Norway Baltic Trip

  Day 24 – Copenhagen We arrived in Copenhagen amid glowering skies and rain, which varied from drizzle to downpour and continued throughout the day.   This was only our second day of serious rain – the first was Geranger, Norway.   Due to completely inadequate information and no assistance from HAL, finding our way into the city was stressful, but we made it after a walk in heavy rain, followed by a bus ride, and then the metro.   Once we understood the process it was not unreasonable.   We met our former neighbor, Anita, who is Danish and now lives in the city.   She is a local tour guide and gracious enough to provide us with a tour tailored to our limited time.   Why the ship had to leave port so early is mystery. We basically covered much of the old town and major buildings.   This included viewing the badly damaged stock exchange (fire, possibly arson), the Cristiansborg Palace, St. Nikolai church, the Frau Kirk, Copenhagen Cathedral, Am...

  Day 23 – Kiel, Germany Christiane again met us at the port.   This time we set off for Lubeck, a UNESCO world heritage town with many worthwhile sights.   It was about a 75 minute drive through the northern Germany countryside.   Christiane was a wonderful guide, allowing us to experience both the sights and ambience of the city.   It is a well preserved city despite the extensive damage inflicted by British bombing during WWII.   After the German’s bombed Coventry in England, the British retaliated by bombing Lubeck.   Neither city had industry or other war related targets – both bombings were inexcusable atrocities.   Much of the city is historic cobbled streets with Hanseatic style buildings, tiny alleys with small gardens, and public squares with grand facades in the gothic style.   We took an elevator to the top of the central church, with expansive views of the city.   It is famous for seven church towers visible from many part...

Day 22 – Ronne, Denmark This is a small town which is on an island off the Danish coast and is quaint but not particularly interesting.   The town offered free buses from the port, a nice change from having to scrounge for transport.   We walked around and tried to imagine how this town would be in summer when it is packed with Danes and Germans enjoying the beaches.   Given the cold and overcast skies, swimming was far from our intentions!   We headed back to the ship early and enjoyed the opportunity to rest.

  Day 21 – In Stockholm, Departure for Ronne, Denmark This day dawned clear and bright with views of the city from our ship burnished by the rising sun.   Our sense of Stockholm improved greatly as we rode the HOHO bus to the old town (Gamla Stan) and walked around most of the area.   Joe and Toni rode the bus all the way around the city and found that interesting, despite fogged up bus windows (it was cold!).   We had hoped to experience the Nobel Prize museum, but it was closed.   The Parliament buildings and Royal Palace were also closed, but walking around them was inspirational.   Just wandering the cobbled streets and narrow alleys was actually more interesting, and we headed back to the ship feeling like we better understood Stockholm as a diverse city. Our ship required 3+ hours to traverse the large expanse of waterways and islands leading to the Baltic Sea.   It was another gorgeous afternoon, and we spent much of the time on an upper deck ...

  Day 20 – Stockholm Well, it was bound to happen on this long a trip with this many ports.   Our day in Stockholm was abbreviated because the ship did not arrive until 11 am.   The ship will spend the night, but tomorrow it leaves at 11:30 am, leaving little time for further exploration.   This in the city with a large population and much to offer in terms of major sights and activities.   Due to the compressed time, we decided to use the ‘hop on-hop off” bus, which included use of a boat system as well.   BIG MISTAKE!   The cruise line combined with the bus company screwed things up royally, causing us to wait for long periods to get the bus and then miss the boat ride as well.   To add insult to injury HAL added a 30% charge to our tickets even though we bought them at the bus. We were able to ride the bus around the city and to experience two very compelling offerings: the Vasa museum and the Skansen.   We went to the Skansen, which i...

  Day 19 – Helsinki Our impressions of Helsinki are colored by our difficulties in getting proper tram passes and then navigating the city.   Perhaps if we had more time to appreciate its character we would be more enthusiastic.   It is a large, mostly modern city with good public transit – but it is also growing rapidly with lots of construction and obstructions.   After considerable flailing we got transit passes and went to the “Rock Church”, perhaps Helsinki’s most notable feature.   While this church, built by blasting out solid granite, is unique we found it uninspiring.   We considered walking to the Sibelius monument, but decided it was too far since it had no transit connections.   We walked around the central core of the city near the port and particularly enjoyed the Uspenski cathedral – a massive brick structure that looks more Protestant than Russian Orthodox on the outside, but is clearly Russian Orthodox on the inside.   Perhaps t...

  Day 18 – Tallinn Tallinn was a very pleasant surprise!   We had little basis for anticipating our experience there, and so found the fortified old town fascinating.   The day started with a rather long walk from the cruise terminal to the old town.   Fortunately, it was a sunny if cold morning and we were soon immersed in new sights.   Tallinn has an extensive in-tact city wall, complete with many turrets, towers, and gates and the old city within the walls has narrow, winding, and steeply sloped streets.   The Rick Steves book on Scandinavia continues to be our “bible”; in this city we followed his detailed walk instructions to get a thorough experience of the town.   From Fat Margaret Tower through Olav’s Gate and up Pikk Street we climbed incessantly while negotiating very uneven cobblestone streets.   The views of the city and port from the ramparts were stunning, much enhanced by the beautiful blue sky and scattered clouds. Every street...

  Day 17 – At Sea: Warnemunde to Tallinn A much-needed day of rest, including some time in the pool and jacuzzi baths.   Ben watched Mama Mia on the big screen in the pool area.   We all napped in the afternoon.   Nobody went to the gym.   Too tired!   However, we do miss the many enrichment activities that HAL has provided in the past.   They are skimping in ways that are not to our liking and this will affect our future choices of cruise line.   No cooking classes, no computer classes, no lectures, minimal time spent talking about the ports.   Their selection of music is disappointing: no classical music, very little jazz; although one of the rock bands is quite good.   The theater shows are uninspired and repetitive.   In general, the ship – the newest and the flagship – is less than it should be.   The décor is sparse, incoherent, and not very interesting.   The central atrium is much smaller than on similar ships ...

  Day 16 – Warnemunde Our long time friend Christiane (who was our Au Pair many years ago and lives near Hamburg) met us at the cruise terminal and provided us with a wonderful guided tour of Wismar, Rostock, and Warnemunde.   While Warnemunde is primarily a modern beach resort town, Rostock is a large port and Wismar is a very old town with a long history as a port and trading center – these offered very different views of northern Germany coastal cities.   Wismar bears a striking resemblance to Amsterdam, with its Hanseatic league trading houses, canals, and massive old churches.   Dutch architecture abounds.   While Amsterdam was saved from WWII bombing Wismar and Rostock were not.   A poignant reminder is the original main church in the old town.   The nave and chancel areas were destroyed while the high tower and narthex areas were not destroyed.   The outlines of the building are preserved as monuments to the many people that died in the...

  Day 15 – Aarhus We knew nothing about Aarhus, Denmark before studying guides and had minimal expectations.   It was a partly cloudy but cool day, requiring layers to stay comfortable.   The port was closed to pedestrians so we had to wait for shuttle buses to take us to town.   Once in town, we realized that the tram system did not accept credit cards and we had no local money.   With no way to buy tram tickets, even at the transit station, we were helped by a local man to call a taxi.   A short ride later we were at Den Gamle By – an open air museum containing an astonishingly wide spread of buildings from all over Denmark and representing the culture from the 1600s to the early 20th century.   It was amazing – a wonderful window into Danish culture, architecture, and experience, with lots of “nooks and crannies” to explore and ancient staircases to climb.   There were even buildings full of children’s toys and trains and steam engines and “n...

Day 14 – Oslo, Norway We arrived in Oslo before sunrise.   It was cold and overcast and we had a short amount of time to explore the city.   Our ship docked immediately across from the iconic Oslo library and it was a short walk to the main station, where we were able to board a tram to the most famous sculpture garden in Norway – by Vigeland.   The extensive grounds and hundreds of sculptures, including the central obelisk made of human figures, were impressive.   However, the impassive faces and smooth, unadorned or unaccented granite figures were almost unbearably severe.   There were notable exceptions, including the “angry boy” and the woman carrying two children on her back, that expressed emotions and human-ness.   Perhaps the limited/repressed emotions of many sculptures represent a certain reserved nature of the Norwegian people? Another tram ride took us back to the central area where we toured the city hall.   This has an unexpected and ...

  Day 13 – at sea bound for Oslo We observed a significant change in the “vibe” on board with the change in passengers.   As a wild guess, the passenger consist might now be 50% north American, 25% non-Dutch (European, south American, Australian, etc) and 25% Dutch.   During the previous week, wild guess is that at least 50% of the passengers were Dutch.   We learned that the cruise line offers very good deals to local people who are available last minute to join a cruise.   There were also several groups of Dutch people aboard: associations, corporate, etc.   The dominant language was now English while before we most frequently heard Dutch being spoken.   The prevalence of people who are overweight (or even obese) is markedly higher, as is the presence of folks with disabilities.   Casual conversations (hello, how is your day, what are you planning, etc.) are more likely.   There is a general feeling of more casualness and less focus. ...

  Day 11 -Bergen to Rotterdam We spent this day on the open sea, with substantial wind on the stern quarter and rolling motion which could not be completely dampened by the stabilizers.  Broken clouds darkened the sky but provided spectacular rays of sunlight illuminating the wind-swept ocean. This being the last night of the cruise, the crew trooped around the lido pool and the main dining room to the grateful applause of the guests.  While this long standing tradition is a bit hokey, it is a suitable display of gratitude for the hard working crew.  We looked forward to a relaxed next day and an opportunity to explore more of Rotterdam.

  Day 12 – In Rotterdam, departure for Oslo This was our first experience of staying on board our cruise ship while most passengers departed and others came on board.  The “busy-ness” of the morning was entertaining in its own way, as we could be interested but uninvolved observers.  Unfortunately, Joe and Toni had to change staterooms and were thus involved in moving belongings from one location to another.  We learned that ~ 400 people were continuing on while 2300 departed.  We looked forward to getting to know some of the new guests and observing the changes in the subtleties and “gestalt” of the new group of people. Once Joe and Toni completed their transfer, we spent some time in the cruise terminal using the internet.  The lack of reasonably fast and inexpensive internet has been a continuing frustration, and the Rotterdam terminal was particularly useful.  We then planned to explore the city t...

  Day 10 -Bergen As we docked in Bergen the weather turned beautiful and burnished the city with early light.   It is a drop dead gorgeous setting and the city sweeps across multiple valleys all leading to the harbor.     We had a very full day in Bergen, the 2 nd largest city in Norway.   Ben had been there previously in 1971 and did not recognize the place.   We walked around much of the downtown area, focusing on the harbor, fish market, Bryggen Wharf, the fort, and finally the funicular.   It is a modern, bustling city with lots of young people and lovely parks surrounding the harbor core.   The Bryggen Wharf restored buildings, which were the center of Hanseatic League activities for 300+ years, were fascinating.   The major experience was, of course, the funicular ride up to the top of a mountain.   The views across the city and harbor and the mountains beyond we...

  Day 9 -Geiranger We have had really great weather up until this day.   The Norwegians repeat (frequently!) that there is no bad weather in Norway – just bad clothing.   It was raining when we woke up and continued raining through the day and into the evening.   We have GOOD clothing, so we braved the mostly drizzle and explored the very small town.   We then climbed the 327 steps to the Norway Fiord center, which contained excellent exhibits about geology, glaciers, and the early history of this area.    Though somewhat soggy, we spent extensive time there.   By the time we got back to the ship it was raining hard and we had to wait in a very wet line to reboard the ship.   It took 2 Days to dry everything out!