May 30, 2014 - At Sea

What a lazy day! We slept in – until 10:30! By the time we were showered and ready for breakfast, it was almost time for lunch. We had a light breakfast and walked around the ship. The sun was mostly out, so we found a somewhat warm spot blocked from the wind and took a nap on a lounge chair!

About 1 pm we decided we should have lunch, so we headed to the dining room. We were both disappointed with the food. Tobey had the fish and chips and I had chicken nachos. Both were bland and cold. We don’t usually complain much on a cruise, but we did fill out a comment card. If you don’t let them know, they can’t improve.

We walked around a while longer and watched a fellow in the casino kicking butt at the Roulette table!! He won over $1000 while we were standing there. We don’t know how much he started with, but it was fun to watch. I’m afraid I am much more conservative when it comes to Roulette – I have about a $50 limit to my entertainment budget!

Tonight was “dress-up” night, so after naps, we got dolled up and headed off to the Market Cafe. We had a shrimp and lobster pasta for appetizers then went to the Band on the Run show. It was a fun musical review from the 70s and 80s – and wouldn’t have been complete had they missed doing the Village Peoples’ YMCA song!
We went to dinner after the show and shared a table with four women – two from Glasgow, Scotland, and two from Toronto, Canada. It was a fun meal and the food was very good. By the time we finally finished dinner about 10:30 pm, all of the formal photo taking was over, so you will have to take our word for it, but we looked good!

Our cabin steward has left us with fun bedtime visitors the last couple of nights – an elephant and tonight a gorilla!

Tomorrow we will dock in Tallinn, Estonia and have another tour planned. The weather is supposed to be warmer so stay tuned!

May 29, 2014 - Warnemunde / Rostock, Germany

Happy Herren Day! (more about this later!)

Day 2 of our 9-day Baltic cruise started early – mainly because I misread the cruise guide of moving our clocks forward an hour. We were supposed to do it at the end of Day 2 … not Day 1! OH well… we got up at 5:30 instead of 6:30!

We booked our shore excursions with a private company, Saint Petersburg Tours, instead of taking the cruise ship excursions. Our tour met at 8:45 this morning and we only had 8 people plus the guide – nice. The weather was overcast and windy, about 50 degrees F when we started our walking tour of Warnemunde, Germany. The town was founded around 1290 and bought by the town of Rostock in 1320 because it was had a good shipping port and was quite a profitable commerce center.
We walked along the fish market area where the merchants were selling fresh fish – raw, smoked, or cooked. The smells were yummy!

We passed by the Monk house, where the painter lived in the late 1800s. It is now an art museum/school.


The light house was built in 1898. After our walk through town we took a train to Rostock for the next part of the tour.

Rostock was founded in1218. The town was beautiful!


The Town Hall building was quite interesting – the back of the building still has the original façade, but the front was covered over with a baroque style to make it look more modern! The front is painted pink and has archways.

The painting is underneath the archway and covered to help preserve the paint.

We went to St. Mary’s Lutheran Church which was built in 1230AD with an addition to the original building in 1440. The baroque pipe organ has 5702 pipes with 83 registers. While the inside of the building is not nearly as ornate as some churches we have visited, it was still impressive.
We especially liked the astronomical clock located inside the church which was added in 1472. The clock has an apostle walk twice a day and we were lucky enough to be there. At 12:00, the door on the left of Jesus opens and Judas goes through, then the door on the right of Jesus opens and statues of the apostles come out, pass before Jesus for a blessing and continue on through the door on the left of Jesus (Heaven). Once all of the apostles have passed into Heaven, the door shuts, once again leaving Judas outside. It was kind of amusing and considering gear driven clock has been operating since 1472, a good graphic reminder to the citizens who might not have been able to read, to live a good life or you won’t get to Heaven!
The lower part of the clock was also very impressive. It had a huge disc with over 2000 different bits of data representing everything from sunrise and sunset times, dates, Easter dates, etc. The disc has been replaced every 130 years starting in 1492.

Our tour also took us past Rostock University which was founded in 1419 and buildings were completed in 1867, as well as the Convent of the Holy Cross.

Behind the convent is part of the 13th century city wall. The wall originally had 22 gates, now there are 4 left.


We stopped at a small pub for lunch. Their specialty was smoked herring on black bread. Tobey wanted me to have that and he was going to have the bratwurst. Being a good sport, I agreed … at least until I had the first bite. I don’t like sushi and the texture of the herring was too much like sushi for me so we switched.

After lunch we walked to the pier for our river cruise back to Warnemunde where we spotted several sailboats in the water – a regatta for the Herren Day holiday! By the time we got back, the sun was shining and we decided to take another walk through Warnemunde to see the beach area and town.

These Germans are hardy folks! Tobey and were wearing 2 jackets (YES!) and the wind was still chilly, but there were lots of people on the beach. Several had on jeans and jackets, but there were many wearing shorts and no tee-shirts!

So I told you that today is Herren Day. This is a holiday in Germany – Herren (Father’s Day). Almost all of the shops are closed today and only restaurants and bars are open. Unlike the US where we associate family time with Father’s Day, here the men all get together and drink. They don’t have to be fathers – it’s more of a Guys Day Out! We saw lots of groups with matching tee-shirts pulling their carts of beer.

One group included a guy that was dressed in a pink tutu. He was selling trinkets to earn money for his bachelor party while the other guys were helping him. I didn’t have any Euros, so we didn’t buy anything, but he did pose for a picture with us!

We also met a group of about 12 women who were celebrating the day. Their husbands and boyfriends were off doing their thing, so they left the kids with the grandmas, and they were off drinking! We took their pictures, they shared shots with us, and we had fun visiting with them.

Back on the ship, we had dinner with a couple from Arkansas, Bob and Debi. When we went to the dining room they asked if we minded sharing a table and Tobey that it would be fine, as long as they were fun – and they were! We laughed and talked and enjoyed the dinner, then went to see the German folkloric show together. We hope we run into them again!

Tobey and I grabbed crepes for dessert after the show before calling it a night. Tomorrow we get to sleep in – we have a day at sea.

May 28, 2014 - Copenhagen to NCL Norwegian Star

What a crazy day! We got up about 7 so we could take an excursion to Drager. It is a little village about 30 minutes from Copenhagen that is supposed to have lots of old (1700s) houses and lovely views of the sea. When we left the hotel it was totally overcast and the wind was blustering, so we wore heavier jackets and took the umbrella and walked over to the Central Station. We took the bus to Tranby, then caught the 350S bus to Drager. We were freezing! We walked about 10 blocks through part of the town and did a quick look at the port, then headed back to the bus stop without really seeing “the village” area. If the weather is nice after our cruise, we may give it another try! We did see a bicycle parade – students celebrating their last day of school. We wondered if the “Tour de Fat” in the USA got its start here in Copenhagen.

On the bus back to Copenhagen we spotted a hardy soul windsurfing in the sea. It was so cold on land, I can’t begin to imagine how cold the water was!
Back in Copenhagen we grabbed some pastries and milk, headed back to our hotel, had breakfast, then headed back out to purchase a new mouse for the tablet. The Fotex market carried a Logitech, just like mine at home, so we got it. $149 DKK (about $27 USD). We wanted to pay with a credit card, but we have discovered that many merchants here in Denmark require you to have a PIN number with your credit card, which we don’t have! SO…. off to find an ATM to get more cash then back to the store!

After retrieving our luggage from the hotel we caught the city bus to the cruise terminal to board the Norwegian Star for a 9-day Baltic cruise.
The weather was FINALLY starting to clear!
We located our cabin and had a late lunch before exploring the ship. Around 5:00 we headed back to the cabin to sit on the balcony – in the sun - and rest before heading to the theater for the nightly show.
Tonight was a “preview” show of some of the different entertainment we would see during the rest of the cruise. We had dinner in the Aqua Dining Room. Tobey had the French onion soup, prime rib and chocolate volcano dessert; I had the cream of asparagus soup, grilled shrimp, and the a pistachio crème dessert. We sat next to a retired couple from Scotland. It was fun chatting with them.The sun didn’t set until almost 10pm!
We are off to bed. Tomorrow we dock in Warnemunde/ Rostock, Germany and have a 5.5 hour walking tour scheduled. They charge more than $2.00 PER MINUTE on the ship, so we will see what internet service is available ashore. Posts could be limited on this cruise.

May 27, 2014 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Hilsan fra Copenhagen, Denmark!

Tobey and I arrived in Copenhagen this afternoon after a LONG pair of flights from Denver and Chicago. We left Denver at 2:30 in the afternoon on the 26th then had a 4 hour layover before our 10 pm flight to Denmark. We finally arrived in Copenhagen about 2 pm.

The airport in Copenhagen is actually easier to navigate than Chicago which was encouraging. After clearing customs we stopped at the information booth to gather a city map, an ATM to get some cash, then the metro/train ticket booth to pick up 24 hour public transportation passes.

We boarded the train to the central station and were whisked off to the city – about a 20 minute journey. Our hotel is located a couple blocks from the station but we could not check in until 4pm. It doesn’t have a reception – we booked it online and they sent us a code to get into the building and our room. We located the tourist office and gathered more information of things to do before leaving our bags in the hotel.

This afternoon we walked around the city center – past the Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park), the Town Hall, the Royal Theater, Rosenborg Castle and the King’s Garden, and back past the university, the Round Tower, and Copenhagen Cathedral. Most things were closed because it was late in the day, but we got an overview of the city center. The weather is quite pleasant, mid-60s, sunny, but breezy.

Bicycling is HUGE in Copenhagen. There are dedicated bike lanes and they are busy! All of the streets are equipped with bike racks.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a sandwich shop for dinner. Tobey had the “Durum” and I had a “pita” specials. Prices are high here – Tobey’s durum and Coke was $9.15 and mine was $6.50.

We are back at the hotel and I discovered I left the USB for my mouse back in Colorado in my laptop so tomorrow we will look for a new mouse for the tablet. We home to get a little more sight-seeing before we take the bus to the cruise ship harbor.

More later – jet lag – or lack of sleep is setting in.