September 3-4, 2026 – Thursday and Friday – We are scheduled for a 3:42PM flight from Boston to Ft. Myers, but need to be out of our stateroom by 8:00 AM. So we were up fairly early at 6:30. We also need to go through US immigration before leaving the ship. We expect to be called for immigration between 10:00 AM and 10:30 AM. So we go to breakfast about 8:00 AM, eat, and hang around the ship until called for immigration. Our immigration officer looks bored out of his mind, and it takes maybe 30 seconds to clear immigration. We exit the ship, take a taxi to Logan Airport in Boston, arriving about 11:00AM. We know we have a long wait at the airport, so we check our bags, go through security and find some nice chairs and settle in. About 1:00 PM we decide to look for some lunch, but saw some rocking chairs in front of a big window overlooking planes coming in and going out, so we decide lunch can wait and we sit in the rockers for awhile. About 2:00PM, Dave gets a text that our flight was cancelled! Now what? We are not happy. Then Dave gots a text that they have rescheduled us on a 6:30AM flight for Saturday – two days later. We found a Jet Blue information desk, and were able to get a same day flight to Tampa leaving 9:30PM and arriving about 1:00AM. They said they would move our bags to the new Tampa flight (they had over 6 hours to find our luggage).
Of course the Tampa flight was delayed and we landed about 1:30AM Friday early morning. Unfortunately, we arrived, but our luggage stayed in Boston.
We spent the nights in Tampa, filed a claim for our luggage, and hope to get it someday 😳. We arrived home noonish.
We are adjusting to the heat, 90’s, as it was pretty cool in all our ports. We usually wore long pants and long sleeve tops – Dave actually bought a jacket as we were not prepared for the cool temperatures. We kept hearing about the heat wave in Europe….but not where we visited!
So this really is my last post for this trip!
September 2, 2026 – Wednesday – Sea Day! People have been posting about seeing dolphins and whales, and I never seem to see anything in the water when we are cruising. Today the weather was decent, so we went out to the balcony and were just looking over the railing. The ship was not going too fast – 10 knots – and I happened to look down and I saw a fish in the water! It was a big fish, at least 10 feet long (hard to judge from deck 8). I pointed it out to Dave, and he thinks it was as shark! I was just so excited that I finally saw a fish!
We had a decent score in trivia – we didn’t win, but it was one of our better days.
We have really been enjoying the specialty restaurants. Probably our favorite dish was the Chilean Sea Bass. The dish normally comes with so much food – a side of loaded baked potato, creamed spinach, and others. On the plate is the Chilean Sea Bass, and two jumbo fried shrimp on mushrooms. Since we ordered this several times, we requested minimal sides to our plates. We had run into the chef in another restaurant and he said he would prepare sautéed spinach with garlic for me. I have also enjoyed the steak tartar! Ihad never had steak tartar before, and so I tried it. It comes in a smoke filled cloche, so a cool presentation. I have not posted many food pictures, but this is our last dinner onboard.
We specifically scaled down the amount of food that we order…so it may not look like much, but we were full! The Chilean Sea Bass is so good, it does not need any sauce, but it was served with a tartar sauce.
Our trip is over – flying to Englewood from Boston tomorrow!
September 1, 2026 – Tuesday – Our last port on this cruise, we are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. We have been here before and decide to walk to Point Pleasant Park which is at the southernmost tip of Halifax.
The port has a large museum dedicated to immigration.
Born in Cape Breton to Jewish immigrant parents who had fled Czarist Russia, Ruth Goldbloom was a legendary community volunteer, leader and fundraiser. When she learned that Pier 21, then a shed on Halifax’s waterfront, had been the landing site for almost 1,000,000 immigrants to Canada between 1928-1971, she saw a unique opportunity. Committed to celebrating the journeys and contributions of immigrants past, present, and future to the multicultural fabric of Canada, she embarked on a campaign to restore and commemorate this site. As Chair ampaign, ultimately raising millions of dolars to restore and transom the sile into Speda Natonal dased of Immigration at Pier 21. Ten years later, it became Canada’s sixth national museum.
On our way to Point Pleasant Park, we walked on Young Street which was very interesting….but we didn’t take any pictures ☹️. There are many very large, beautiful homes. Some were faced with stone, and at least one, that looked like a castle (!), was all stone. I admit I did a bit of gawking! I wish I would have thought to take some pictures.
Point Pleasant Park was originally intended to be a military fortification to protect Halifax Harbor. Some history…In 1749, Edward Cornwallis arrived under instruction of the British Government to create a sizeable military and civilian settlement of 4000 in Halifax which sparked Father Le Loutre’s War (1749-1755).
Father Le Loutre led the Mi’kmaq (the indigenous people) and Acadia militia in guerrilla warfare against Protestant settlers and British forces. Cornwallis first settled Point Pleasant Park but then, being too exposed to the elements, moved the settlement. Halifax was to become a strategic settlement for the British and fortifications were primarily intended to prevent enemy ships from getting into the Halifax Harbor. Fortifications began to be constructed at present-day Point Pleasant Park toward the end of the French and Indian War (1754-1763).
Google maps helped us in this large park, 190 acres, with winding paths, to find various points of interest. First we walked to the Prince of Wales Tower. We could not go inside, but it is an imposing round tower.
These structures apparently found their inspiration from a small stone tower at Mortella Point on the Corsican coast which had effectively resisted a joint British naval and land attack for several days in 1794. Though not a prototype for later British towers, which were often built with different features according to their settings, the Prince of Wales Tower did have a long life as an element in the overall Halifax Defence Complex.
As we walked through the park, it was obvious this is where all Halifax walk their dogs! All the dogs we saw were well behaved snd obeyed their owner. Whike we were at the Prince of Wales Tower, one guy had 6 good size dogs, and none on a leash. Ineard him tell the dogs they were going together a drink of water and then gofor a swim. The dogs all followed him, so I guessthey understood English! We did spot them later from sfar and the dogs were in the water swimming!
Next we walked toward the water to various viewpoints.
One viewpoint was a rock that seals rested on, but we could not find it. Dave thought maybe it was high tide and the rock was not exposed.
We saw monuments in memory of those lost in wars.
We were almost at the end of our walk, but before we exited the park, we saw confusing signs!
We went back to the ship, and I mapped our walk today!
I wish the actual city map would show up, but some of my apps have not been working right – I need to delete them and reinstall them.
On this cruise, there are several, at least 7 and maybe more, men with long white beards. The beards are kept nice. Iheard one passenger make a comment about ZZ Top, but I saw a post on one of my cruise blogs about Santa. I have to assume they are all in some organization – just an unusual sight!
This will be my last post this trip unless something exciting happens (like we win at Trivia!). We have really enjoyed all our dinners in the specialty restaurants – and we have eaten in them most nights. We love the Chilean Sea Bass – it is phenomenal . Tomorrow is a sea day – time to pack – and then Thursday we fly home, arriving late, even if the flight is on time.
August 31, 2026 – Monday – our port today is Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Last time we were here, we took a tour to Louisbourg Fortress. This time we decided to try to find a grocery store, walk along the harbor, and get a lobster roll. Not many pictures today.
Our ship is docked next to the biggest tour attraction in Sydney – a big fiddle, which has music playing that appears to be coming from the fiddle.
The Big Fiddle stands 17 metres tall (55.77 feet) and weighs eight tons.
It is made of painted steel and was built over an eight-month period by Cyril Hearn, a Sydney artist and welder.
We took our time leaving the ship for our walk, as there had been morning showers. It turned into a very nice day, but lots of temperature fluctuations depending on whether the sun was shining or not.
Our first mission was to find a grocery store. One of my gripes is the ship does not have sugar-free syrup, although it states sugar-free syrup is available on request. So for 24 days out of our 27 day cruise, I have not been able to enjoy my favorite breakfast of pancakes, because I cannot deal with calorie laden syrup. I prefer to use my calories elsewhere! We have tried other grocery stores along the way, but were not able to find a large enough grocery store previously. Good news! I bought calorie free syrup today, so for the next 3 mornings, I’m having pancakes!
On our walk to the grocery store, we saw some cute ducks in the grass.
Heading back to the harbor, we walked along a nice harbor walk, ending in Wentworth Park. The park had a small lake in the middle and a statue remembering those who lost their lives in WWI and WWII. It was a nice little park.
Our last goal was to find a lobster roll. I had done some googling to find a good restaurant, and came up with Governor’s Pub. There was a line, but I guess that can be a good sign. We waited in line, and we got a nice table outside. I tried their locally brewed stout beer, which was good, and we both ordered lobster tolls with french fries. I think we had to wait 45 minutes for our food, but I think a large number of people from the ship was there, so probably overwhelmed the kitchen. The lobster rolls were $35 Canadian each, but I used my credit card which converted the charge to $25 USD each. The lobster rolls were OK, but no large chunks of lobster meat. It had been chopped up pretty fine. The french fries were very good.
After lunch we walked back to the ship where there was a large building snd locals could sell their crafts and wares. I am not a big shopper, but enjoyed seeing all their varied products. It was definitely a festive feeling as there were musicians, even a guy playing bagpipes. A blacksmith had a booth set up where he was working and people could watch.
Back on the ship we played trivia, and it was our worst game. Then we went to a lecture.
Tomorrow we will be in Halifax, and we have been there before. We have no tours, so we will probably just wander the harbor front where there are lots of shops and restaurants.
August 29-30, 2026 – Saturday and Sunday – Two more sea days where we dont do a whole lot. We have gone to several trivia’s, with mixed results, but never great. Our best is in the 13 to 15 right out of 20 questions. Sometimes worse than that! We went to a game that I think was called Elevator Bingo. Probably 30 people showed up. There are 4 elevator doors and you stand in front of the door you think will open next. Dave thought it was stupid – I thought it was kind of fun.
Tomorrow we are back on land and have finished our crossing. Our port is Sydney, Nova Scoria, Canada.
August 28, 2026 – Friday – Our 3rd sea day in a row, so we are enjoying, sleeping late, a few activities onboard, and the food. At breakfast this morning, the Captain made a ship wide announcement looking for a blood donor with A+ or O- blood. This was a first in all my cruises, but somehow, in an odd way, made me feel like part of a community. I would imaging with over 2,000 passengers, they found donors.
We played a couple of trivias – and actually did pretty good once with 15 out of 20 (great for us!). Not the winner, but we were happy.
We had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants, actually the one considered a steakhouse. We have been there several times, and decided to order the Chilean Sea Bass. It was delicious, and probably our best meal so far!
Two more sea days before Sydney, NS, Canada.
August 27, 2026 – Thursday – Another sea day. We participated in a couple more trivia events. We never winners, but we always learn something. Colon the “piano man” had a late set last night but we stayed up. His late night sets attract a very energetic crowd…probably because they are younger than us! But it was fun! We have had a bit of a challenge getting the right wine at dinner…I don’t know if the servers think we won’t know the difference, but obviously my wine loving partner knows his wines! They did better tonight, but we ordered two different Chardonnays and when they roght them to the table they served me the wine Dave ordered and they served Dave the wine I ordered! At least they were the right wines and it was easy to switch glasses.
We are enjoying the 25 hour days! I think we have 3 more before we get to Boston.
August 26, 2026 – Wednesday – ugh! I am having issues getting to my blog ☹️. The site I am using has had a couple of updates recently, and I was having trouble, but would be able to edit after two or three tries. Today, I wasn’t sure I would be able to reach my site or not, but finally got in so I could post. However, since it is a sea day, not much to post!
We participated in trivia, and did pretty good for us – I think we had 14 out of 22? Something like that. We are never winners, and we never join teams, so for just the two of us, I think we do pretty good.
Since we don’t have together up early, we have been able to listen to two of Colon, the piano player, sets.
It was a beautiful day with warm sunshine. We spent some time on our balcony, and it was the first day in over a month that I could wear shorts!
Dave is improving every day….interesting that I have not caught whatever made him sick….yet…..
Today is the first of 5 sea days in a row which is much appreciated after a port intensive couple of weeks.
August 25, 2026 – Tuesday – Happy Birthday, Lily! We are docked in Cobh, Ireland, which is our last European port. Tomorrow begins a string of sea days as we head to Boston, stopping at two Canadian ports.
Cobh is the port for Cork, Kindale, and Blarney Castle. I was surprised to see the train station is conveniently right next to where we are docked! But we visited in 2013, when I had an encounter with the Blarney stone, and did not feel the need to return.
Dave is feeling better and we have plans to wander around Cobh.
The weather is overcast with periods of misting and rain. I have rain gear, but it seems more appropriate for an umbrella. So our first stop off the ship was to visit a shop where I bought an umbrella covered in green shamrocks, which seemed a better alternative to one with sheep all over.
Since the rain was holding off, we headed to the most distant sight, St. Colman’s Cathedral. It sits high on a hill above the port, is a large, imposing building. It opened for mass in 1879 but not finally completed until 1919. It is considered one of Ireland’s most beautiful church buildings. Sitting high on a hill mesns we had to walk up ramps and steps to reach it!
After the Cathedral, we found a memorial to the Lusitania. The Lusitania, a Cunard passenger liner, was traveling between the United States of America and Liverpool, England when on the 07th May 1915, it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat. The sinking was a tragedy of overwhelming proportion. Although 764 passengers and crew survived, tragically,1,196 passengers lost their lives. Both the survivors and many of those who lost their lives were ferried by boats to Cobh and accommodated in local buildings and hospitals. The Clonmel (Old Church) Cemetery, one mile north of the town, is where 168 people who perished are interred.
Next we found a memorial to the Titanic…
And another to Irish seafarers.
Just then it started to rain, but we were close to the Titanic Museum, which we had planned to visit. Unfortunately, there was a long line, all the tours were guided, and we would have to wait at least 2 hours for a tour. Since we had visited the Titanic museum in Belfast on a previous cruise, we decided not to visit this Titanic Museum.
In 2013, we stopped in Kelly’s bar for a refreshment and it is still operating. We tried to go inside, but it was packed and there was nowhere to sit. So we left!
Across from Kelly’s is the original office building of Cunard.
It is still raining and we thought about visiting the Queenstown Story Museum. Cobh was renamed Queenstown from 1849 to 1920, because of a visit by Queen Victoria in 1849. It’s name was reverted to Cobh during the Irish War of Independence. Cobh is a Gaelicisation of the English name Cove, and so Cobh is pronounced Cove.
Rick Steves did not rate the Queenstown Story Museum very high, saying it is an attempt to make the city’s history come to life. So we made the decision to head back to the ship. On the way, we pass a statue honoring Annie Moore.
On January 1st, 1892, Annie Moore, a 15 year old girl from County Cork, Ireland, made headlines as the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island.
Annie arrived at Ellis Island aboard the steamship Nevada with her two brothers, Anthony, who just turned 15, and Philip, 12. As the first person to pass inspection at the newly opened facility, she was presented with an American $10 gold piece from an American official.
She is honored by statues on both sides of the Atlantic at Ellis Island National Monument, New York Harbour and at the Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland.
She is cited in story, song and history books, and memorialized in dolls, collector’s plates and holiday ornaments. Her image will forever represent the millions who passed through Ellis Island in pursuit of the American Dream.
Back on the ship, we had lunch, listened to some music, and relaxed.
August 24, 2026 – Monday – Dave is still not feeling well and has decided not to go on our tour today, which is one he chose. It is a tour from Liverpool to Wales. After much debate with myself, I decided to go alone. Of course that means I took the pictures.
At the very start, the guide apologized because apparently the provider combined a couple of tours, and today’s tour is not exactly what we planned. But we are going to Conwy Castle, which is why we booked this tour.
It is a two hour drive to our first stop at a village in Wales, Betws-Y-Coed. I think this is a “comfort” stop, but we are allowed too much time in my opinion – 1 hour. It has a cute shopping area in front of the train station. One of the shops sold tea – unbelievable the number of different kinds of tea and flavors. The proprietor, Marco, knows everything about tea. I did not realize it was a tea shop, and told him I was just looking for a place to have a cup of tea and warm up. He made me a cup of darjeeling tea anyway after letting me smell about a dozen different teas. I also met his wife, who is from England but spent some time in Colorado. Actually, I had a very nice visit with them and of course bought some tea!
Then bus took us to Conwy, another 45 minutes away from Betws-Y-Coed. We are given 1 hour and 45 minutes todo whatever we want. Only because someone asked that our guide mentioned the castle….and we booked the tour to see the castle! So, I headed straight to the castle.
With lightning efficiency, Conwy Castle and its town walls were built in just four years. At the cutting edge of military technology, Conwy boasted high thick walls, with towers and turrets providing lethal fields of fire all bonded to a solid rock base. If attacked, the king’s apartments could be defended separately. Well supplied with fresh water and with its own dock, sieges could be withstood.
Conwy Castle was built by Edward I, during his conquest of Wales, between 1283 and 1287. Constructed as part of a wider project to create the walled town of Conwy, the combined defenses cost around £15,000, a massive sum for the period. Over the next few centuries, the castle played an important part in several wars. It withstood a siege in the winter of 1294–95, acted as a temporary haven for Richard II in 1399 and was held for several months by forces loyal to Owain Gyndŵr in 1401. Owain Gyndŵr was the last native-born Welshman to claim the title Prince of Wales, established an independent Welsh parliament, and remains a celebrated Welsh national hero.
Only three monarchs stayed in the royal apartments: Edward I, Edward Ill and Richard II.
I saw quite a bit of the castle, but would have liked more time as I kinda rushed.
After the castle, I bought my self a sandwich “to go”, and figured I’d eat my sandwich on the 2 hour ride back to the ship. Our guide had mentioned a grave in the cemetery of St. Mary’s church, so I checked that out.
After a visit to Conwy, the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) wrote a poem in 1798 about a conversation with a child in a churchyard. The poem quotes the child saying: “And two of us at Conway dwell.” The conversation seems to have fired Wordsworth’s imagination because the child insisted she was one of seven siblings. She was confident of this total and her explanations of her siblings’ whereabouts – including the two buried in the churchyard.
I wandered into the shops, and there was all kinds of souvenirs, gifts, foods, cheese, etc. saw a sign above a fish & chips restaurant.
Wandered back to the bus pick up point for the ride back to Liverpool. Sent Dave a text, as I’m hoping he got a lot of rest today and is feeling better.
August 23, 2026 – Sunday – Last night Dave realized we had onboard credits that were non-refundable, and said I could purchase an item I had looked at earlier in the cruise. I have always loved Mary Frances purses, and after admiring them for many years, this Florida girl has one!
Dave is still sick, probably worse than yesterday, but he managed to join me today
We are in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We have booked a tour through Viator, and 2 large busloads and 1 smaller busload of people have dine the same thing. We have been to Belfast before and remember touring the Titanic Museum, which was great. Generally, Dave and I do not like touring museums, but there are a gew that have been standouts, and the Titanic Museum in Belfast is one of the standouts. So we were looking for something different, and found an all day tour that included a visit to the “Giant’s Causeway”. The tour has a couple of other stops and photo ops.
The first stop was a photo op of the remains of Dunluce Castle, a medieval castle, started in the 13th century and added on in the 17th century.
It is about 1.5 hour drive from the ship to reach “Giant’s Causeway”. It is
an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking solid rock columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the foot of a cliff and then disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although some have between four and eight sides. The tallest are approximately 39 ft. high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 92 ft. thick in places. There are rock columns all over the place. Pictures cannot capture the vastness of these rock formationd.
Our guide told us this story: According to a legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant, Finn MacCool, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Finn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so the two could meet. Finn decides to hide from Benandonner when he realizes that his foe is much bigger than he is. Finn’s wife disguises Finn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the “baby”, he imagines that its father, Finn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Finn would be unable to chase him down. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns, a part of the same ancient lava flow, on the Scottish isle of Staffa.
It is about a 25 minute walk down and then back up. However, for 1£ apiece, each way, we can ride a shuttle bus. With Dave not feeling the best, and a long day planned for tomorrow…we took the bus!
The legend and knowing it is an unusual rock formation was more interesting than the site itself. We did walk on the stones, along with 100’s of other people. We are glad we saw it, but certainly don’t feel a need to return.
We drove through Ballycastle, which is a cute, seaside town. All the streets were closed because they were having a fair. We paused for a minute and I took a picture of a sign.
A little past the main part of town, we stopped at “The Lookout”, for lunch. Dave and I had very good fish and chips, and I had a Guinness!
After lunch, we drove the Antrim Coast Road which is said to be one of the most scenic drives in Europe. There are lots of sheep farms, and heather growing on the roadsides.
We had a photo stop at Portaneevy View Point where we could see the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. It connects the mainland to Rathlin Island, population 141. The first rope bridge across the neck of an island extinct volcano was from 1755. Originally built for salmon fisherman, with the current structure built in 2008, it is now mainly a tourist attraction. The rope bridge is 66 feet long and 98 feet above the rocks below. Apparently, it is scary to walk across as there have been instances where visitors, unable to face the walk back across the bridge, have had to be taken off the island by boat.
The bus headed back to the ship, which is about an hour away. Arriving in Belfast, we got a driving tour with our guide discussing “The Troubles”. Per our guide, The Troubles was a struggle over the status of Northern Ireland. Unionists and loyalists, who for historical reasons were mostly Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists and republicans, who were mostly Catholic, wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland. Despite the division between Protestants and Catholics, it was not a religious war. The Troubles lasted about 30 years, from in the 1960’s into the 1990’s. The guide called the Belfast streets “shackled”, which I think she meant there were fences with gates separating the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods. These gates are still closed at night which makes the residents feel secure.
Hopefully Dave is feeling better tomorrow. We will be in Liverpool. We have been to Liverpool, and had a fabulous tour several years ago. This time we booked a tour to Wales, as we have not been to Wales.
August 22, 2026 – Saturday – Today we are in, or near, Stornoway, Scotland on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Stornoway is the capitalof both the Isle of Lewis and the encompassing island of Lewis and Harris. The island has two names, apparently relating to Scottish clan and the ownership of land by different clans. The town of Stornoway is about 2.7 miles from where our ship is docked.
My photographer has got a bit of a cold, so I will be on my own today for a ship excursion, “The Historic Island of Lewis”. The excursion does not visit the town of Stornoway. Dave is going to rest so he will be prepared for our next ports, which are suppose to be warmer. The temperature this morning was low 50’s, but warmed up to about 60°.
Our first site is an hour drive from the ship. On the way, we pass an arch made from the lower jawbone of an 82 foot blue whale that washed ashore in 1920. A harpoon that struck the whale hangs suspended from the center of the arch. The arch is 20 feet tall with each bone measuring about 25 feet and weighing 4 tons. The bones have been coated in fiberglass to protect them from the weather.
We continued on to “The Geárrannan Blackhouses”. The original settlement at Geárrannan was at least two thousand years ago. The site sits on a gentle slope up from a natural harbor.
The blackhouse village that we are visiting is a restored village of of nine houses and one croft (as I understand it, a croft is basically tenant farmers living off the land and crafts such as weaving) with origins from the late 17th century. The crofts provided potatoes, oats and barley. The common grazings readed sheep and cattle, and the moorland provided peat for fuel. The sea was rich and earnings could be made by fishing.
Two world wars and young people leaving the village resulted in the population diminishing so that by the 1950’s, only a few aging residents were left who were unable to do the maintenance that the houses require. Four women and one man were moved out of the village in 1974. A trust was set up in 1989 to restore and preserve the blackhouse village for educational and tourism purposes. Of the nine houses, one is a Youth Hostel and four offer self-catering accomodation, which have been modernized. One is a museum, furnished from the 1950’s, representing life in a blackhouse. The others are buildings for restrooms, a Reception Center, an Office and an Interpretation Center.
The houses were built on a slope with family staying on the higher ground and animals on the lower ground. They are stacked stone with thatched rooms. Peat was used as fuel, which would turn the inside of the houses black, and our guide said over time, the residents skin would also turn black. We could smell the burning peat, as it was a bit chilly.
The second site we visited was a “broch”, a prehistoric stone roundhouse dating from 1,900 to 2,300 years ago. They were probably built to reflect the prestige and status of their inhabitants, as they were primarily dwellings. They would have provided some protection against sporatic raiding, but were not purely defensive structures. It sat on a higher piece of land and the surrounding views were beautiful. To enter, you had to crouch down and “duck-walk”. Once inside, there were more places you could access, but again had to crouch snd do a “duck-walk”. I crouched and “duck-walked” through one opening that led to interior stone stairs, that were not OSHA certified (😁). However, at a certain point, the “stairs” were so bad, I decided to turn back as I did not want to fall and break my leg.
This was the end of our tour and the bus headed back to the ship. At one point along the way, the driver paused so we could take pictures from the bus of the “Calanais Standing Stones” in the distance. The stones are a prehistoric stone circle and stone alignment built around 2750BC, similar to Stonehenge. Originally we were suppose to visit the stones, but for some reason the stones were scratched from our tour making me and lots of people unhappy.
Back at the ship I had lunch with Dave. He said he was glad he got to rest today as he is hoping to do the excursions on our next ports. 🤞
August 21, 2026 – Friday – Today we are at anchor in Bressy Sound, near Lerwick, Shetland Island’s main town and capital. Shetland Islands are part of Scotland, which is part of the UK. An announcement was made that everyone has togo through immigration since theis is the first UK port after leaving Denmark. Fortunately, it was no big deal. Honestly, it seems like the UK is protecting immigration officer jobs, because like on Cunard, he just glanced at my passport and said “OK”…took 5 seconds at most!
My photographer has got a bit of a cold, so I will be on my own today for a ship excursion, “The Historic Island of Lewis”. The excursion does not visit the town of Stornoway. Dave is going to rest so he will be prepared for our next ports, which are suppose to be warmer. The temperature this morning was low 50’s, but warmed up to about 60°.
Our first site is an hour drive from the ship. On the way, we pass an arch made from the lower jawbone of an 82 foot blue whale that washed ashore in 1920. A harpoon that struck the whale hangs suspended from the center of the arch. The arch is 20 feet tall with each bone measuring about 25 feet and weighing 4 tons. The bones have been coated in fiberglass to protect them from the weather.
We have been in Bressy Sound, hoping to visit Lerwick in 2022. Unfortunately, I was in quarantine due to COVID and could not get off the ship. It is such as cute looking town, I was happy we made it back.
After getting our card that says we have passed immigration, we decided to have breakfast, because, this is, hopefully, our coldest port at 50° with 15mph winds, overcast and fog moving in and out. Brrrr. I can hardly believe I used to row in Lemon Bay as long as it was above 40°….not anymore….I’ve raised my standard to not row unless it is at least 60°.
We do not have warm clothes. I have on a long sleeve blouse, a long sleeve t-shirt, a sweater, and a hoodie with my jeans. It was bearable, but still chilly.
We have to take the tender, or lifeboat used as a shuttle, to get to visit the town.
The Shetland Islands are known for Shetland ponies, and Shetland wool among other things. I had a 3 mile walk planned.
We saw a “Diana” fountain as soon as we walked off the tender. I thought it was a memorial to Princess Diana, but it was actually about a whaling ship. The memorial, made in 1890, pays tribute to the crew of the Hull whaling ship Diana, which had many people from Shetland on board. In 1866 she became stuck in ice for more than six months, resulting in some of the crew dying. Other crew were said to be malnourished and were left in poor health, with the ship eventually returning to another port in the Shetland Islands in 1867. The drinking fountain on the memorial has since been replaced by a chalice.
The town is really cute and the locals are out in force asking if they can help us. The locals are super friendly. With the cold weather, and not wanting to walk in open area where the wind made it even chillier, we scraped the walk and decided to just check out the town, do a little shopping, and see what we could that was near the port area where the tender dropped us.
We could see Fort Charlotte, so we walked there first and explored the grounds. The Fort is on a hill, so the views back over the water are nice. It was first built in 1652, later burnt to the ground by the Dutch in 1673.
It was rebuilt in its current form in 1781 and named after Queen Charlotte, but has never seen service during hostilities since then. From 1837 to 1875 it was used as the town jail and courthouse and later a custom house and a coastguard station. Currently, it is managed by Historic Preservation Scotland and used as a base for part of Britain’s army reserves.
We could see the town hall from the fort and walked there. It looks like a church because it has several stained glass windows, but was originally built as a town hall and still is. It opened in 1883. We could not enter the building because it was closed for the summer, while they connect it to the town’s heating system.
We walked back to the main street, Commercial Street, and checked out some shops. At different shops we bought fudge, two books, Pringles and some hand soap made by the disabled.
Last, but not least, here is our walk in Lerwick.
August 20, 2026 – Thursday- Sea Day and formal night. We tried to do a little laundry. Our status on Princess gives us free laundry, but so many people have that perk, it is taking 4 days to get our laundry back. We have been sending out most of our laundry, but thought we’d do a quick load of a couple of things. Ha! That turned out to be wishful thinking! The washing machine was suppose to take 45 minutes. We left and came back, and the time had barely counted down! Other people came in, started their machine and were in a dryer whike we were watching our machine slowly count down. An attendant came in, and I was asking him about our machine. He said there were problems either in on the last cruise, too. After about 90 minutes, it finally finished, but I don’t think the spin cycle was very effective as the clothes were pretty wet. So, I took my clothes out and put them in the dryer. The attendant who was standing there the whole time puts an “out of service” sticker on my machine. I think it was the readon he was there, stood with us watching the machine not count down, and listened to me complain! If it wasn’t working last cruise, why didn’t he put the out of order sign on it last cruise? Rant over – just frustrating!
August 19, 2026 – Wednesday – Today is the turn around day – the end of the first segment of our cruise and the beginning of the second segment. We are in Copenhagen and decided not to visit Copenhagen again as we spent 3 days there before our cruise started. We were advised that we’d have to go through immigration and everyone had to leave the ship by 9:20 AM, to get the ship down to a zero count. It was a disaster. The problem is with the new immigration rules in several European countries. They are just not prepared yet to process 2,500 cruise ship passengers. We had to walk to an adjacent terminal building where we waited for over 3 hours. There were 1,087 passengers that were doing the back-to-back cruise like us, so we have all gone through immigration before we boarded on August 7. Then, newly arriving passengers were directed to this same terminal building. I felt Princess did what they could to help the situation – they sent coffee and pastries, and even hired buses to take us back to the terminal building for our cruise ship. After our 3 hour wait in the adjacent terminal building, it probably took another hour in lines before we finally got to reboard the ship. And, our face to face meeting with the immigration official probably took less than one minute because our documents were all in order. After everyone was finally back onboard, the ship left Copenhagen about 90 minutes late. The captain made an announcement apologizing for the disaster, and indicated that it was due to the new immigration procedures.
Back in our stateroom, we have a notice that before our first port in the Shetland Islands, we will have to go through immigration again. This one is for the UK. Hopefully it will go faster than Denmarks. But…when we disembarked the Queen Mary 2 in Southhampton, we had to stand in line to have a face to face with a UK immigration officer. That was a joke becaue he just glanced at our passports and asked how long we’d be in the UK. I asked if he needed to see our immigration document and he said no,all the passengers passports had already been checked electronically! So I don’t know what the purpose was of standing in line just so he could glance at my passport, and 1,000’s of other passengers.
End of rant…..
August 18, 2026 – Tuesday – We are in Skagen, Denmark which is at the very northern yip of Denmark with the Baltic sea on one side and the North Sea on the other. It is a small town, with a population of 7,000. No hospital and no high school, which I believe our guide said is 100km or about 62 miles away. Our guides name pronounced the city’s name as “skien”.
Our guides name is Ann, and as we walk out of the port, she points to a sign and said it was the coat of arms for Skagen.
The area we are in has several huts that Ann called fishing huts. She said fishermen use the huts as they prepare to go fishing, and also when they need time away from their wives!
Rosehips are an invasive species in the city and tend to take over the native plants. This causes a problem for the wildlife, especially the birds, which eat the bugs that live on the native plants. So the city has a program to eliminate all rosehip planting except those in peoples yards. The people of Skagen love their birds.
The city, over the years, became a big draw for artists because of the light. Also writers came, and the city was known fir it’s culture.
The architecture of the city has changed over time. Initially the city was very isolated and houses were generally built from wood salvaged from shipwrecks. Then the wood was sealed with tar, so the houses were black. Every piece of salvaged wood was precious in the early days. Then as the city became less isolated, they were able to obtain wood and wanted to paint the houses. The only color paint available in town was yellow, so many houses are yellow. There is one area in the city that restricts changes to the houses so the houses have to remain black or yellow. New houses are built with red brick, so the newer parts of town are easily recognized.
In the early days, children would collect stones from the beach that had holes in the center. They would insert a rope and drag them around, saying they were cows !?! Ann said people still collect the stones which they call cow stones and use them for decoration inside and outside their homes.
We walked to the city museum which included buildings and outside areas. The first thing we saw in the museum was a windmill.
Another building was a lifeboat station. With all the shipwrecks, it was important to have the lifeboats ready to go and try to rescue people from shipwrecks.
Inside one of the museum buildings was a lifeboat from the 1800’s.
In the same room was pictures of many of the men who manned the lifeboats. They were given medals when they rescued people. One man, Lars Anderson Kruse (1828 – 1894) had hidden a piece of wood from the authorities he found as a child, when wood was precious. Because of this misdemeanor, even though he rescued people he was not given medals. An important writer of poems and prose at the time, Holger Drachmann, wrote about how heroic Lars was, and how the authorities were not giving Lars medals for all his efforts in rescuing people. The authorities were shamed from the publicity of Holger Drachmann’s writings, and Lars was subsequently awarded medals. He later drowned in 1894 while trying to reach land in a violent snowstorm.
The museum showed how storage sheds used old lifeboats as roofs. This became popular so some people bought new lifeboats on purpose to use as roofs!
There were two fisherman’s homes that had been moved to the museum – a rich fisherman and a poor fisherman.
The rich fisherman’s house was built in 1836. It had a good kitchen, a separate dining room, a pantry with a little barn room attached for the sheep and a cow. The sheep roamed loose most of the year, but in very cold weather were brought in. The wealthy fisherman’s house who lived in this house rented a cow for the summer to be self-sufficient in milk (they did not say what he did for milk in the winter!). The house also had beds, and a rope hanging from the ceiling to help pull oneself up out of bed.
The poor fisherman’s house was small, and Ann said it was likely the fisherman, his wife, kids and parents all lived in the little house. She said there wasn’t enough room for them to lay down and sleep, but there were two single size beds. It was basically one room. It was built in 1898, and an example of how most fishermen lived in the middle of the 19th century.
A picture in the museum illustrated how the day’s catch was unloaded, and fish drying racks.
Leaving the museum, our guide pointed out birdhouses made to look like lifeboat stations.
Skagen is known for it’s church buried in sand. St. Laurentius was a 14th century Gothic brick church that closed in 1795 due to encroaching sand dunes. Congregation members had to dig through the sand to attend services. Today, only a portion of its whitewashed square tower remains visible above the sand. In the late 14th century, it was the largest church in the region.
A Protestant Church has been built to replace the church in the sand. We could not go in the Protestant Church as it was covered in scaffolding being renovated.
Fishing in Skagen has changed, and the new fishing vessels are modern and large. This one was close to our ship.
Last but not least, this was our walk in Skagen.
August 17, 2026 – Monday – We are docked in Oslo, with a slight chance of rain, some wind and cool temperatures. At least some of my weather apps promised improving weather, and they were right. No rain and it warmed up nicely. We planned out our own, ambitious, walk today. We headed east to the first sight, Oslo Manor House, passing the Oslo Opera House.
Oslo Manor House is located in Oslo’s medieval quarter. It dates from 1720 It is found in the heart of the medieval center and is said to features paintings, furniture and decoration from different artistic eras. The house’s former attic has scale models of Oslo in medieval times, and an exhibition on burial rites in the Middle Ages. But, we could not get in. Apparently it was closed despite what it said on its website. Not a good start.
Next we walked to Minneparken, or Memorial Park. Minneparken is the site of ruins from three 12th century buildings: Saint Hallvard’s Cathedral, Holy Cross Church and Saint Olav’s Monastery. They are definitely in ruins, and really not much to look at.
Saint Hallvard’s Cathedral is notable as the first cathedral in the city. It was built in the early 12th century and later used as the coronation church and royal wedding church.
Next we walked to Middelalderparken, Medieval Park. Within Medieval Park are the three medieval ruins: Saint Clement’s Church, Saint Mary’s Church and Oslo Kongsgard.
Saint Clement’s Church, a stone church is thought to have been built around the year 1100. However, more than 80 burials were discovered beneath the church that have been carbon dated to the year 980. These burials are believed to be some of the oldest Christian burials in Norway.
The graves are oriented in different directions, which shows that there were churches on the site before the stone church was built. The earlier churches were probably made of wood.
Saint Mary’s Church was a stone church, possibly built in the 1200s, which was preceded by wooden, stave church constructed around the year 1050. During excavation, the remains of King Haakon V and Queen Consort Euphemia of Rugen were found. Those remains were removed to Akershus Fortress.
Saint Olav’s Monastery was a Dominican order monastery that was established in the 12th century. There is a Saint Olav’schurch, but a sign said it only welcomed pilgrims.
The least is known about Holy Cross Church. It is believed to be constructed prior to 1240.
Oslo Kongsgard was the 11th century royal residential palace. It served in this capacity until Akershus Fortress was built.
We have been struggling with directions in my app, and even trying to use google maps. As a result, we made a big, needless detour which included walking over a huge bridge and then wandering around trying to find our next sight. Finally we went back to where we started.
Finally we went back to where we started, Oslo Manor House, got our bearings, and walked to Gamlebyan Church, also known as Old Town Church. It is built on medieval ruins. Unfortunately, it was surrounded with construction and we could not get close.
Across the street from the church was Gamlebyan Gravlund. The oldest grave at Gamlebyan belongs to Barbara Margarethe Brockmann Schnitlek who passed away on May 1, 1829.
We are still struggling with the app and directions which continued all day. We decided to head to the newer part of Oslo and visit Oslo Cathedral.
On the way to the Oslo Cathedral, we passed an interesting bicycle parking lot (?).
Oslo Cathedral is very large, but does not charge admission like some of the other churches we visited. We did make a donation. One of the most interesting features to me was an elevated “box seat” with a royal emblem on the front. Obviously it is reserved for Norway’s royalty, whose palace is straight down an adjacent street.
Leaving the cathedral, we look down the street towards the palace.
As we got closeer to the palace, we saw police on horseback!
We continued walking toward the palace, but it was way past lunchtime. We stopped and had a pricey (to us) lunch of fish and chips and 2 sodas for about $75. Earlier we stopped for water and a small coffee, for about $8.50. Eating out in Norway is expensive.
We walked to the Palace, where they were setting up for a musical event.
We did not go in the Palace, but explored the grounds a little.
We were window shopping and look what we saw!
And last but not least, here is our walk in Oslo!
August 16, 2026 – Sunday- It is a sea day and we did nothing! We wanted to just rest and relax as this cruise is very port intensive. The highlight of the day was passing under the Storebaeltsbroen Bridge, or the Great Belt Bridge. It is 22,277 feet long, put in service on 6/14/1998. It gives a highway and train service between Copenhagen and the Danish mainland.
With 3 pictures of a bridge, obviously a slow day. As we went under the bridge, the captain sounded the horn. Probably to wake us all up!
It was a formal night and we attended the Captain’s farewell party – except the captain wasn’t there – the staff captain came instead.
August 15, 2026 – Saturday – We are visiting Gotland, a Swedish island. The town where we are docked is Visby.
We have a ship’s excursion today and our guide walks us through gardens which used to be the harbor. It has been filled in and a new harbor built. She pointed out the old city wall as we walked toward the museum.
Entering the museum, in the first room we saw several picture stones from between the 5th and 12th centuries. Our guide said it is hard to date them because of being made from stone.
Between the 5th and 12th centuries, islanders carved and incised images on stones. The period is known as the Iron Age and ends with the Viking Age.
They tell stories of life and death, of belief in gods and supernatural figures and of renowned events from true life.
During the Silurian, our continent was at the equator in a tropical climate.
Numerous marine animals and plants lived in the sea that covered parts of the continent. Some animals had shells or skeletons of lime that ended up on the sea floor when they died. After millions of years, shell and skeletal parts became petrified calcareous sediments.
Today, a small part of this old seabed sticks out of the Baltic Sea as the island we call Gotland.
The man from Stora Bjers Farm lived in the Upper Paleolithic Stone Age, about 8,800 years ago. The thick glacial ice, which covered Scandinavia, began to retreat about 14,000 years ago.
Gotland rose from the sea, and when the Baltic Sea became ice-free about 9,000 years ago, humans began to populate the island. The man Stora Bjers man, was one of them; he is one of the very oldest-known Gotlanders.
The grave was discovered in a sand quarry beside the main road at the farm Stora Bjers in Stenkyrka in 1953.
The skeleton was fragile, but unusually well preserved.
The entire grave was transported to Gotland Museum for closer examination, where he remains. The man was about 170 cm (5’7″) tall and 30-40 years old when he died.
The Stora Bjers man was interred in a fetal or sleeping position, along with grave goods, in the burial ground which was then beside the sea. Grave goods included two red deer antler tines, which may have been used as flint sharpening tools, some sharp flint flakes, perhaps a small knife with a wooden handle that the man had been buried holding it in his right hand.
The man had died following the blow of a flint axe on his lower jaw; some teeth are missing. A bone point with flint barbs had penetrated his hip and lodged in his pelvis. The weapon may have been an arrow, a fish spear or a larger spear. He had probably been stabbed several times in his upper torso. The man also has a hole in the crown of his skull, which was the result of a blow. The man actually survived and walked around with the wound for a long period of time prior to his death. The edges of the hole are smooth and rounded, indicating that it had begun to heal.
After telling us about the Stora Bjers man, our guide noted that very recently an older skeleton of a woman with a fetus was found.
The people living in medieval times would store valuables under their houses in the belief they could come back after they die and retrieve the valuables. Since that didn’t happen, the valuables are being found in the modern day. One such find was a huge hoard of silver.
After the museum, we drove to Stemkula Church, a medieval house of worship. It features 15th-century wall paintings, an 800-year-old triumphal cross, and historic runestones on its grounds. It holds a unique place in local history as the burial site of the convicted criminal from Sweden’s last public execution.
Konrad Tektor was a notorious Swedish criminal whose final chapter concluded on Gotland. After a botched coach robbery on the mainland that resulted in murder, Tektor and his accomplice fled on a crime spree across Gotland. He was arrested and imprisoned at the Visby cell prison, in cell #30. (Our guide said the prison is now a hotel and you can stay in one of the cells.) On May 18, 1876, Tektor was executed by decapitation at Stenkumla Backe, just south of Visby. He became the last person to be publicly executed in Sweden. His final resting place is at the nearby Stenkumla Churchyard, where his gravestone uses the alternative spelling “Tecktor”.
We boarded the bus and drove near Gnisvärd, a small fishing village. Just before the village we stopped to see an area occupied during the bronze age, with boat shaped graves. This was a very big boat shaped stone grave and only one person is buried here.
Gnisvärd is a fishing village inTofta on the central west coast of the island of Gotland, Sweden. Gnisvärd is mostly known for its stone ships and harbor.
One of the more noted persons from Gnisvärd was Anna Chartlotta Ganström, (our guide called her Lottie) (30 March 1837 – 14 September 1912). Her mother died when she was young. As the only daughter of a fisherman, with four brothers, she started out as a maid and later became one of Gotland’s first female professional fishermen.
The island is picturesque and I wish we would have had time to visit the actual town center of Visby. We were suppose to sail away at 3:00PM, which was a pretty short port visit, but because of high winds, I don’t think we left until after 5:30PM.
Because of the length of this trip, I needed to get my finger nails done. I tried to find some place in Copenhagen for our turnaround day, but nothing seemed to work out. The last time I had my nails done on a ship, the technician did a lousy job…so I was hesitant. But, with Dave’s encouragement, I made the appointment and had my nails done. The technition, Nikita from South Africa, was very nice. I told Dave the real test will be if they last until we get home. Last night I dreamed my fingernails fell off! Fortunately, it was just a dream and my nails still look good this morning.
We have been enjoying music by a piano player in Crooner’s lounge every evening after dinner. Somehow after our years of cruising, shows in the theater featuring magicians, comedians, hypnotists, etc. do not interest us. But we are enjoying the piano player!
August 14, 2026 – Friday – We are docked in Nynashamm, Sweden, which is a port for Stockholm, except it is an hour away by train. We took the train, which is just over 1 mile from the ship. We have been to Stockholm twice before, 2002 and 2005. Dave has a fabulous memory and remembers all the sites we have already seen. With his prodding, I remember them as we see them. There is lots to see in Stockholm…we couldn’t decide exactly what we wanted to do. As we wandered, we heard loud music, which was from a Cultural Fair. The music was live singers. There were lots of food and drink vendors, and Dave spotted this cute truck…
He was thinking those barrels might be wine! But no, it was beer and a story behind it. Melleruds Bryggeri started brewing in 1904. When the brewery first started, it only produced pilsner and lattol (don’t know what this is – the traslator app called it lattol) and it was not until the late fifties that it began to produce strong beer. Melleruds was one of Sweden’s first strong beer breweries.
At first, the beer was distributed by horse and cart. The horses were so trained in their routes that they knew exactly where to stop, outside every house. It was not until the late 1940s that the beer began to be delivered by car. In the 1940s and 1950s, the state still had, in today’s eyes, strict rules regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages. For example, you could only buy a beer at a café, then you had to go to another place. Or, as many did, go out the door and then go back in. The Mellerud truck or “Drickabilen” as it was popularly called, drove through Mellerud and the surrounding towns with the cargo space fully loaded with soft drinks, beer and sugary drinks. You had to stop the car yourself and buy the supplies you needed. The beer from the Mellerud brewery was drunk by everyone in the area until 1959 when the brewery was closed down.
In 2013, a brewmaster, Richard Bengtsson, re-launched a stronger version of Mellerud’s original pilsner.
Now almost 100 years later, the Mellerud truck is back on the roads to hand out a cold Mellerud to everyone in need.
We continued walking and reached Gamla Stan. Lots of tourists. We wandered a bit and came upon Stortorget Square which was the heart of medieval Stockholm in the 1400’s. The old stock exchange is now the home to the Nobel Prize Museum.
Also the home to colorful houses which are featured on many paintings and postcards.
We decided to follow a modified version of Rick Steves walking tour, choosing points we wanted to see or see sgain. As we walked toward the Royal Palace, we were outside the gates as the changing of the guard was taking place. (As Dave reminded me, we have seen the changing of the guard previously). But we got to see some of the pageantry.
After the pageantry, we walked to the Stockholm Cathedral. Rick Steves pointed out a telephone booth that is next to the Cathedral.
This church, located in Gamla Stan, is Stockholm’s oldest, from the 14th century. We did not go in, but Crown Princess Victoria, heir to the throne, married her personal trainer in June 2010.
We saw this obelisk that honors Stockholm’s merchant class for its support in a 1788 war against Russia. I think the white tops of tents are part of the cultural fair!
We found the tiniest public statue, out of 600, in Stockholm. Local legend says it honors orphsns wgo had to transfer cargo from sea ships to lake ships. The artist says it’s simply a portrait of himself as a child, sitting on his bed and gazing at the moon. Apparently, local dogs think it is there for another purpose! It is small, less than 10” tall.
Another statue, much larger than Iron Boy!
A cannon barrel guards a Viking-age rune stone. Supposedly it says, “Torsten and Frogun erected this stone in memory of their son”. It is one of those sites that interest me, but are sometimes hard to find. The stone is part of the corner of a building, and hard for me to believe it survived all these years.
After the rune stone, we were hungry for lunch. We stopped in a little Italian sandwich shop, and the sandwiches were very good!
After lunch, we walked to an overlook that showed where the shoreline used to be. The land has been reclaimed and developed. We walked along what was once the shoreline to another square which used to be the customs square. This square is the hime to Sweden’s first bank in 1680.
An interesting well with handles to pump water was in the center of the square.
At this point we were ready to go back to the ship. My google maps had us confused, and Dave is very good with directions. We spotted a metro and decided it was likely we could take a metro to the train station! It was very easy to take the metro, and it was only one stop.
August 13, 2026 – Thursday – We watched the eclipse on TV last evening as we did not have eclipse glasses, and it was only a partial eclipse in Tallinn, Estonia.
Today we are docked in Helsinki, Finland. We have been here twice before, and we struggled to find something we wanted to do today. We decided to take the ship’s shuttle bus into town and wander around. We did a (very) little shopping… my eye shadow cake got smashed to pieces, so I thought I’d buy a new one. I was shocked at the prices! For one little eye shadow cake the prices were like 40€ to 60€! After much searching, I found an off brand one for 10€ and felt like I found a bargain! At least we spent a couple of hours off the ship. Only 3 pictures today.
Tonight we have reservations in Crown Grill, which is the steak house onboard.
August 12, 2026 – Wednesday – We are docked in Tallinn, Estonia. It is a long day as we don’t depart until 10:00PM. This is also the day of the solar eclipse. About 40% of Tallinn’s population is ethnic Russian. On our first visit to Tallinn, our guide told us that when the Russian’s were in power here, Russia moved many of their citizens from Russia to Estonia. That guide also told us that Estonians hate the Russians.
We did a walking tour designed by Rick Steves. We started out by taking a shuttle bus to the edge of the Tallinn Old Town district. Then we walked to the beginning of our walk, which was “Fat Margaret Tower”. This tower guarded the entry gate of the town in medieval times when the sea was much higher than today. It was big to intimidate anyone coming into town. It dates from the 16th century. The origin of the name is a mystery.
Then we walked on Pikk Street, also known as “Long Street”. It is lined with interesting and historic buildings, such as “Three Sisters”. Three Sisters is an example of a merchant house/warehouse/office from the 15th century.
Our next stop is the Gothic St. Olav’s Church – which is a Baptist Church today! It once had the tallest spire in the land! Unfortunately lightning strikes caused the church to burn to the ground three times. I think it started as a Catholic Church, but after the Reformation came to town, it became Lutheran. Not sure how it became Baptist.
We walked past a building that before 1991 was KHB headquarters. There were KGB prison cells in the basement of the building where “creative” interrogation methods were used. It was called the “tallest” building in town, because when you were in the basement prison cells, you could already “see” Siberia.
The Brotherhood of the Black Heads building was built in 1440, and used as a merchants’ club for nearly 500 years until Hitler invaded. The Black Heads, a business fraternity, was limited to single German men. Because single men were considered unattached to the community, they had no power on the Hanseatic social structure. Once he married a local woman, he automatically gained a vested interest in the town’s well-being and could join the Great Guild which gave him status with a promising future.
The Russian Embassy is on this same street. There is a barricade in front of the building lined with Ukrainian flags and posters protesting the war. There were a couple of police cars present, apparently to contain any protests.
We visited a couple of churches, the first was the Church of the Holy Ghost. It is one of the churches that charge admission, 3€, but only 2€ for pensioners …which I pointed out! So far, all the churches that charge take Apple Pay! The church retains its medieval feel, from the 14th century, with creaky wooden floors, and wood carvings on pews. It had no lavish decoration like many European churches, mostly plain with some paintings of religious scenes. The religious paintings were to help the illiterate who could not read the bible.
Walking a little further, we came to the Town Hall Square. It was a big open square surrounded by touristy eateries. In medieval times, criminals were chained to pillories for public humiliation, and knights would show off in chivalrous tournaments.
We walked UP (!) to the upper town along a steep, cobble stone lane called “Short Leg Lane” to the city walls and gardens. The city wall once had 46 towers of which there are still 26 standing. There are a couple of towers that can be climbed, but we don’t feel the need to climb towers anymore! Several of the churches have towers you can climb, for a fee, but we didn’t climb those, either.
Walking through an arch in the city wall, we see the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It is a Russian Orthodox Cathedral Built in 1900. The Russians built this church when Estonia was part of the Russian Empire. The Russians were oppressing ethnic groups like the Estonians, so this building was like a jab in the eye for Estonians. In order to build this massive church, the Russians tore down a statue of Martin Luther. From the outside, the church looks like it is several stories high. We were only able to access the first floor. It had many glittering icons and a big iconostasis screen shields the altar from the congregation. There are no pews, as the worshippers stand throughout the service. As we left the church, there were two (apparently) Russian ladies begging. Again, on our first trip, our guide told us the older Russian ladies would stand outside the church and beg…so they are still there.
Across from the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is the Toompea Castle, a pink palace. Today it is the home of Estonian Parliament.
We visited a couple of viewpoints overlooking the city before calling it a day. We walked 4.31 miles, which isn’t really that far, but it was mostly on lanes and walkways made of cobblestones.
Evening of August 11, 2026: We have found a lounge with a piano player, Colon Salter, that plays “our” music. We’ve been having fun singing along with many of his songs
Somehow I convinced Dave to try Makato Ocean Specislty Testaurant, which is a Japanese restaurant onboard. It was surprising how busy it was! It was a set menu with several courses.
(KAESHI);
TAI*,
(SESAME, YUZU KOSHO);
KING SALMON
(SESAME, LEMON ZEST);
BOTAN EBI (KOMBU OIL)
(YUZU KOSHO, SERRANO) SCALLOP (CITRUS, SEA SALT);
SEARED BLUEFIN TUNA BELLY
(MOMIJI OROSHI, PONZU, CHIVES);
UNAGI
(SESAME, SANSHO PEPPER)
(MISO CARAMEL, HONEY CRUMB)
So, I was surprised that we enjoyed the dinner, and it was filling, but I don’t think we will do this dinner again. We enjoyed the sushi restaurant on Celebrity more than this restaurant.
August 11, 2026 -Tuesday – We are docked in Riga, Latvia for a short visit, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. We designed our own walking tour as we have been here years ago, 2005.
Our first site is Riga Castle. It has been rebuilt and remodeled countless times, but the original castle was built here in 1330.
The structure suffered major damage after a fire incident in 2013. Claiming over 3,200 square meters of the castle, including much of the roof and attic. None of the priceless art collections housed in the museums were affected.
Today the castle is the official residence of the President of Latvia and the Latvian government.
The next site we walked to was Riga Cathedral. It is the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral. The cathedral is one of Latvia’s most iconic landmarks.
The church was established near the River Daugava in 1211. It is recognized as the largest medieval church in the Baltic states and has undergone numerous modifications throughout its history.
I found this tidbit interesting…In a 1923 referendum, the Lutheran Church was compelled to share the cathedral with the Roman Catholic Church. However, this decision was reversed in the 1931 Latvian Riga Cathedral referendum, restoring it solely to the Lutheran Church. During the Soviet occupation from 1939 to 1989, religious services were banned, and the cathedral functioned as a concert hall. Religious services resumed in 1991.
There was a flood in 1709 and asign said the pews in the church were floating like boats on the river!
The stained glass windows….
A prominent feature of the Riga Cathedral is its organ, built in Germany, in 1882-83 and inaugurated on January 31, 1884. During World War II, a recording captured the sound of battle as Latvian composer Lūcija Garūta played the organ for a cantata.
Next we walked to The Three Brothers, a unique set of architectural treasures in Old Riga. The name applies to three adjacent houses, each built at different times and in different styles. Together the treehouses represent the oldest dwellings in the city, and each one demonstrates a different development period.
The oldest house on the far right dates from the late 1400s. It has crow-stepped gables and a few Gothic and Renaissance details. The interior is one large room with an attic.
The exterior of the middle house is from 1646. It has elements of Dutch Mannerism and a distinctive pale yellow exterior. Above the door, the Latin inscription reads, “Glory to God alone!”
The house on the far left is the newest, a narrow Baroque structure last updated in the 17th century. The green color was meant to guard against evil spirits.
I think the next site is the fifth place we walked to, The Swedish Gate and the Old City Wall. It is what’s left of the once mighty fortification system that surrounded Riga in the Middle Ages. Much of the complex, built between the 13th and 16th centuries, was destroyed by time or invaders or torn down in the 19th century.
The Swedish Gate is the only city gate still in place, and was built in 1698 by the Swedes, who ruled the city at that time. The apartment above the gate is said to have been, at some point, occupied by an executioner who used to put a red rose in the window each time a convict was beheaded.
I messed up, as we were supposed to to walk through theSwedish Gate, but we only walked in front of it ☹️.
The next site was The Powder Tower, originally part of the city’s defensive system. It has been standing since at least 1330. The structure as it is today was rebuilt in 1650 after being destroyed, except for the basement, during the Swedish attack on Poland in 1621.
The walls facing the city’s outskirts are three meters thick, showcasing its defensive purpose, while the city-side wall was constructed of wood, a cheaper material than bricks at the time. The tower’s name, “Powder Tower,” originates from the 17th century when it was used to store gunpowder. It was also armed with 11 cannons and featured a robust “bomb catcher” between the fifth and sixth floors, consisting of a one-meter-thick ceiling made from three layers of oak and pine logs, designed to absorb the impact of attacks.
Beyond its military use, the Powder Tower has also served as a prison and housed torture chambers, and weapons were stored there until 1883. Cannonballs embedded in the walls commemorate the Second Northern War, adding to the historical ambiance of the structure.
In modern times, the Powder Tower was renovated from 1937 to 1940.
Bastion Hill is a historic and picturesque park in the heart of Riga. Originally a sand rampart, it has been transformed into an outdoor recreational spot. The transformation of Bastion Hill began in 1859 with the planting of the first trees and flowers, marking its early development into a green space.
In 1883, a pedestrian wooden bridge was constructed over the moat, now a scenic winding canal. A major redesign in 1888 included relocating some plants, introducing new walking paths leading to the hill’s summit, and adding waterfalls, which greatly enhanced the park’s charm and usability.
Further adding to its appeal, in 1893, the park became home to a gift of a pair of swans.
We enjoyed taking a little break in the park, taking advantage of its benches and also enjoying the flowers.
The Freedom Monument commemorates the soldiers who fell during the Latvian War of Independence of 1918-1920. Built in 1935, the monument presents Latvia’s national values. It stands as the symbol of two battles fought by the country for its independence and is a ground zero for the majority of political demonstrations held in Riga nowadays.
Surprisingly enough, the monument has survived almost 50 years of the Soviet rule, in part due to its high artistic value. On 14 June 1987, about 5,000 people gathered at the monument. This rally renewed the national independence movement, which culminated three years later in the re-establishment of Latvian sovereignty after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The central element of the monument, topping a 19 meter (62 feet) column, is the bronze statue of a woman holding up three golden stars above her head, symbolizing three Latvian regions: Kurzeme, Vidzeme and Latgale.
With a total height of 42 meters (about 138 feet), the Freedom Monument is visible from almost every corner of Old Riga.
The next site was St. Peters Church. The history of St. Peters Church goes back to 1209. The church has Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque elements.
Little remains of the original Gothic construction. The church was reconstructed after artillery fire destroyed it during World War II.
The steeple was completed in 1970, and the clock tower in the early 1970s. The rooster atop the steeple weighs 158 kilograms and includes 140 grams of gold plating.
Today, the church is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia. Services resumed here in 1991.
We walked to the nearby cobblestone town square, which marks the center of Old Riga. It is surrounded by (the beautiful) House of the Blackheads, and Riga City Hall.
In the center of the Square stands a statue of Roland. He was Charlemagne’s nephew and a Frankish military leader. His reputation for stringent but just governance has led to him becoming a symbol of justice in Northern Germany. The statue has stood next to the town’s well since 1897.
However, the Square’s biggest claim to fame is that it was the site of the first lit and decorated Christmas tree in 1510. A tree is decorated here every year during the holidays.
We are finally heading back to the ship, to the last point of interest that Dave said was stupid. Yeah, it probably is. Dave also made fun of the guy because he has on a skirt.
And last but not least, is the map of our walk. Ironically, on the map the location of McDonald’s is marked, and we both remember visiting that McDonalds on our trip in 2005!
A note for future visits…. The churches charge to enter! We almost always make a donation when we visit churches, but it was not an option in Riga. Dave brought up to me the Bible story of how Jesus chased the vendors and money changers out of the Temple because the Temple is the Lord’s house. However, we did find that the churches had nice, clean bathrooms, even with the hoards of tourists! We had no problem making the small donation to enter, as with all the tourists these days there has to be a lot of work to maintain the buildings, and toilets! But the Christian teaching is to draw people into church and charging could be a deterrent? Just my rambling thoughts….
August 10, 2026 – Monday – Wednesday are in Klaipeda, Lithuania today. Our tour was shorter than yesterday and much more fun!
We are docked very close to the old town of Klaipeda, and our tour is “ Klaipeda Highlights and Svyturys Brewery”. It is a walking tour and our guide is young, about 35 years old, and speaks English very well. Our destination is the brewery of course, but he walks us through the old town and points out landmarks.
Our guide said they are building a castle and if we come back, we may see more towers!
Our guide said Hitler was mad when he gave his speech from the theater balcony because the girl statue on top of the fountain had her back to him!
The guide said there is a legend that a dragon came upfrom the sea and left his foot prints on the clay shore – thus the name of the city: Klai (clay) Peda (Latin for foot) = Klaipeda.
We continued walking towards the brewery where we will have our tasting and we pass through this cute street.
After walking about and seeing the city highlights, we finally reach the brewery!
We were given a tour of this location, but were told their main facility is elsewhere, and craft brews are made in this building. Ihave togive thebrewery guide credit…he spoke very good English and explained the beer making process so even I could understand it!
After the tour, we tasted 5 beers. The brewery guide explained each one and it was very interesting.
Dave liked #1 the best and I liked #4 the best. We were both surprised by #5, as it was very citrusy and even sour tasting. There was some explanation abouthowthe beer would taste dour when it was transported in the middle ages which made the sourness a desired taste. Not for me….
After the tasting we could either go back to the ship or wander more in the old town. We went back tothe theater square where Hitler had given his speech, and there were several vendors set up. We checked them out – most were selling amber, which I purchased on a previous trip. So we looked but did not buy. We decided to have lunch in one of the restaurants on Theater Square that our guide mentioned. He also recommended a traditional beet root soup which I had. I also had a Svytury beer, the dark one like #4 in my pictures, and more pierogies.
I did not get a picture of my soup😢.
After lunch we wandered a little, and went back to the ship because it started to rain! But we had a nice visit to Klaipeda and enjoyed our tour.
August 9, 2026 -Sunday – We are in Gdynia, Poland, which is the port city. We had an all day, 9 hour tour, “Best of Gdansk and Malbork Castle”, and we were worn out! Our tour guide, Barbara, was an English teacher, but loves history. Boy, does she love history! Unfortunately, I don’t think my brain retained even 10%of what she told us today! Barbara told me the tour guides are required to pass tests on the history of Poland before they could become tour guides.
So, some history first, and then some pictures:
A lot of the history we heard was about Poland before the war, the Middle Ages even. In the early Middle Ages, Poland’s small principalities and townships were subjugated by successive waves of invaders. In the mid-1500s, united Poland was the largest state in Europe and perhaps the continent’s most powerful nation. But from 1772 to 1918, it was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria.
It was restored as a nation in 1918, but ravaged by the two world wars. During World War II, Poland’s Jewish population was almost totally killed by the Holocaust. Poland was a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union. Soviet rule was challenged by Poland’s workers, and in the late 1970’s, beginning in the shipyards of Gdańsk, those workers formed a nationwide movement called Solidarity. It was not until 1989 that the communist regimes fell, and Poland transformed into a democracy.
Malbork Castle is a massive, brick fortress enclosing three castles, built in the 13th century. It is huge, encompassing 52 acres. It’s Europe’s largest fortress by land area. Teutonic Knights began building the castle about 1274. Initially knights were moved there in 1309, but the castle was expanded until it reached its final form in 1406. The Teutonic Knights were defeated in 1410, and the castle became a royal residence from 1466 to 1772, at which time Malbork became part of Prussia and the castle fell into disrepair. Efforts to restore Malbork began in 1816, stopped during World War II, and resumed in 1961. There has been much reconstruction and they have searched records to try to restore it as close as possible to the original. It became a UNESCO site in 1997.
We will visit the city of Gdańsk today, but first we drove to Malbork Castle, an hour’s drive from where our ship is docked. Malbork Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Malbork Castle consists of three fortified castles, several hundred houses and other buildings surrounded by two rings of defensive walls. It is a huge sight.
After the castle, we went to lunch. We were served water, a glass of beer, lots of meat filled pierogies, and apple pie (strudel).
After lunch we reboarded our bus and drove to Gdańsk. Gdańsk is where the workers formed Solidarity in defiance of Soviet communism.
We did a walking tour of the old city. Much of the city was destroyed in World War II, but now, almost 40 years later, it has been rebuilt and was crowded with tourists! Some pictures as we walked in the old town:
Today was very long and we were very tired. Fortunately, tomorrow’s tour is only half a day and involves beer tasting!
August 8, 2026 -Saturday – Today was a sea day. We are transiting the Baltic Sea on our way to Gdansk, Poland. This morning we went to a meet up with others from our message board’s. Normally these are pretty boring and we leave quickly, but today we met up with some interesting people and had a nice time chatting with them. We attended a presentation on the next two ports we are visiting – Gdansk, Poland and Klaipeda, Lithuania. We have been to Klaipeda before, many years ago, but we have not been to Poland.
The water in the Baltic Sea looks interesting, and I thought the ship was stirring up mud. But it is actually an organism that causes the water to look streaky.
Since it is formal night, we had the option to order some canapés in the room.
We have reservations for dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. It is Princess’ version of a steak house. Normally the steaks we get on cruises are very bland and under seasoned, even in their steakhouse specialty restaurants. But we had filets tonight, and they were very good. After dinner, we decided to pass on dessert, but somehow they knew it was close to Dave’s birthday, so they brought out cake and sang to him.
After dinner, we went to a lounge, and really enjoyed the piano player. He played familiar songs and everyone in the lounge was singing along.
When we got back to the room, a huge towel birthday cake was waiting for Dave!
August 7, 2026 -Friday – We are embarking on Princess Sapphire today. We have ordered an Uber to take us to the port. As we were waiting, Dave asked me the time, and I asked why he didn’t have his watch. After a few minutes of panic, he went back to the room, where we had already checked out…and found his watch still in the safe! Whew! Then we get into the Uber and the driver asks me for my code…of course I hadn’t received a code! Finally he tries my phone number, and apparently that was the code!
No other excitement until we entered our stateroom. It is a mini-suite which gives us more room, but more importantly we have TWO TV’s and a full size sofa! Dave really likes to have somewhere to sit other than the bed. BUT, the even better amenity, which I love, is our stateroom has a Japanese toilet!!!!
Dinner companions were 3 ladies from California, and a couple from France – she was originally from the UK and he was originally from the Netherlands. They met in a bar in France!
Visited the Wheelhouse lounge after dinner and were surprised by a string duet playing Beatles, Beachboys, Roy Orbison, etc….some good music!
Tomorrow is a sea day, and a formal evening. Hope to find some excitement.
August 6, 2026 -Thursday – Happy Birthday Dave! Today we had a tour that took us from Denmark to Sweden, visiting three cities. Thee most pictures are from the first city, Helsingør, Denmark, because we were at our freshest! We met our host and driver at a hotel near ours in Copenhagen. We were on a large bus, with, I think, 25 other passengers. This tour was interesting to us, because the company provided audio information on what we were seeing as we drove, as well as audio information on what we would be seeing in each city. In addition,we we given a brochure with a suggested walking tour that suggested sites to visit, and information on each site. We thought this eas great because we could go at our own pace, and visit those sites that were most interesting to us.
The first city we visited was Helsingør, Denmark.
We had 1.5 hours allocated to visit Helsingør, which we felt required us to choose between visiting the town or visiting the Kronborg Castle, which is also known as Hamlet’s Castle. Every year, a Shakespeare Festival is held on the castle grounds and has hosted actors such as Sir Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, and Judi Dench. We have seen lots of castles, so opted to visit the town, and do the self-guided walking tour outlined in our brochure.
Our first site was Han, the Merman.
I think Han is a bit of a challenge to Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid, which we saw years ago. I will say, Han is presented in the nude, fully endowed.
We walked toward the commercial part of town and passed St. Maria’s Church. It was established in 1430. In 1536, Denmark becam a Protestant country and St. Maria’s was used as a stable and warehouse. From the mid 1570’s until 1740, it was used as a church again, with services in German. I believe services are held currently, but not in German.
Leaving St. Maria’s, we saw a mural on a wall. It shows Catholic monks helping the sick, which would have endangered their own health. The bos the monks are carrying was used for transporting infectious people. The middle shows St. Maria’s after the Protestant reformation, when part of the building had been turned into a stable and part used as a hospital. The doctor is wearing a mask with a long “beak”, which would have contained herbs, to try and offer protection from infection. On the right, the Modern Lutheran Church is shown with a woman priest.
The next stop was St. Olaf’s Cathedral, which date back to the early 1200’s. During the Protestant Reformation, the church was known as a Catholic stronghold. The present spire is noteworthy as it was completed in 1898 and is 345 feet high.
The next stop was The Sound Toll Mural. Ships had to pay a toll which was paid to the king.
The mural shows a ship’s captain paying the Sound Toll to the King. There is a little boy hoping to pick up one of the coins on the ground. This money paid for the building of Kronborg Castle. At the now of the docked ship, Hamlet is holding Yorik’s skull. The townspeople portrayed in the mural have faces of 21st century residents of Helsingør.
Next we walked into the more commercial part of town, which was very cute. Lots of little stores selling all sorts of things!
We rode a ferry from Helsingør, Denmark to Sweden. It was a pleasant 15-20 minute ride. The bus drive onto the ferry, we were allowed to get off the bus and walk up a couple of decks to see the view, then reboard the bus as he drove off the ferry. We then drove to Lund, Sweden. We had 1.5 hours in Lund, and we were given a brochure with suggested sites. However, our guide mentioned Swedish meatballs, it was about 1:30PM, and we were hungry. So, we decided to visit the Grand Hotel in Lund for their Swedish meatballs!
They were delicious! Our lunch for two orders of Swedish meatballs, two glasses of wine, salad, bread and a tip was just under $100USD. It was really a nice lunch. We were seated at a window for a nice view outside.
After lunch we had just enough time to visit the Cathedral. It was begun in 1080. We wandered in the crypt a bit, but went back to the main church to see the carved oak choir stalls (chairs?) which are from the 1300’s. There is also a magnificent astronomical clock dating from 1424.
Back on the bus, we drove to Malmo, Sweden. Again, we were given a brochure with a suggested walk, and 1.5 hours to visit Malmo.
The first sight was another church. St. Peter’s Church is Malmo’s oldest building and was consecrated in 1319, but the church was not completed until 1380.
Our driver suggested seeing the murals inside the church which date back to the 1460’s.
While hard to make out, the description in our brochure is that the mural depicts a grat vine, which contains human faces and animals, including a griffin like creature. It is thought that before the Protestant Reformation, the whole church would have been decorated in this style of mural.
Leaving the church, we walked around the town, but did not see anything that we could represent in a photograph!
We saw a decorative arch dating back to 1898 with 2 monkey figures, a horses head and a lion’s head. Next we visited a pharmacy, The Lion Pharmacy, which has been on the same site since 1571. In the 18th and 19th centuries there weren’t many pharmacies in Sweden, so it eas decided the pharmacies would be named after an animal. That’s how this one became the Lion Pharmacy. We saw a building called the Hedmanska Gard which was an old farmhouse built in 1597. It is a half-timbered building with an archway that once led into the okd farmyard. We saw the city hall building, Rådhus built between 1544 and 1547. At that time it was the largest city hall in Scandinavia. It is built on a dquare where ther is a statue of King Karl X, but the square and much of the town was preparing for some celebration. With carnival rides being installed all over the square, we could not find the statue of King Karl X. The last stop we planned was a chocolate shop recommended by our driver. Unfortunately, when we found it, it eas organic and just not that much to choose from. So we left the chocolate shop and walked back to the bus, about 10 minutes early.
Returning to Copenhagen, we traveled across a long bridge that turned into a tunnel before arriving back to Denmark. The bridge was similar to the bridge crossing Tampa Bay.
Back at our hotel, we visited the lounge for some free wine and a few snacks, including a bite size piece of chocolate cake for the birthday guy!
August 5, 2026 – Wednesday – we did not get an early start, but we had a planned walk.
There were two more sights wehad planned to see, but one was closed when we got there and the second one closed before we could get there!
Our first stop was the city hall, which we can see from our hotel, so it was the perfect starting place.
Copenhagen City Hall, designed by famous architect Martin Nyrop and inspired by Siena’s Town Hall in Italy, stands prominently on City Hall Square. The hall was inaugurated in 1905.
Leaving city hall, and very close to our hotel is the “weather station”.
if it is sunny, the lay is riding her bicycle. If it is rainy, she comes out with an umbrella. On the side of the building is a temperature gauge which indicates the current temperature. It was about 82° today – nice and warmer than we expected. You can see the blue skys in the background, and the weather lady is riding her bicycle. However, it rained in the early morning hours, so you can see the lady with the umbrella peaking out on the left.
Our next stop was Stroget. Stroget, a pedestrian thoroughfare in the heart of Copenhagen, is renowned as one of Europe’s longest shopping streets, extending over 1.1 kilometers. Initially known as Ruten until the late 19th century, the street has been a fashionable hub in the Danish capital since its layout was established in 1728 following a major fire. The architecture along Stroget mainly dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the oldest building erected in 1616.
One of the buildings along Stroget was the Guiness World Records Museum. This visit was for me, as Dave was not impressed.
Lots of other Guiness awards, including those toMichael Jackson, Elvis, etc. The tallest Man, the tallest woman, the fattest man, etc. A lot of stupid things, too, like the man who ate metal. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing all the weird Guiness awards, Dave, not so much.
We walked past the Caritas Well (fountain) which is the oldest fountain in Copenhagen, built in 1608.
Nyhavn or New Harbor-with all its bright colors, wooden ships, and a dash of nautical nostalgia-is by far Copenhagen’s most photogenic waterfront. Here, 17th-century Danish townhouses line up like they’re auditioning for a postcard.
Built between 1670 and 1675 under the direction of King Christian V-using a workforce of Danish soldiers and captured Swedish war prisoners-New Harbor was designed to boost trade with the Dutch. In reality, however, it quickly became Copenhagen’s go-to district for beer, brawls, and brothels.
Hans Christian Anderson lived here fir many years. His first house was #20.
At the end of the harbor is an anchor in memory of the Danish sailorswho lost their lives in WWII.
On the way to our next stop, we spotted a sandwich shop that looked interesting, and we were hungry. We had club sandwiched and water.
We had planned to visit Moltke Mansion, which was constructed in 1700-1702. It has paintings and murals which sounded very interesting, but when we got there, we could not figure out how to get in. Then we discovered it is now only open for special events, not for lowly tourists like us.
The next stop was Frederick’s Church. This church really has the wow factor; as beautiful inside as it is out (also, rather unique and unusual as it is circular inside). It’s dome is the largest in Scandinavia. This dome spans 31 meters and is supported by 12 columns.
The church was started in 1749 but the architect died and budget restraints halted the construction for over 100 years. It was finally opened to the public on August 19, 1894. It is beautiful inside, and unique in its circular design. I believe it is an Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Leaving the Church, we realized we would not reach our last stop before it closed. We were a bit tired, so we headed back to our hotel. We wanted to check out the meeting place for our tour tomorrow before calling it a day, which we did.
We had some wine and appetizers for our dinner in our hotel’s lounge. I am happy to say the offerings tonight were much better than last night.
August 4, 2026 – Tuesday – Going through immigration was a pain, as suspected. We were concerned because our transfer to Heathrow was scheduled to leave at 8:15AM and immigration started at 7:00AM for over 3000 passengers onboard. We got in line about 6:30AM and the line was already quite long. But once the line started to move, it was fairly quick. I think we finished by about 7:30AM. The face-to-face immigration interview was very quick and I wondered why they were doing it. We walked up to the official, he glanced at our passports, asked how long we would be in the country, and that was it. Maybe one minute? Anyway, we left and were able to get a quick breakfast before our number was called to disembark. It was about a two hour drive to Heathrow where we grabbed a sandwich for lunch while we waited for our 1:45pM flight to Copenhagen.
Arriving in Copenhagen we opted to take a taxi to our hotel because the wheels on my bag are not working well. The metro would have been much cheaper, but not when lugging a large bag that is not cooperating. We probably arrived at our hotel about 5:00PM, Copenhagen time, which is one hour later than the UK. There is a complimentary lounge which has beer, wine, and snacks, but by the time we arrived, most of the snacks were gone. Fortunately, we were still able to have a glass of wine. Conveniently, next door is a 7 Eleven where we purchased some water and soda to tide us over during our 3 night stay. We planned a walk to visit some sights tomorrow. We have been in Copenhagen twice before, so we have already seen the too sights like Tivoli Gardens and the Little Mermaid.
August 3, 2026 – Monday – Our last sea day! We went to a talk on the SAS (Special Aerial Services or something like that) which was related to the British military. Dave enjoyed the talk more than me, but I managed to stay awake. Later we went to another 3D movie about the Hubble Telescope and how it has been repaired. It was interesting and the 3D effects are really cool. It was narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. We packed and prepared to disembark tomorrow. We are concerned about disembarking because we have a face to face interview with the British immigration authorities . Sometimes it takes a long time for this process. There are over 3000 passengers onboard and everyone has to go through the process whether they are disembarking or not.
August 2, 2026 -Sunday – Another sea day, and our last 23 hour day. Very low key day for us. We went to a lecture and it was so boring we got up and left! We went to the theater for the evening performance, which was very good. It was called Broadway Rocks and they performed many broadway tunes that were familiar to us.
We still have not been on any of the outside decks because of high winds and cool temperatures! I thought the Captain said we were going to have some sun today, but I missed it ☹️.
Tomorrow is our last full day onboard and we will have to pack to get ready to disembark.
August 1, 2026 -Saturday – Lots of fog still, which means the fog horn blew overnight! I must be getting used to it because I didn’t hear as often last night. The Captain said we should have some sun tomorrow.
It is getting hard to find time to do things between the opportunities to eat! This morning we went to a talk about Rasputin – the Russian Monk who was not a monk at all. After Rasputin there was another talk on lady aviators, but we left because the lady seated next to me was hacking and I wanted to go wash off her germs. Yuck!
We made it to Afternoon Tea today! Afternoon Tea was scheduled at 3:30PM, but after our first attempt two days ago, when the ballroom was packed and we could not find a seat, we went early today! We sat at a table for three as all the tables for two were around the dance floor, and were already taken! It is quite the presentation and organization. The tables were set in advance, and then at 3:30PM the servers came out of the kitchen, in kind of a parade, with tea pots and trays of savory sandwiches, lining up on the dance floor, while we all clapped. First they serve the tea and sandwiches. A short while later, they served the scones and other sweets. Meanwhile, we were entertained by an all female stringed trio, Brevis String Trio. As we were finishing our savory sandwiches, the concert pianist, Simon Weale, asked if he could join us! We had a nice conversation with him. We had gone to two of his concerts, but missed today so we could go to tea early. Obviously, that’s why he was late, as his concert ended just before the Afternoon Tea started.
July 31, 2026 – Friday – We were pretty lazy today. I think the time changes each day are affecting us a bit. We went to a 3-D presentation about space exploration which we enjoyed. It was held in a theater called “Illuminations” which was a planetarium at one time, but apparently is not in service anymore. No pictures today!
July 30, 2026 -Thursday – We kept busy today, too. We went to another presentation regarding Fabergè, a classical piano concert (yesterday’s was better), and planned to go to afternoon tea. When we got to the huge Queen’s Room ballroom, it was already jam packed! We will go earlier on another day. Plan B was coffee and Chardonnay in a lounge. Tonight is a “Gala Night” which is formal dress. Dave did not have to “walk the plank” even though he did not have a tux.
Cunard has a different way to move the clocks forward to account for the 6 hour time difference between New York and Southampton. Each day at noon a bell in the grand lobby rings at 12:00 PM (noon) to signal the time change to 1:00PM. So we lose an hour during the day instead of at night. This is probably a better system for the crew because they will not lose an hour sleep at night.
Our after dinner lounge piano player tonight.
July 29, 2026 – Wednesday – We actually have been busy today! We went to breakfast, then we did a walk thru of a demonstration of the various restaurants and services onboard. Next we met up with people from Cruise Critic message boards, many of whom are also going to be on the Sapphire Princess leaving from Copenhagen. After the meet and greet, we went to a presentation on “The History of Fabergé”, which was pretty interesting. The presenter, Philip Birkenstein, worked for Theo Fabergè. He is onboard and is a wealth of information about Fabergè eggs and other Fabergè items. After his presentation, he did a reveal of new items coming out in the grand lobby. The Captain was supposed to be with him, but the Captain didn’t show…
Lunchtime! After lunch we went to a Classical Piano Concert. Dave and I enjoy listening to Classical Pianists and this guy was good. He played Spanish music. We went back to our stateroom and the lady who organized the Cruise Critic meet up stopped by and chatted for awhile. Then we went to the Cunard “first-timers” cocktail party and with 300+ other first timers, we were introduced to the Captain and senior officers. We left kinda early…and visited the Carinthia Lounge to listen to some lounge music before dinner.
Was not impressed with dinner….we have a new table, for 2, as we had been at a table for 6, but it was just the 2 of us. But the tables for two are so close, we feel like we are at a table for 6. We have new wait staff, too. We ordered our appetizers and waited a long time for the sommelier. We were chatting with our neighbors and after awhile, our entree’s appeared! Before our appetizers and before our wine. So, they too the entree’s back and we waited some more. Our appetizers came, and they asked if we wanted to wait for them to be served until our wine came….we were still waiting for our wine. But we accepted the appetizers and our wine was soon delivered. (It was the last time we saw the sommelier until our desserts were served.) Another wait and we got our entree’s. We had preordered meals. I love lamb and Dave preordered sole. Dave was OK with his sole, but my medium rare lamb was medium well done. Not a great dinner service.
After dinner we went to a lounge to hear a duo singing Fleetwood Mac…but they didn’t sing Fleetwood Mac and weren’t very good ☹️. Soon after they started, they sang Smooth by Santana, and Dave decided it was time to leave.
July 28, 2026 -Tuesday – We booked a Cunard transfer from EWR, but it was not pleasant. Cunard told us to meet their representative in terminal B, at the welcome desk, at 11:00am. There was no Cunard representative in terminal B. Fortunately another couple that was given the same directions but had a phone number to call, and it ended up that Cunard (? Or their agent) sent someone to terminal B to take us to terminal C. We were told the bus would arrive between 12:00 and 12:30. No bus by 12:30. The representative kept telling us it would be there in 10 minutes. Finally the bus came about 1:15. After another stop at Terminal A (it never stopped at terminal B although 5 of us were told terminal B) we arrived at the port about 40 minutes later. Long lines at check in, even after 2:00PM. The good news … we finally made it onboard! Whew! Sorry for the rant….
First impressions of Cunard….. The service has been very good. Our waiter and sommelier at dinner were great and so is our stateroom attendant. The dinner menu is interesting…I think there was a choice of 3 entrees, but since we are in “Brittania Club”, we get a second page in our menu where there are 3 additional entrees, but they have to be ordered the day before. The ship is laid out much different than any other cruiseline that we have been on, and we have been learning our way around the ship, frequently getting lost. There are also areas you cannot pass thru, so you need to go up or down a level to get to where you want to go. The ship has some age but is in pretty good shape. At this point, I don’t think we would seek out Cunard to do another cruise, unless it was an itinerary we wanted. For example, although we are disembarking in Southampton, the ship is doing an eclipse cruise and will be in Reykjavik for the eclipse. Many people are on board for the continuation to see the eclipse.
The only picture from today is the Statue of Liberty, in the rain, as we were leaving New York.
July 27, 2026 – As usual, travel from Englewood to Tampa was exciting. 3 lanes were blocked due to an accident, and it was rush hour. So we were delayed about 45 minutes. The good news is we made our flight to Newark. The signage at Newark is not the best, and after lugging our luggage around the airport, onto an “air train”, we finally found where the hotel shuttles were located. We spent the night at a Hilton, and enjoyed happy hour and appetizers for dinner in the hotel restaurant. We enjoyed talking to some other travelers. One couple from Pennsylvania was heading to Cancun for their grandson’s wedding. Another lady was an airline stewardess.
My interesting photos today were of a pigeon inside the airport at baggage claim, and the wiener mobile at our hotel! Haven’t seen the wiener mobile in person for years!
Our Itinerary!
