Roxie went on a tour of “Old Town (cobblestone streets and lots of hills),” while Roger rested and Judy & I took a shuttle to “Old Town” and walked around on our own. As we got off the bus and walked to the street we needed to turn on I fell over a semi-circle rock. My left knee is bruised up pretty good, but other than that I’m fine. We were approached by a young lady offering samples of candied/flavored/smoked nuts and asked if we wanted to try one. It was still early in the morning so we both said, “no thank you.” The young lady looked at us and said, “Why not?” We were both so shocked at her question, we simply walked on. We continued on to “Sweater Wall” where some homemade, and some ... read more

St Petersburg is a relatively young city, by both Russian and European standards, and was only founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. Despite its short life so far, Petersburg has a rich and exciting history. From the early days of Peter the Greats "Venice of the North" to the modern events of the 1991 coup detat, the city has always bustled with life and intrigue, revolution and mystery. Up bright and early. Started out cloudy and rainy, but by noon the sun was out and we had a beautiful day. It’s so hard to believe I am really in Russia - never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider this as possible. Drove around the city first and then spent an hour on the Niva River looking at the grand old homes and ... read more

Took a boat to the Royal Palace to see the changing of the guard, but we had a wonderful surprise and an experience of a lifetime. We saw a simple changing of the guard - not the usual pomp & circumstance show and watched as King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, their children Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine walked to the opening day of parliament. What a lovely family. Secret service everywhere with those little earbuds, walkie talkies and guns were around them - just like here with our President and his family. We met a lovely woman from Sweden who had taken her son to see the guard ceremony and she was pleasantly surprised to learn the King & Queen would be coming out. She has only seen them 3 ... read more

Got up, packed, ate breakfast and took a taxi to the ship. We wanted the driver to take us by the "Little Mermaid" so I could get pictures from the front as the canal pictures show her backside. However, he didn understand us and must have thought when we said Mermaid that the ship was named Mermaid as we went straight to the port. We were on board by 12-12:30 p.m. Grab a bite to eat at the buffet and then Judy & I toured the spa and entered contests. I won a free foot/ankle massage and a lady who didn want it gave me her coupon for 50% off a hot-stone massage. Judy won a free couples mud rasul, where you exfoliate your body in salt and essential oils, lather yourself in cleansing mud and ... read more

Set out on a 30-day adventure: 3 days in Copenhagen, 10-day Baltic Sea cruise and 18-day Transatlantic cruise. Ports of call will be Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; Gdynia, Poland; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Edinburgh, Scotland; Dublin and Belfast, Ireland; Reykjavik, Iceland; Qaqortoq, Greenland; St. Johns, Newfoundland; and Ft. Lauderdale, FL - USA. I flew from Tampa to Washington Dulles and met up with Judy, Rodger and Roxie from Denver. We arrived in Copenhagen on 09/11 around 7:30 a.m. Went through customs, got our bags and checked in at the hotel. Judy and I went walking to scope out the city, while the other two rested. We walked past Tivoli Gardens and realized it was only about 10:30 a.m. - we of course thought it was mid-afternoon. We continued on to City ... read more