Day 1 London

Hi again! Here we go again on our next journey. This time you will virtually travel with me to London, Dover, Berlin, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki; Tallin, St Petersburg, Copenhagen and back to London via NCL Cruise Ship.
We departed Orlando the evening of 9/11 arriving in London at 8:00 am via Virgin Atlantic. The plane wasn't that full so we grabbed a row, laid down, and went to sleep after a surprisingly good dinner. You know airplane food. The next thing we knew they turned the lights on for breakfast. We arrived in Gatwick airport then took the bus to Heathrow to grab a taxi to out hotel. The hotel is the St. Giles Feltham. Not bad. Like a Holiday Inn. We walked around the town, shopped for some water and fruit. Figured out where the train was. Then we all fell asleep about 8:00pm. Tomorrow we try the trains and tube.

Day 2 London

Up at 6:00 am for early morn bfast. Out to the train station to head out to Windsor Castle. Beautiful,large castle that is still in use today. Amazing miniature doll house, china, amory, swords, paintings, and more. We then walked around the stores, had a light lunch then braved the train again. This tilme we took the train from Windsor to Waterloo (London). When we got there we went over to the London Eye. I jumped in and rode the pod around to see the sights. Very interesting, but hot. They only have 1 small protable ac unit in each pod. Mom & Dad didn't go. They walked around and had an ice cream. Once I returned we headed back to Waterloo station. We found the Underground and proceded to London Bridge. Our goal this time is to visit the London Tower. Once we exited the tube we walked about 20 min and we finally got.there. A 5 min walk for a Londoner is about 20-30 min for us. It was really nice to walk over and under it. The last time we were here we only saw it from the boat. Well Mom & Dad are exhausted so we'll head back to get ready for tomorrow. Looks like it's Madoalds for dinner. It's expensive here. Well it's nighttime. I'll be back tomorrow. We pick up our cruise transfer at Heathrow to head to the cruise ship.

Day 3 heading to the ship in Dover, England

Up early today. Guess what. I melted my curling iron. We couldn't figure out what was smelling. Humm starting the day off right. We enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast this morning and called for our taxi to the airport. We met up with the NCL folks and basically sat around waiting for our bus. Heathrow is very busy and will only allow 3 busses at a time. We are competing with Vantage, Insight, and many other tour suppliers. We found out there was an accident on the main highway causing a major backup. The first bus that left took over 4.5 hours to get to the bus. The actual time from Heathrow to Dover is 2.5 hours. Upon arrival we did get a chance to see the White Cliffs of Dover. We boarded the ship. Humm not very many young people. Most are over 60. We are sailing away to the Keil Canal which we will traverse the locks tomorrow.

Day 4 DAY AT SEA (The North Sea)

We awoke to hugh swells at sea. The ship rolled side to side so badley you couldn't walk from the bed to the bath. Needless to say no one got out of bed today until about noon. Many were sick. As we got closer and into the channel it finally calmed down. The Norewgain Dream is a smaller ship than what we are used to in the caribbean. It has to be small in order to fit through the Keil Canal. So there was 1 lock and 9 bridges to go under. Even at that we are too tall. The crew had to 'Flip the Funnel' whch was to take the top half of the ships smokestacks and completely flip it on it's side. The main mast had to be dropped as well. It was a tight fit. This was/is a very special cruise as it is the largest cruise vessel that can still traverse the Keil Canal. This is the last voyage. It will no longer go through the canal. It was in the newspaper for all the locals that live along the canal. Many were camped along the canal side or parked in their cars to wave at us going by. It was a very big deal. We stood outside on deck until it got too cold. It takes 7-8 hours to traverse the canal. So it was dark when we finished. I was told they were going to do fireworks at the end but we were already gone to dinner. There are many people on this ship for the next couple of weeks. Once we return to Dover it goes to Spain for a Med cruise, then it does a Transatlantic to Ft. Lauderdale, then through the Panama Canal, then to Santiago. Wow. Should have stayed on the ship for the 30 days. Anyway not much happening. We are going to bed early again. Up early tomorrow for our Berlin trip. Our first port of call is actually Wernbergen.

Day 5 Berlin, Germany

Today we got up really early. Getting ready before we even docked. Ran upstairs for a quick breakfast then on to the Stardust lounge to wait for them to call our tour excursion. A few went before us then it was our turn. We exited the ship, it was a little cool outside, we went through immagration, got the passports stamped, and walked over to the train. We had a private charter train for 2.5 hours, then a quick bus ride to the center of Berlin. Some people took the tour offered by the cruise but we just grabbed the hop-on-hop off bus that ran locally around the city. It was great. We saw parts of the original Berlin Wall, Berlin Dome, the Parliament House, Checkpoint Charley, and more. You should see they are selling bits and pieces of the wall everywhere. And, darn it, it was Sunday so all the stores were closed. No spending here. We found a small little café for lunch. Had Hot applestrudel with vanilla sauce, bratwurst, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and german weiners. Yum, Yum. We are now heading back to the train for our lonnnngggg ride back to the ship. Once on board it will be time to eat again. I think that's all we do. It's way too cold on the ship to go and walk around on the deck. The fitness center is very small. No aerobic room at all. Well maybe we'll try bingo tonight instead of the cash sucking bottomless pit casino. Till tomorrow.
Aufweidersen,

Day 6 at Sea

Here we are at sea again. Some things to note. The Norwegian Dream was built in 1991, so it's an older ship. It is only 50,000 tons, so a very small ship too. I don't care too much for the Free-Style Dining. I kinda like to have my waiter know me and I know them. Then they know exactly what you want each night, they have your wine out on the table for you, etc. Oh well, I had to give it a try.
Today was a slow, quiet day. Did some laundry, walked around on deck, played a trivia game (lost), they played the lousy bingo game. They have these computerized bingo machines now. They are wireless. You get the machine, sit down, and each time the ball comes up, it automatically is transmitted to your handheld machine. It tells you how many numbers you need. It even tells you which number to wish for. You just sit there like a bump on a log until the machine beeps telling you you won Bingo.
Personally I like the paper cards, where you have to use your hands and brain to determine whether you win or not. Oh, well. I won't be playing that any more. Needless to say, all the machines win. No one with paper tickets one at all. Plus, of course, they raised the price. We looked around in the shops, then, why not, went to eat again. Tonight was dress up "or not" night and they had lobster in the restaurants. Not so good. Guess I just wasn't hungry enough. I'm finishing this up tonight, then meeting my contact in Tallin, Estonia tomorrow morning.

Day 7 - Tallin, Estonia

Today we arrived in Tallin, Estonia. Estonia was an independent country, then taken over by the soviet union, then finally it gained it's independence again. This is a very interesting city. It is within walking distance of the ship ports. Once you walk to the city you see the old city fortification wall. The city was also split in the upper (Damstadt) and lower (Reval) towns. The lower town was the where the normal people lived. The upper town was where the nobles lived. There were 8 Gates around the city originally, now there are about 4. As I walked around the city it was beautiful and many places were trying to restore the original medieval look to the facades. May through Sept is the best time to visit. Today was cold and rainy. I visited a couple of really nice hotels, one was in the heart of the old city and fully restored. It was like a small B&B. This town was also the place where Peter The Great from Russia came over with his wife Katherine to build a Palace for their summer home. Now it is a museum. We stopped by a bar called “Hell Hunt”. For us as Americans we read it as we see it. It actually says: Hell=Gentle, Hunt=Wolf… Gentle Wolf. It was originally built in 1933. There were several beautiful churches. One on Toompea Hill was a Lutheran Church where inside there are over 107 Epitaph Coat of Arms from the 17th century. These are wood carvings done in a relief. They stand for all the people buried in the church. It was absolutely amazing. They were beautiful. The Prime Minister here is young about 33 years old, so he takes risks. He models the government against the Queen of England. Some of the things she or the UK say in theory, he puts into action. By doing this, they have advanced significantly. The Salt Trade made many people rich. Tourism and SKYPE are the key items in Tallin. Many other known computer technologies have come from here as well.
After walking all day in the cold and rain we went back to the ship and warmed up with a nice lunch then a nap. We took off about 4:30pm and are now on our way to St. Petersburg, Russia. I look forward to my next blog. I’m sure this will be very interesting.

Day 8 - First Day in St. Petersburg Russia

We arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia this morning about 8:00 am. We are now 8 hours ahead of you all. Our tour is for this afternoon. So we hung around this morning. The weather is cold, wet, windy and dreary. We relaxed and walked around the ship. Had a leisurely breakfast. Naturally Dad was freaking out because he thought everyone had left the ship but us. We were the only people in the dining room, with a lousy view of the port and it’s rusted out containers. We watched a guy with a fork lift move the old rusted out containers from one end of the pier to the other. At one point he knocked over 3 huge containers that were piled on top of each other. Everyone ran to the window. They thought something had hit the ship it banged so loudly. After lunch we met in the Stardust lounge and headed out to our bus. Since you have to have a Visa for Russia, we cannot deviate from our tour at all, we have to stay with the tour guide and make sure we don’t lose our temp visa they put inside our passports. We drove around downtown St. Petersburg for about 30 min, then headed out to the Suburbs to Pushkin (Tsars Village). This is where we toured Catherine’s Palace. Catherine is Peter The Great’s 2nd wife. His first wife he put into a convent to get rid of her (after 3 kids) because he wanted to marry Catherine (Martha-a poor peasant girl working as a maid for a friend). There was no divorce, so he just made a decree and put her away. With his 2nd wife Catherine he had 11 children, but not all lived. He one daughter did become Empress Elizabeth. The palace was absolutely huge in size and superbly ornate. Not only on the inside, but all along the outer façade as well. It was a beautiful blue and white with gold trim. The floor was all inlaid wood of many different kinds. We also had to wear these paper booties on our shoes to protect the floor. But what was weird, was they let us take flash photography. Strange. One room we weren’t allow to take pictures in was the Amber Room. It is one whole room all designed in the Amber stone. Amber stone is actually fossilized pine over many, many years. Although it was a replica, we still couldn’t take pics. Anway, we left there, and I ran into a couple of art students outside. They were selling their water colors. So I bought one. It’s really nice. I really like to buy from the locals, not the stores. After that she walked us through the garden to a small row of vendors (where they sold more junk), and finally back to the bus. Now it’s starting to get really windy, rainey and cold. On the way back on the bus it just got worse, we also hit the evening traffic. It took us about 1.5 hours to return. WE all ran from the bus, back through the customs office, back inside the WARM ship. Well, tonight is read a book or dance a little night. Tomorrow we head out on another tour of the city starting at 7:30 am. Early rising! Have a great day.

Day 9 - 2nd Day in St. Petersburg, Russia

IT’s our 2nd day in Russia. Today is an absolutely beautiful day. The rain cleared out last night, the clouds all disappeared and it’s really nice. Still cold… but overall nice. We had another tour today very early this time. We did Spectacular St. Petersburg. The tour was from 8:00 am until about 12:30. First we drove all around the city as the sun was cresting. It cast a beautiful glow amongst all the beautiful buildings and canals in this beautiful city. We stopped briefly at the St. Isaacs Cathedral. This is a large domed church. Columns throughout the exterior. What’s interesting is that you can still see on the columns where the bombs from the Natzi war time had impacted and made large divots. This was one of the churches that was protected against the Natzi’s. In front of the church is a large statue of Leningrad on a horse. Did you know this city now called St. Petersburg was once called Leningrad? The next statue we drove by was Peter the great on his horse. (All of these will be in my pictures upon my return). Next we went to the famous “Church of the Spilled Blood”. You should look this one up on the internet. It is the most colorful of all the churches, with the high spires, mosaics, and onion style tops. These you see in Moscow as well. This was not open so we were not able to go inside. We continued driving and went over the Palace Bridge which spans the Neva River to an island where we visited the Cathedral in the St. Peter and Paul Fortress on the Spit of Vasillevsky Island. Inside this cathedral is where the tombs of the emperors and empress’s were buried. We saw the tombs of Peter, the Great, his wife Catherine, daughter Elizabeth (empress) and Catherine, The Great. Lastly, we visited the Shuvavlov Palace for a wonderful folklore show where they danced the Don Cossack dance, Russian and Ukrainian choir signing, and the dance of the gypsies. Finally we got a chance to do some shopping. Got a few little items. But the real items were very expensive. The beautiful lacquer boxes were signed by the artist costing about $500 for a 3X4 inch box. Well I skipped these, and searched out the less expensive stuff. We got back to the ship and had a nice lunch then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. This evening we saw a really nice show as the ship took off at 7:00pm on our way to Helsinki, Finland. Until tomorrow..

Day 10 - Helsinki, Finland

Our day in Helsinki. This is one of the biggest ship building ports. They have 5 big harbors where some of the top ice breakers are made. 66% of the country is made up of forest. An average apartment if 70 Square Meters. The company Nokia, was started here in 1893 for with paper & pulp, then tires and rubber shoes, then Cable. In 1974 they did electronics. The Nokia company’s headquarters are located here. Taxes here are 33% of which 1 % goes to the state churches. The Baltic Sea does completely Freeze over. It only contains 0.2% salt. Also, when it does freeze, it can get as thick as 16 centimeters (2 ft) thick in front of Helsinki. June-Aug is the summer but still very cold. White nights are End of May to End of July. Finland was a part of Sweden from 1155-1809. In 1809 Sweden and Russia were at war and Finland came under a Russian Tsar Alexander the 1st. In 1917 Finland declared their independence. They have over 30 National Parks and 187,000 lakes. Crops are Wheat, Rye, Malt and Barley.

Mom and Dad went on a tour of the city which they enjoyed. I did an architectural tour and the city highlights. There are some interesting sights. We had little time for shopping. Not much really new here. Weather was cold and rainy again. We pulled out of port at 4:45 pm and the sun finally came out. Wouldn’t you know it.
Anyway.. we are on our way to Stockholm now. We should arrive tomorrow morning.
New update tomorrow.

Day 11 - Stockholm, Sweden

Today we cruised into the waters toward Stockholm. This city is located inland amongst many archipelago islands. There are many beautiful houses situated throughout the islands build on the hillsides and on many of the granite rocks. Nearly all have boat houses with boats sitting in the water. There are woods everywhere and the sun never really raises high in the sky. Sunrise was at 6:30am and sunset is at 6:45 pm. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden where the waters of Malaren (Lake Malar) rush into the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is a series of 14 islands among open bays and narrow channels. There are many parks to walk and relax with a combination of skyscrapers and medieval streets and waterside promenades. Gamla Stan, situated on the island of Stadsholmen is Stockholms old medieval town that emerged in the 13th century. It is the home to the present Royal Palace. With the Palace was the apartments and armory. Changing of the guard is done every noon on weekdays. I was lucky to see a parade going down the center of town of the Royal Guards. Mom and Dad went on a tour and saw City Hall, the Palace, and the Vasa. I chose to walk the city today. I walked down to the Royal Palace, then joined the Hop-on/Hop-off Bus Tour. This took me on a wonderful sightseeing trip throughout the city including the suburb apartments. We only had a short time in this port. We arrived at 9:30am and departed at 2:30pm. Not a lot of time to enjoy this wonderful city. Today was absolutely gorgeous too. No rain… YEAH! It was a little cool, but the sun was out and shining brightly. Walking kept the blood pumping (and hopefully calories dropping) so it was comfortable. Oh yes, I wanted to tell you a little about the Vasa. They built the Vasa as a grand warship in 1628. It was one of 4 ships to be built in the Stockholm shipyard. Large amounts of timber went into the building of the ship. Oak being the principal wood. Many people came the day they planned the maiden voyage of this grand war ship. It was a beautiful August afternoon, she had four sails set as she left the docks. As she left the shelter, a breeze caught the canvas. She heeled, righted herself, then heeled again hard over to port. The water gushed in, and she sank swiftly in 110 feet of water in the harbor. At that time it was impossible to raise the sunken ship so it laid for many years at the bottom. The wreckage of the Vasa was not discovered until 1956. A many was diving and found a piece of wood. So he sent several divers down to see what it was. They were amazed at the amazing war ship and the detail of the carvings and elaborate decorations. The divers had to sift through 40,000 cubic yards of mud. The hull was amazingly well preserved. The ship is now a museum and the wood is constantly kept preserved.
You know, each place we have been to has its’ own uniqueness. I hope you are enjoying what I have to share with you. We are now cruising out of the bays, past the archipelago islands heading out to Copenhagen. Let’s hope the seas stay calm. We had a roly-poly night again last night. Sometimes I wake up thinking we need bars on the side of the beds so we don’t fall out. Well, time for dinner (again!). Maybe I’ll just go play bingo.

Day 12 - Sea Day and Evening Arrival to Copenhagen, Denmark

Well, we sailed all night and all day. Didn’t do much on the ship except watch a movie, Shrek 3. Bingo prices are ridiculous, and we sick of eating. We docked in Copenhagen this evening about 6:30pm. A few people had some quick tours, but I just went out and walked. I needed to get off the ship and get some exercise. So I walked all the way down the docks, past the famous Little Mermaid statue (created to commerate Hans Christian Anderson), and to the Anglican Church. From there continued to the Amalienborg Palace and the large church in the center which has a tall dome on the top where you can climb the stair and look out over the city. Tomorrow Mom and Dad will go on a tour, I am going horse back riding. I’ll update you tomorrow on how things were and what we saw. After a slow (boring) day, we’ll watch a little TV, then hit the hay. At least we won’t have to listen to the grinding of the engines tonight.

Day 13 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Well, Here we are, Copenhagen, Denmark. What a wonderful city. Mom and Dad went on a bus tour and a harbor tour. They said they really enjoyed it. It was an hour on the bus seeing the sights, then an hour in the tour boat going around the harbor, then back on the bus for another hour of more sightseeing. They said they saw a lot and really enjoyed it. I, on the other hand, spend my time horseback riding. We drove about ½ an hour out to the country side. How beautiful. There were only 5 of us for this tour. Thank goodness. They will cancel the tour if there are less than 4 people. So we had 5. We mounted our horses (big ponies) and headed out through the woods. The woods we trotted through were the hunting forest for the nobels (Royals) only. You wouldn’t believe the beautiful deer we saw. They were everywhere. The male was more like a Stag and each one had about 10-15 females with it. They looked like giant reindeer. Georgeous. We continued walked, trotted and cantered through the forest and enjoyed the (finally) warm, rays of the sunshine even though it was still about 55 degrees. We rode for about an hour. We saw about 7 males with their females. Amazing. We then headed back to the ship. We sailed by 2:30pm. No time again to really enjoy the city. I really wish we had had lots more time in each of the cities we visited. Back on the ship, it was back to the same thing, eating, casino, bingo, trivia and sleeping. We headed out to Oslo, Norway. Humm… weather report calls for rain. Bummer. Till tomorrow.

Day 14 - Oslo, Norway

We arrived at 8:00 am in Oslo, Norway. And as predicted, rain. We had a quick breakfast waiting for the boat to dock and watched the rain fall outside, hoping and praying for the sun to break through the clouds. This time I went with Mom and Dad on the Scenic Oslo tour. Strictly a bus tour with some stops for photos only. We got 5 min into our tour and the clouds parted and we had overcast skys, but at least no rain. The bus tour was great. Now, Mom and Dad and I lived here in Oslo, many years ago when Dad was stationed in the Military here. I was about 2-3 years old. My sisters (2) were born here. We went to the Helmenkolen Mountain to see the Ski Jump, toured the city, visited the fjord filled with pleasure craft, shrimp trawlers, and ferries, City Hall, and the Vigeland Park (this is where Mom used to bring me and my sisters). We looked at some of the tourist gifts, but man the prices were outrages. We had to get back on the ship as we sailed at 1:30pm. Again a short time in port. As soon as we all got on board and the Captain started the engines, the skys opened up. It rained like heck and the temperature dropped. We are now heading out of the Oslo Fjord (containing 40 island) moving toward the North Sea back to Dover, England. Well we have a full day at Sea as we sail back. The Captain has already alerted us that once we get into the open waters of the North Sea the Gail force winds will be significant and to be prepared to a VERY ROUGH ride back to Dover. When we left we mostly sailed overnight, so the 25-30 foot seas weren’t bad because we were in bed (rolling from one end to the other), now it will be during the day. Not a good sign. I have the bonine ready just in case. I don’t think very many people will be out roaming around the ship tomorrow. I’ll send a post tomorrow on what happens.

Day 15 - Our last Sea Day

Well, this is it. The end of a wonderful vacation. This is our last day at sea. And, of course, as I had said yesterday, we had seas 25-30 foot swells which rocked the ship back and forth. The captain was great, though, he went slow and tried to keep it pretty stable. We played the last big bingo game and of course lost. Well, we are trying to get everything packed back into the same suitcases we brought. I think our clothes expanded. Whew, this is tough. Oh well, well be home soon. See you back in the good old USA on Friday !!!