WE ARE HOME SAFE. PLANE ARRIVED ON TIME, BAGGAGE NOT LOST, HOME BY 3:00. [View Full Entry]

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This is our last message from the trip until we get home. We are at the Avenue hotel in Copanhagen. Toured parts of the city today, inculding the botanical gardens, gardens of the King, and major shoping streets and department stores. Absolutely wonderful city...one to move to if needed. When we returned to the beautifuly restored hotel, we attended a special dinner given by the owner for guests of the hotel and her best friends just to celebrate something, and to promote her hotel to Dutch TV. It was a "Barbecue". Oh my God. The food was the best we had [View Full Entry]

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Princess had all the baggage collected last night and we were given detailed directions of when and where to appeat this A.M. to claim it. I was impressed with how neatly the baggage was placed in labeled rows; all suitcases were facing in the same direction. Ironically, as we chill in our hotel after six hours of walking, David found that the telescoping handle of his case was damaged. Anyway, we got a cab after a bit of a wait in a orderly line and checked baggage. Anyway, we are in good shape and this hotel room and bathroom are HUGE [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday - Oslo, Norway The sea last night was somewhat choppy but still we slept well until 5:15 having breakfast at 6:00 and leaving at 7:00. Our Norwegian guide was named Inger and she was an older woman with a dry sense of humor. Let me try to recall what I've learned. Oslo is Scandinavia's oldest capital and one of the largest capital cities in the world in terms of area. Norway has been ruled by the Danes, Swedes (until 1909) and was conquered by the Nazi and occupied for four years. There was an active resistance to the Nazis but [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday -- At Sea No ports today and passengers were feverishly shopping the gift shops. They had an "outlet" sale in one of the dining rooms where they were selling leftover Caribbean cruise t-shirts. I went to the health club and worked out for an hour. Remember the weight loss products I described them selling earlier? Well, today they were selling detox products and, even though I had on my earbuds and ipod, I heard discussion of bowel movements and how their product would improve elimination. The sun came out and we found a protected deck at the aft of the [View Full Entry]

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Cruise Ship Life Well, we have never been on a cruise and, in some sense, this cruise is not a typical one as it is a bit too cold to stay on the deck for very long. There are three pools but we have only been in the hot tub once. I tried to sit on the deck yesterday wearing a bathing suit, tea shirt, pants, jacket and covering myself with a big towel and I didn't last 15 minutes. We have had tours/trips on every day except the first full day and will be at sea all day Tuesday. The [View Full Entry]

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Monday -- Gdansk / Gdynia Poland Polish pronouncation lesson: "Gee-dangsk" and "Gee Deen-i-a." The cruise ships dock in Gdynia. We drove through Sopot which is where Lech Welesa lives in a nice-looking largish home down the street from ones much more modest. Lech was afraid that the Russians wouldn't allow him back into Poland if he went to Oslo to get his Nobel prize so he sent his wife and a few of his 8 children. Sopot is a pricey, touristy town with beaches, restaurants and 4 1/2 star hotels. Our guide Ewa gave us much historical and social commentary on [View Full Entry]

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Sunday -- Tallinn, Estonia Bonnie's Tour: We docked in Estonia at 6 AM and tours began at 7:30. Bonnie opted to take a bike tour of "Rocca al Mare" (open air rural museum) on the Kukamae Peninsula where there are also lavish (for Estonians) homes on the Kopli Bay. Our mountain bikes served us well and we biked for about 90 minutes through the neighborhoods then biked back to the open air museum where we toured various restored 19th century farm buildings with thatched roofs. The Estonians here were very poor and three generations lived in one farm building with one [View Full Entry]

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St. Petersburg, Russia It's hard to remember what day it is. We sailed out of Helsinki on Thursday night and "lost" another hour as we went into GMT +4. (Copenhagen is GMT +6.) I forgot to mention the strange Finnish language which is related only to Turkish and is spoken by only 3 million people. Consequently, the Finns learn many languages in school and are tested on written and spoken proficiency. They are used to extreme weather and long periods of darkness, especially in the north. Our guide, Tuula (both U's are pronounced!) said the Finns say "There is no bad [View Full Entry]

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Hello, friends & family in the U.S. Satellite internet service really slowly sucks so we skipped posting. Speaking of yesterday, it was spent in Stockholm, Sweden which is a beautiful old city with a rather violent and gruesome past. We toured the royal palace (well, the outside because the inside wasn't open, the royal armory and the Vasa which is a 16th century ship was sank immediately int he harbor because King Augustus insisted on adding a second deck. The ship was carefully raised in 1970 and it is now a musuem. We had an awesome cruise out of the Stockholm [View Full Entry]

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