Day 11 At sea
Well yesterday was a blissful day at sea. Slept in a bit, got some sun on our faces and had a couple of nice meals. AND we got to move our clocks back another hour. There were plenty of activities on the ship, but we just wanted to rest and read a bit (basically do nothing) It was fabulous. They were keeping the kids busy, too, because I had 5 young boys (8-12ish) who approached me while I was waiting for my cheeseburger and asked if I'd help them in their scavenger hunt. So of course I said yes. They were looking for celebrity look-alikes and because I had a black hat and black leather coat on, they thought I was the closest to Kim Kardashian they'd find. They were probably right, knowing the age of the passengers on this ship. So they took my picture with their phone and ran off. Shortly after that, the clouds started to roll in (just about 4pm) so we headed back to the room, showered, jumped into bed and watched the movie Man on a Ledge that I had rented to my ipad. It was fun and was a good movie. My hands and feet were sweaty the entire time because I don't do heights well. I think Guy's were sweating, too! :) After dinner we crashed because we had an early call in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Day 12 Copenhagen, Denmark
Our 7:30 alarm woke us up just in time to watch us pull into Copenhagen. Chilly and overcast, so about par for this trip. After breakfast (the usual - me, waffles and Guy, Eggs Benedict) we headed for town. We decided to do the shuttle into town because they said it would be a 20 minute or so walk into town (which was about right because we walked back to the ship). They said last night that Copenhagen was the 10th most expensive city in the world. We believe it now! As we hit town and I saw the pedestrian shopping area, I thought to myself - "score", but sadly, it was all too expensive. A couple from our ship asked if we'd like them to take our picture in front of one of the oldest jewelry stores (it's like a bazillion years old). Guy told me I could pick out anything in the window and he'd buy it for me. (They were still closed so the window was empty). Later when we came by it again, the jewels were out, but the offer had expired. There was a little diamond studded train that went around the jewelry. I took some video. :) Off to the side were little train cars filled with rubies, emeralds, etc., now THAT is my kind of train set!
Have I mentioned the bikes yet? Not quite as many as Amsterdam I don't think, but I'm amazed at how many bikes there were. I'll add a few bike pics in today...and speaking of pics...again not a great weather/photo day. But hey, they don't all have to be postcard worthy...it just is a great way to document the trip (or so I've come to this conclusion on this trip). We decided to trek over to the Tivoli, which is one of, if not THE first amusement park. This is supposedly where Walt Disney got his inspiration. We didn't go in due to time and we are neither one ride riders, but snuck a few shots from outside the gates. It looked beautiful inside.
So we ventured around the town a bit more, walking around a castle and exploring. I was a bit disturbed how these beautiful old buildings have signage all over them. I'll post a pic so you can see. Yes McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried all have a spot here. We saw a Mercedes UPS truck, the most adorable street cafes and vendors, and some not so adorable price tags on pretty much everything we saw. We decided to stop for a drink and see what we thought the clouds were going to do. Some clouds looked innocent, some were grey and threatened of rain and then a peek here and there of blue sky. We stopped for a snack, then got a danish at a pastry shop (had to, right? The Danes created the Danish!). So since the sky wasn't cooperating, we figured we would go ahead and take our boat ride around the city and take our chances on getting rained on.
The young guide was funny and spoke everything is his local lingo and then in perfect english. He was enjoying his job just a bit too much. :) Besides a few sprinkles, the weather held out and we got our hour long tour in. Some of it looked familiar from a House Hunters International tv program I like to watch. Some of the apartments along the canal were close to 1,000,000 dollars...and didn't look all that special. The little port we took the boat out of was the oldest port in Copenhagen. A couple hundred years ago it was quite the docking spot for cheap beer and even cheaper women (again, the guide was enjoying his job just a bit too much). The harbor area would really be the only quaint area we saw. This is very much a big city and surprisingly the one with the most trash on the streets. We came in knowing it was an expensive place to live and heard how the quality of life for the residence was exceptionally good. So I think it being the dirtiest was a bit surprising. (Helsinki was clean as a whistle).
After the boat ride, we decided to walk back to the ship because between downtown and the ship was a museum dedicated to the Resistance from WWII. So map in hand we set out for the museum. Today is Monday...care to guess what day it is closed? So instead we walked around a fortress and the small marina before taking one last look at the shops (in town Guy bought a Tshirt an I bought a pair of flip flops...our two big purchases of the day). But I wasn't going to pay $50 for a $10 scarf, so we hopped on the ship and headed for the Tiny Sandwiches. I capitalize Tiny Sandwiches because this is Guy's favorite part of the day and I must pay it proper respect. At 3:30 every day, a eatery on the ship sets out these tiny little sandwiches. They do look cute, but he is enamored with them. The days at sea, when we are just relaxing, he starts asking what time it is about 2:45 and then about every 10 minutes after that until 3:30. So it is the joke of the trip...Guy and Tiny Sandwiches. :)
Tonight is formal night, so we'll dude up for the dining room again. The selections look pretty good and I'm sure it will be tasty as usual. Tomorrow is a day at sea and one last chance to relax before we end our fabulous cruise. It may not be a cruise we would do again, but don't take it that it wasn't wonderful, because it certainly was...quarantine and all. But new things are still out there to be explored. I think we'd do the Rhine river cruise again (Basil, Switzerland to Amsterdam), but that would be several years in the future and one of the few cruises we'd repeat). Too many places to go! But if you ever thought about doing this cruise, it would be a for sure yes! At first glance, it may look like there are too many days at sea, but trust me, you need them to recuperate. And if you do take it, remember the best shopping is in Helsinki and Tallinn. :)
So I probably won't blog tomorrow as there won't be much going on besides Guy waiting for Tiny Sandwiches (fingers crossed for sun), but will pick up again after we train to Berlin on Wednesday. We asked to disembark off the ship early (7:45) giving us plenty of time to walk to the train station, but we got a note saying we could leave the ship at 7. I hope that doesn't mean we HAVE to leave right then...we'll be sitting in the train station for some time if that is the case. Better early than late I suppose.
xoxoxoxo
