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We were up early on Monday July 1 to make the 5:45 shuttle to the Copenhagen airport.  It was a short drive and when we arrived Viking directed us all to the right places to check in for various airlines.  It is a small airport and check in was easy with a very friendly Air France employee.  Then we went upstairs for security and on to our gate.  However when we got upstairs we learned the gate would not be posted until about an hour before the flight.  We went into a few shops and I finally found something nice to purchase as small gifts for friends, paper cutouts and ornaments by Oda Wiedbrecht.  So pretty and easy to pack.

Finally our gate was listed and we walked out to it and found seats but a short time later we learned our flight would be delayed.  As it turned out we did not have any trouble with our Paris connection due to this delay.  From Paris we had the long flight home with mediocre food and good service from the cabin crew. 

It took me 3 days to recover from jet lag.  When I emailed our travel agent about this he said he and his wife first fly to a major European gateway such as London and spend the first night near the airport before flying to their destination the next day.  I would certainly consider that for a future trip.

Copenhagen

After breakfast we went to the theater to meet with our group tour then head to the bus.  When Viking calls a tour “panorama” it is usually a bus tour that drives by sites.  This was a better mix with some stops along the way.  Our guide was Jens and our driver Johnny.  First stop was the Little Mermaid statue.  My camera died here in 1983 so I wanted to be sure to get some photos on this trip.  Many people wait in a line to take a selfie with her; I wonder how many end up on Instagram?  I just wanted some photos of her by herself.  The guide managed to take us to the Amalienborg Palace during the changing of the guard and unlike London we could actually see the soldiers marching. As we stood in the square surrounded by 4 palace buildings we learned a bit about the Danish monarchy and their chain-smoking queen.  Apparently though she doesn’t want to be photographed smoking.  Jens, the guide, had a subtle sense of humor which we enjoyed.  He was the second pensioner guide we had on the trip.  Tom and I only did 3 guided tours and visited the rest of the ports on our own.  

After driving all around the city Johnny drove us to a spot near the Opera House where we could get out for a view of the city from across the channel.  After this it was back to the ship for lunch.

Viking offered shuttles to central Copenhagen near the Opera House and the big department store, Magazine du Nord.  After lunch we took one of the shuttles with the plan to walk around the picturesque Nyhavn area and take photographs.  It was very warm again this day and crowded.  I think the warm temperatures bothered us because of the humidity which we are not used to.  I think it makes us more tired than we might be walking around home on an 85 degree day.  We did get photos and looked in a few tourist shops but I might have had better luck in the Magazine du Nord which was open.  While walking in Copenhagen on Sunday we passed the restaurant Els.  My friends Betsy and Tomas took my friends and me to dinner there in 1983!  As we came around to this side of the main square near the big department store it was all torn up for work on the metro.  I couldn’t see an easy way across to the Magazine so we decided to turn another corner and head back to the bus.

Tonight we had dinner at World Café so we could eat light and carefully choose just what we want in anticipation of our flights home the next day.  Then it was back to our room to finish packing.  Our checked bags needed to be in the hall by 10:00pm for the trip to the airport in the morning.

Warnemunde

Many Baltic Sea cruises stop in Warnemunde Germany and take their passengers on excursions to Berlin.  600 people from our ship would make the 12 hour excursions to Berlin with 6 hours spent on the train to get there and back.  That was not appealing to us so we reserved the Rostock Highlights tour in the nearby town of Rostock.  However Mr. Wonderful wasn’t feeling all that great this morning so we decided to stay close to the ship.  Fortunately the stomach upset didn’t last but we missed the bus tour. 

It was very warm today so we enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the pleasure boats and ferries passing by.  We also explored some areas of the ship we hadn’t visited.  We had lunch and then walked off the boat to the seaside town of Warnemunde.  My guidebook said it was a “5-minute walk” to Warnemunde’s main street but it was more like 15.  This turned out to be the case in more than one port where guidebooks or Viking’s info claimed we would be docked right in town.  That was accurate in Bergen and Aalborg where we could walk off the ship and be in the thick of things.

Between the Saturday crowds in this seaside town, the heat and tourist shops we found Warnemunde rather disappointing.  There were some pretty houses to photograph on one of the streets.  Would we find something more interesting on the next block or should we head back to the ship?  The issue with my Iliotibial bands was acting up and the pain of walking made the choice for us.  Only problem is we had to walk back to the ship.  When we finally got there I decided to go back to the hydrotherapy pool in the spa.

After dinner we enjoyed the air on deck and were there to watch the hundreds of passengers return from Berlin.  Viking had warned them that security checks to reboard would take some time but they tried to make it fun.  Once a passenger cleared security there was a small crowd of staff waiting with cold drinks to welcome them on board.

Aalborg Denmark

This morning we arrived in Denmark for a morning visit to the charming town of Aalborg.  It is perfect for touring from a cruise ship which can dock right next to the town square.

 

           Cafe where we stopped for a tea next to the beautifully preserved renaissance home.

Armed with the map Viking provided, we set off to walk through town on our own.  We strolled the streets taking photos, stopped for a tea break in the middle of the morning and returned to the ship after visiting the remains of the castle.  Aalborg reminded me of Solvang but was missing the bakeries and cute shops.  I did go in the shop of a Greek-Danish woman named Athena who makes her own jewelry.  Very pretty jewelry and scarves but expensive.  It is expensive here.  A commemorative troll doll (remember those?) was $46--sorry Nancy.

HIghway 66?  I learned from a Venetian shop keeper some years ago that traveling Route 66 is popular with Europeans.  She had driven right through our town.  I also heard Sir Paul has driven the route and was spotted pumping his own gas.

 Outside the troll doll gift shop

In the late afternoon I hung out in the spa and Tom relaxed in our room reading.  The spa has a large indoor hydrotherapy pool with jets.  The jets were almost strong enough to allow you to swim against them, not quite swimming in place.  I skipped the steam room followed by cold bucket of water to dump on yourself and I skipped the snow room.  That would be a NOPE.

In the ports a pilot comes on board to guide the ship in and out.  Last night Tom got some good photos of the boat that came along side to pick up the pilot.

Old friends

This was the day I was really looking forward to--Gothenburg Sweden and visiting with my high school friend Betsy.  After college Betsy moved to Europe and eventually met and married Tomas who is Swedish.  In the 1980s friends and I visited them at their home and I would see her when she visited her father who lived in Southern California.  We made a plan to meet at the Gustav Adolph Square.  She was easy to spot with her long red hair--she hadn't changed much in 50 years since high school.  Our first stop was the beautiful botanic gardens where the roses were in bloom.  After strolling around there we began our tour of the city with Betsy who had directions from friends.  As with Oslo there was much construction and we couldn't get to some streets we wanted to.  I had hoped to stop for a cup of tea and a good chat but it was difficult to find any cafes.  Betsy was trying to find us a nice bakery with tables and beverages but no luck.  Finally we found something and chatted until they began to be busy with lunch.

                          Those are serious-looking thorns that seemed to be on all the roses.

More walking and circling back to the place Betsy's Canadian/Swedish friend recommended for lunch.  We all had beautiful cod steaks, potatoes and vegetables.  As we were leaving the Viking food tour followed us into the little restaurant. 

We walked along through the shopping section finally making our way back to the square where we would meet our bus and Betsy would walk a little farther to the train station to make her way home.  Betsy is in amazing condition and nearly walked our legs off but it was wonderful to see her.

                                                 Betsy & Renee in Sweden 2019

This day, June 27, was also Tom's and my wedding anniversary.  We had been given a bottle of champagne by Viking and took it with us to dinner that evening.  The Restaurant is the main dining room on board and we got a little dressed up for it.  We had a lovely window table and a good dinner.  A nice relaxing end to the day.

Oslo Day 2

We have enjoyed a lovely end to our second day in Oslo (Wed June 26).  The weather was sunny and warm and we stood on the balcony to watch as the ship pulled out of Oslo and sailed toward Gothenburg Sweden.  We had dinner outside on the aft deck to enjoy the sun and views of the islands and shores we passed.

Today we explored on our own.  After breakfast we had Viking's Customer Service call a taxi which took us to the Bygdoy Peninsula.  We could have used the hop on/off bus that stops at the cruise ship terminal but the route would have taken us the long way around back up to the ski jump.   The peninsula houses several museums and we were hoping to visit at least two of them.  As we were waiting I overheard 2 young women say they were trying to get to the Viking Museum and offered to share our taxi which had just shown up and was a minivan.  Room for all of us and we split the cost.  We started at the Norwegian Folk Museum which was in a beautiful forested setting.  Many old structures from across Norway have been relocated here to help preserve them including a wooden stave church, old farm buildings and a town street.  You could picture the same sod-covered cabins on the Midwestern prairie in the 1800s. There are also recreations of some buildings from the Finnmark Region where the Nazis used a scorched earth policy as they retreated from Norway in late 1944.  Among the gardens and farms represented was a French styled garden and a medicinal garden outside the apothecary's.

 

Stave church and a woman wearing a bunad, the Norwegian folk costume. 

Elephant above the apothecary shop but no signs or anything to indicate why an elephant.

At mid-day we asked at the museum cafe if they had any gluten-free items and were directed to 2 different desserts.  As much as I would like a chocolate tart for lunch I have learned I have to research restaurants ahead of time so we walked to the cafe I had located from home weeks ago.  It turned out to be a good choice with a flower-filled terrace, good food and helpful service.  It was however the second address we have tried to locate in Oslo that is not actually where the address indicates it should be.  Thank goodness for phones and data plans.  After lunch we walked to the Viking Ship Museum which is adjacent to the Folk Museum.  The museum houses 3 ancient Viking ships that had been buried as part of burial rituals and unearthed in Norway centuries later.  The clay helped preserve them and many artifacts with the ships.

Oslo

The ship arrived in Oslo before breakfast and docked near the fortress.  There was a huge Royal Caribbean ship in the primo spot a little closer to downtown.  After breakfast we met with our group and boarded a bus for a drive-by tour of Oslo.  There is a lot of building going on with streets torn up impacting traffic.  The guide said the population is over 600,000 and growing.  They need to build housing but are restricted from building any further out in the forest so now they must go up.  A strip of new skyscrapers along the harbor are called "the barcode".  We passed the red brick city hall, Nobel Prize headquarters and royal palace on our way to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump.  The ski jump was pretty interesting and if we had had more time I might have enjoyed the ski jump simulator.  We watched a few people zip-lining along the ski jump and there was youth biathlon training going on below our view point.

We also visited Vigeland Park with hundreds of sculpture by Gustav Vigeland.  Apparently he worked out a deal with the city to create these sculptures to decorate the park for the citizens.  One question I thought of later was did he bring a proposal to the city of Oslo or did they approach him?  Seems like he got a sweetheart deal.

After the morning tour we returned to the ship for lunch just as it began to rain.  Later in the afternoon it hadn't let up so instead of walking we took a taxi to shop a little downtown.  It was easy to find a taxi rank among the shops even though the guy at Viking's customer service desk said there weren't any.  Hm?  Maybe Viking needs to give staff a little refresher.  If you go to Norway there is no service by Uber which is not allowed here.

Our ship spends the night Oslo so we have a full day to explore more on our own tomorrow.

 Oslo's new skyline

I like the movement expressed in this sculpture

 

What?  Vigeland left no titles for his work so we'll never know what he was thinking.

 Vigeland's centerpiece

Holmenkollen Ski Jump

The grey building will be home to a new Munch museum next year.

  It seems a lot of people were off the ship during dinner tonight which made the dining room quieter and allowed us a seat in the Explorer's Lounge to listing to a string duet.