better if we did not have a tour guide who insisted on giving waaaaaay too much detail at each stop. We finally abandoned him in the open air museum and walked around ourselves.

As you can tell the Vigeland Sculpture Gardens is a bit riskee. When opened in the 1930's is created quite a scene. The Picassa page has a few pictures that are best not posted on the main blog entry.

The highlight of the Open Air Museum for us was the Stave Church. A very impressive building. A picture of the altar area is in the slideshow.

After we got back to the ship, and Mary did some serious shopping on the dock, we had lunch and departed Oslo. The trip down the fjord was nice, but not as pretty as the Stockholm passage. Not quite sure why, but maybe because it is more open and rocky with not as green. Now we are on our way back to Copenhagen. We have a nice day planned for tomorrow. We will visit Tovoli Gardens, but we just might sneak a visit to the Carlsbad Brewery first, depending on how the morning goes.

It's been a great cruise and a super vacation but now it's time to start thinking about heading home.

Quiet Day at Sea

Not much going on today, just a quiet day spent reading and relaxing. We got up and did a 30 minute walk around the Promenade deck before heading up for breakfast. Later we saw Germany as we passed by and are now in Danish waters, headed for Oslo, Norway. Once we leave Oslo tomorrow at 2:00, we'll spend 4 hours navigating the Oslo Fjord which should be very pretty.

We got our evaluation forms and other papers today which means the cruise is nearing an end, always a time when you realize that it's about time to head back to reality. This has been a very good cruise on a new ship, yet remarkably familiar since we were on its sister ship, the Ruby Princess, just 4 months ago.

That's it for now - on to Oslo!

Visiting Poland

We landed in Gdynia Poland at 9:00 this morning. Due to tight facilities, they had to stop the ship, then rotate it 180 degrees, before snugging it up to the dock. Pretty cool to see that happen with a ship of this size. Our excursion did not leave until 12:20 so we had an open morning. We found that the Skywalker Lounge on deck 18 over the stern is open for quiet reading during the day so we headed up there while the laundry was in the washer. It was cool being up there and we intend to go back tomorrow while we are at sea.

This afternoon we boarded our bus for the trip to Gdansk. The bus ride was a non-event and Gdansk was OK, but nothing spectacular. The town was destroyed in WWII. Afterwards the town decided to rebuild itself to look as it did in the 16th century. They saved key parts of old houses and included them when the rebuild that house. Overall they did a pretty good job. Maybe it was the grey skies, but it was not as nice as Tannin. The main building we visited was St Mary's church. (I put some extra photos of the church on my Picassa slide show and picture page.) This is a very impressive church with 90' high ceiling and a huge crucifix overhead. The story goes that the artist got such a realistic expression on the face by nailing his son-in-law to a cross as a model.

So we had a nice day. After 6 straight days of visiting ports we are looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow.

Tallin, Estonia

We were very surprised to share a pier with the active British warship HMS Illustrious! When we exited the ship we walked right past the gangways for the warship.
We had only a half day in Tannin since we sail for Gdansk at 1:00, but we enjoyed every minute of it. This is a very lovely town. Quaint, colorful, and very old, with many buildings dating back to the 14th century. Everywhere we walked we came across another picturesque scene. I did not think I took too many pictures, but I ended up with 35 today! We had a bright blue sky and a gorgeous day.
The weather was a bit cool. Which is fitting for a place known for its woolen goods. Mary and I both purchased sweaters along with a few other items. I liked mine so much I wore it to lunch and then to see Slum Dog Millionaire in the Princess Theater. This has been a great voyage for seeing movies. First was Mamma Mia under the stars, then Doubt, Australia, Swing Vote and Last Chance Harvey in our room, and now Slum Dog Millionaire in the theater.
Guess that's it for now. We're having a great cruise, and might even do this one again sometime, if the price is right...

Day 2 in St Petersburg

This was our Castle Day - Catherine's Palace and Peterhof.
The day started out well, very clear and sunny. The weather held all through our visit to Catherine' palace. This was a very impressive palace with many very well reconstructed rooms. The palace was destroyed in WWII when it was bombed and blew up - only the walls remained. But over the past 65 years, they have reconstructed about half of the rooms. The cost and workmanship is amazing.
During the drive to Peterhof, the clouds came in and it started raining. We also hit some major traffic jams that put us even further behind schedule. The rain started and stopped a few times as we approached. We had a few minutes to walk the Upper Gardens while our guide waited in line.
Once we got inside I heard that it would take 40 minutes to tour the palace and not leave much time for the fountains so I opted out of the palace tour and spent the time walking the grounds. Mary stayed inside and reported the palace was much better that Catherine's. You got to see the throne room and many other rooms, but no pictures were permitted. While they were inside it stopped raining for a while so I got some good pictures of the Grand Cascade and other fountains.
Remember how I commented on some busses getting back late? Well, all passengers were due back by 5:30 so the ship could leave at 6:00 p.m. We supposed to be back at 5:00 p.m. but at 5:30 we were stuck in traffic and did not get back to the ship until 6:10! Sure glad we were on a Princess sponsored excursion so the ship waited on us! As we got back on the ship they were starting to dismantle the gangplank and close down the customs office. Now that is cutting things a bit too close!