Our UK and
Baltic cruise adventure officially began after we arrived in London around
lunchtime on Thursday 19th June.
The previous 22 odd hours were spent in transit – never a pleasant
experience, but I guess the Emirates A380 made it a little more bearable. We
were lucky enough to have chosen seats at the back of a section, which meant
that we didn’t have anyone sitting behind us, although John had a crabby old
crone sitting beside him for the Brisbane to Dubai leg of the journey. How you
could be crabby when you are going on an overseas holiday is strange to me…but
it takes all sorts I guess.
Ahh London, how we have missed you! It felt as if we had arrived home somehow and we just slotted back into the pace of this fabulous city. A pre-booked chauffeur driven car ensured we had an enjoyable trip from Heathrow to our hotel, the Ibis Blackfriars (chosen because of its proximity to Waterloo Station, where we would be leaving from on Saturday). Ibis hotels are very basic but always clean and friendly and we had zero complaints about ours. Our first priority after settling into our room was to enjoy an ale – which we did at the pub on the opposite corner from our hotel. It tasted like nectar of the Gods!
Friday
dawned fine and warm and as we only had one full day in London we wanted to
make the most of it. We bought ourselves
a Day Rover ticket and caught the Tube to Knightsbridge station and Harrods. Wandering around the Food Court is always a
fun experience and no shop does ‘class’
better than Harrods. I ended up
buying myself the 2014 Annual Bear, George Howard; a ‘My First Harrods Puppy’
for Dave Junior for Christmas; a lovely black handbag and a folding umbrella
for me and a pot mitt. John wouldn’t buy
anything, so for his patience I took him to the Tea Rooms where we enjoyed a
very poshy morning tea…
For
the rest of the day we explored many parts of London that we had never done in
depth before – Hyde Park for instance. Instead of just driving passed we
walked through it, and it’s just gorgeous.
The trees were lush and green, the flowers were in bloom, and there were
lots of cute little squirrels scurrying about...
We squatted down on a bench with some sandwiches we bought at Tesco’s
and just took it all in. And of course
people watched, which is one of the most under-rated pastimes of all. We wandered passed the Serpentine with its
many birds and also found the Lady Di memorial fountain. By the time we got
back to our hotel that night we could honestly say that we had made the most of
our day in London.
Saturday 21st June – Today we farewelled London and set off for Phase 2 of our holiday...a week in Dorset. It was a struggle getting our luggage to Waterloo Station but we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there and also time to do some more people-watching at the station. Today was Royal Ascot race day and some of the fashions were fabulous. There’s nothing finer than a gent all duded out in tails, shiny black shoes and a top hat, unless it’s a lady with a swanky hat on – and there were plenty of those.
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Sunday 22nd June – Weymouth
itself was going to be very busy today due to the veterans’ parade that was
taking place down on the Esplanade. The
day was warm and sunny so there was bound to be large crowds. So we opted to take a drive to Tyneham
instead. We would never have heard about
this place if ‘Mrs Havachat’ hadn’t stopped to talk to this lovely woman’s dog
when we left the Springhead pub yesterday.
The dog’s owner told us that we should definitely visit Tyneham – a
village that was evacuated during World War Two so that the military could
practise there. The villagers were
promised that they would be returning after the war was over, but alas that
never happened. It was so surreal to
wander through what must have been a wonderful little village to live in. Many
of the buildings were in disrepair, but both the church and the schoolhouse had
been restored just as if it was only yesterday that they were used. We especially loved the schoolhouse where the
books of previous schoolchildren were displayed on the desks with the teacher’s
comments written in red in the margins.
Saturday 21st June – Today we farewelled London and set off for Phase 2 of our holiday...a week in Dorset. It was a struggle getting our luggage to Waterloo Station but we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there and also time to do some more people-watching at the station. Today was Royal Ascot race day and some of the fashions were fabulous. There’s nothing finer than a gent all duded out in tails, shiny black shoes and a top hat, unless it’s a lady with a swanky hat on – and there were plenty of those.
Just
before 10.30am our train was announced and we settled ourselves into our first
class carriage for the three and a bit hour trip to Weymouth – very scenic and
relaxing. After arriving in Dorset we
picked up our Toyota Aurius hire car, plugged in ‘Nev the Navman’ and made our
way to Fox Crossing B&B. Rosemary,
the owner of the B&B, was there to greet us. What a terrific find this was.
We had our own separate entrance, a lovely big loungeroom, eating area, comfy
bed and bathroom…all to ourselves.
At
Rosemary’s advice we decided to visit the Springhead Pub in the little village
of Sutton Poyntz, about a ten minute drive from the B&B, for a few drinks
and an early dinner. And what an
incredibly welcoming pub it was too. The
owner was just lovely, but even more lovely were his two dogs…one a big old
retriever and the other a cute little scruffy dog named “Scrumpy”. As we sat out in the courtyard enjoying an
ale, looking out on one side to a stream with ducks gliding along it and on the
other side by rolling hills, we both agreed that this was a memory that would
remain with us forever.
There
were many gravestones in the churchyard, and we noticed that one was for Arthur
Grant, a former resident of Tyneham before it was evacuated. He had passed away only a couple of years ago
and while we were there his daughter and widow were placing flowers on his
grave. Apparently Arthur campaigned vigorously
for the residents to be returned to Tyneham, but when he conceded that this
wasn’t going to happen he made a special request to the current Prime Minister,
David Cameron, to allow his body to be buried in the church grounds upon his
demise. Very touching.
Well,
we soon found out that almost half of the County of Dorset had decided to go to
the beach today – it was packed! We
didn’t have a hope of getting a car park at Durdle Dor but we were lucky enough
to snag one at Studland Beach where we stayed for quite a while enjoying the
view and people watching.
By
the time we got back to Weymouth it was time once more to return to the
Springhead Pub for dinner then back home to our little B&B for a nice early
night ahead of another full day tomorrow.
Monday 23rd June – Our
planned destination for today was Lyme Regis via Abbotsbury, Chesil Beach,
Burton Bradstock and West Bay. What an
absolutely glorious drive – wonderful views, great beaches, tree lined laneways
and quaint little villages. I was
absolutely thrilled when we were able to find the hotel at Burton Bradstock
that my friend Ngaire used to work in. I
know that she was eager for me to go there and I was happy that we found it and
took some photos for her. I can totally
understand why she has such fond memories of the place – it’s in an absolutely
gorgeous setting.
Frustratingly,
when we reached Lyme Regis there was not a single solitary car park to be had
in the whole place. We drove around and
around and around and in the end we had to admit defeat. It looked so lovely too. In the end though we backtracked through the
town of Chideock and had lunch at ‘Felicity’s Farm Shop’ which was located
right on top of a hill – a worthy substitute for lunch in Lyme Regis...
When
we got back to Weymouth, we did manage to find a park on the Esplanade. So we parked right up near where the little
train leaves from and caught it right down to the very end of the
esplanade. We really enjoyed our ride,
and the fellow that sold us the tickets was a great bloke – I’m sure that he
would rather have stayed and chatted to us than sell tickets. We hopped off near Greenhill Gardens (still
on the Esplanade) and went for a nice long walk. There were loads of people at the beach
today, even given the fact that it was a Monday. I guess the sunny warm weather was too great
a temptation for many folk. They were
sprawled on the pebbled beach, the sandy part of the beach or on deck chairs in
little beach huts.
At
the end of the day we found ourselves a restaurant right on the waterfront and
enjoyed a dinner of fish, chips and mushy peas washed down with some English
ale.
Tuesday 24th June – My
favourite day so far. We drove our hire
car to Norden Park and Ride and caught the steam train to Swanage. There’s something quite exciting about riding
in a steam train with the ‘choo choo choo’ of the engine and the lovely old
décor of the train car.
After
about an hour we reached the seaside town of Swanage. Another perfect beach day so we went for a
stroll along the waterfront. When we
reached the Swanage Pier however we found that if we wanted to continue our
stroll we would have to pay for it…fancy that, 80 pence for a stroll on the
pier! But we paid it because it was
there and I wanted to see Harry’s Rocks from the end of the pier. We strolled very leisurely, we had a sit as
well, before strolling back to the train station for the return journey.
We
caught the train back as far as Corfe Castle.
Now this was a castle! Unlike
Lulworth Castle, this was built by William the Conquerer back in the 11th
century. We had to walk up a very steep
hill to reach the castle remains, but it was well worth it…the view was
brilliant and the castle itself had a special feel about it.
After
trekking back down the hill from the Castle we treated ourselves to the most
delicious cream tea at a café in the town…freshly baked scones with jam and
clotted cream. They were an absolute
taste thrill.
One
stop on the train took us back to Norden and about another half an hour and we
were back in Weymouth and the ever so comfortable bed in our little B&B.
Wednesday 25th June – Today we headed to Portland and the famous Portland
Bill lighthouse. The lighthouse itself was closed so we couldn’t walk to the
top (I’m not sure that we would have anyway, but it was a good excuse).
When
we returned back to Weymouth it was time to do some domestic chores ie
washing. Fortunately there was a Holiday
Park over the road so we went over there to use their ‘Jumbo’
washing machine and dryer. In less than
an hour we had all our clothes washed and dried – just in time to return to the
Springhead Pub for dinner.
Thursday 26th June – The last day of our stay in Weymouth and we were
determined to make the most of it. First
up we headed back to Durdle Dor, where we went last Sunday but were driven away
by the huge crowds. This time there were
only a handful of people there so we had a marvellous opportunity to walk all
around this incredibly beautiful part of the world. John was quite upset though to find that it
was in no way associated with “Harry Potter”.
I’m going to have to get that man to watch the movies if we are going to
go to Harry Potter World next year. That
way he will realise that Professor Dumbledor is in no way related to Durdle
Dor!
From
Durdle Dor we travelled all the way up to Cerne Abbas, home of the Cerne Abbas
Giant displayed prominently on a hill near the village. Its history is wrapped in legend and
uncertainty but it was believed that he was created back in the Iron Age.
The village itself was just lovely, situated
among rolling hills near the winding River Cerne. A Benedictine Abbey was founded here around
987AD but there is little left of it now, however the graveyard is just
fascinating and we spent a bit of time exploring…and yes, we had another cream
tea for lunch.
Tonight
we went back to our ‘local’, the Springhead Pub and said our farewells to the
owner. We will certainly look back with
lots of fond memories…of the people (and their dogs) that we spoke to, the
friendly owner and the perfect English setting.
Friday 27th June – Today we said farewell to our little home away from home and our trusty little hire car and caught the train to Dover (via Waterloo) - a very scenic and relaxed journey. We didn't reach Dover until around 3pm so it was just a matter of taking a taxi to the Ramada Hotel, our digs for the night, and having a bit of a wander around the general area. A pub meal for dinner and an early night because we were leaving on our cruise the next day!
Saturday 28th June – After a late breakfast in the Ramada's dining room, we caught a taxi down to the Dover cruise terminal and began the process of checking in for our cruise. While we were waiting in the terminal lounge, we began our usual practice of people watching when I suddenly exclaimed, "Good Lord, there's Mo and John!". Couldn't believe it - this absolutely gorgeous English couple that we met on our Vacations by Rail tour of America last year, were waiting to go on our cruise. We raced over to say hello and received excited shouts and humungous hugs from them both, with the promise that we would catch up for dinner one night. Talk about a small world.
We didn't have too long to wait before it was time for us to embark the Ryndam. Our cabin, number 048, was located up on Deck 10, the Navigation Deck and by the time we arrived there was our luggage waiting for us on end of the bed (thank you Holland America!). Yes, we were going to be very comfortable in here for the next 21 days
After the boat cruise, and a quick pit stop (no further words required)
we walked up to the Stroget, a very long, very
beautiful, and incredibly expensive shopping area. We stopped at a little café in a quiet side street and enjoyed a cold
drink and a snack (John had a pastrami and goat’s cheese sandwich and I had a
Danish carrot cake)...
Then it was back on the Hop on Hop off bus and on to Nyhavn, the most gorgeous
district of Copenhagen with its harbour front lined with brightly coloured 17th and 18th century townhouses, bars, cafes and restaurants...and free wifi! I twisted John's arm (not) to sit down and have a Danish beer in one of the bars so that I could check my emails etc while he forced down a Bombay Pale Ale (doesn't sound very Danish to me)
Our last trip on the Hop on Hop off bus took us to the statue of The Little Mermaid, a story made famous by Hans Christian Andersen...what a gyp! Firstly it's very small and insignificant and secondly, and most importantly, it's not even the original statue (the original being tucked away somewhere for safekeeping). I took a couple of photos and we headed back to the ship.
Copenhagen is indeed a beautiful city and we certainly saw a lot of it. Most of all though I will remember it for being an environmental leader - there are so many wind
turbines, the city has on average two bicycles per person, all of their hotels are
‘green’ and they are pretty much carbon neutral. Australia, on the other hand, is going in the opposite direction.
Tuesday 1st July - By the time we awoke this morning our ship was berthed in Warnemunde, Germany and here it would remain until 9.30 tonight (mainly because the majority of passengers would be travelling to Berlin, a 3+ hour drive away). As we had already been to Berlin and our experience there had been so perfect we wanted to do something different. So thanks to some pre-cruise research, we decided to travel on the Molli Steam Railway. This necessitated us catching the 119 bus from Warnemunde to a town called Bad Doberan, about a 30 minute bus ride away through some lovely farming country. At Bad Doberan the bus stopped right at the railway station, so it was just a matter of popping in to the railway building, purchasing our train tickets (it seems that everyone in Germany can speak English) and then waiting for ten minutes before we heard the steam train chugging on down the tracks to pick us up.
For the next 40 or so minutes we had a most delightful train ride which took us all the way to the town of Kühlungsborn, a resort town situated right on the Baltic coast. We walked from the train station down to the waterfront, where we strolled along the esplanade on this perfect sunny day...
We walked back to the train station in time to enjoy a beer
and a muffin before hopping back on the steam train and travelling back to Bad
Doberan. For something different we decided to catch a train back to Warnemunde
which necessitated us travelling first to Rostock and then changing to the
Warnemunde bound train. In true German
precision the train left right on time and was clean, smooth and comfortable.
Thursday 3rd July - After a relaxing day at sea yesterday, our batteries were recharged and we were ready to 'attack' Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so we decided to focus our time here and, thanks to a Rick Steves' self-guided walking tour, it was epic.
It only took us about 15 minutes after disembarking the ship to arrive in the Old Town, and it's amazing how much more you enjoy something like this when you know the history behind it. When we came to the memorial at Fat Margaret Tower we knew that it was the memorial to 852 people who perished in 1994 when the passenger ship Estonia sank. We knew the meanings of the various street names, the sinister story of 59 Pikk Street which used to be the headquarters of the KGB and their 'creative interrogation' methods, and the places that were affected by bombings during World War 2. And instead of just wandering aimlessly, we were able to follow a great map which let us see everything of interest and enjoy it so much more.
Town squares in these old towns are absolutely gorgeous and Tallinn's was no exception. Although it was a bit of an indulgence, we decided to stop at a restaurant by the Main Square and enjoy another of our travelling "Great Coffee Moments"...
By the time we finished our coffees the last of the cruise ships had berthed in Tallinn and the place was absolutely packed! But we battled through the crowds, determined to follow our walking tour through to the bitter end. Because the Old Town is so high up there are many lovely vantage points, and at one of them we encountered a very friendly local..
Friday & Saturday, 4th & 5th July – St
Petersburg Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that one day I
would visit Russia. From all that I have
read and heard I think that of all the destinations in Russia, St Petersburg
would have to be most spectacular, and we had two whole days to see as much as
we could. Fortunately we booked
ourselves on an Alla Tours ‘Comfort Tour’ that I had discovered through the
Cruise Critic website before we left Australia.
There were twelve of us from the ship who went on this tour and it was
an absolutely fantastic experience. We
had an excellent guide, Elena, who originally came from Latvia but had lived in
St Petersburg for most of her life. She
met us on time at 8.30am on Friday morning and our happy group set off in a
nice comfortable minibus driven by Alexander, who couldn’t speak any English
but had a great smile…and, most importantly, was a great driver.
Unfortunately today it was raining and quite chilly, our only
day of rain so far on our whole holiday, but considering that St Petersburg only receives 60 days of sun each year it was not unexpected.
The bus made a couple of photo stops down along the Neva River before setting off for our first palace...Peterhof Imperial Summer Palace, another UNESCO World Heritage Site (we visited a lot of these during the course of this trip away). The first part of the palace that we saw was beautiful enough, but this was just the accommodation for the servants and various other lackies. When we came to the actual Palace itself...WOW!
We wandered through the grounds for a few hours, marvelling at the opulence and beauty of the place. It was after all designed to be Peter the Great's "Russian Versailles" and it pretty much hit the mark. There are fountains everywhere, and not a pump to be seen - they all run on gravity...
After leaving Peterhof our little group went to lunch at a Russian restaurant (the Russians eat their main meal at lunchtime) where we got to eat genuine Russian cuisine and what does everyone think of when talking Russian cuisine? You've guessed it...borscht...surprisingly delicious beetroot soup. This was followed by chicken stroganoff and then pancakes.
Having been sufficiently fuelled up, we were ready to set off for another palace - Catherine Palace, located in the town of Pushkin some 25km south of St Petersburg.
It was originally the summer residence of the Tsars and later on in 1733 was expanded upon by Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. This time our tour focussed on the interior of the palace, where we had to put little 'Pixie' covers over our shoes to protect the inlaid floors which contain precious woods.
It was quite surreal to wander through rooms where the Tsars had lived their lives - dressing rooms, studies, dining rooms, bedrooms - and we both commented that it was no wonder the peasants revolted. The opulence that the rich lived in was quite obscene - so much gold, so much food, so much of everything!
Like so many of St Petersburg's great palaces, World War 2 created havoc upon them. Catherine's Palace was gutted during the war and the restoration work which took place was phenomenal to bring it back to its former glory
And so endeth our first day in this amazing city. We were pretty excited about what tomorrow had in store for us and we wondered whether we could top the first day...but we did...
Our second day started with a ride on the subway. We weren't particularly enthusiastic about this but once we got down there...OMG it was HUMUNGOUS! And so beautiful - mozaics everywhere. And so clean, but I guess that the punishment for littering or graffitying would be rather horrific (everyone has heard of the salt mines and the Russian front!).
We caught a train just one stop, but it was at least ten minutes between stops, to the deepest of the metro stations, Admiralteyskaya, 138 metres below ground. The journey back up to the surface on the escalator was dizzying
A wander down to the Neva River saw us board a canal boat for a cruise along the river for a different perspective of this magnificent city...
What followed our cruise was my absolute favourite part of my whole time in St Petersburg - The Hermitage State Museum. I have never really been a huge fan of museums, well not like John anyway. But this is different. Everywhere you look you see something that makes you gasp. It is a fact that, if you take one minute to look at everything in this incredible place, it will take you eight years to see everything. Sadly we didn't have that long, but what we did see was unforgettable - carvings, giant marble columns, huge staircases, parquetry furniture, giant crystal and gold chandeliers and paintings...paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet...so absolutely beautiful that they could make you cry.
Because we were on an Alla Tour we were fortunate enough to have been admitted before it was open to the general public, but by the time we were ready to leave it was absolutely packed. I was so grateful that we got to see what we did, especially the da Vinci and Rembrandt paintings which seemed to be the most popular exhibits in the museum.
In many countries that we have travelled there is a common saying among tourists - "ABC" ("Another Bloody Cathedral") or "ABP" ("Another Bloody Palace"), but here in St Petersburg I didn't feel that at all. Bring them on! They were just "SBA" (So Bloody Amazing!). So when the bus pulled up outside The Church of the Spilled Blood, everybody just gasped...
This church is built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and this church is dedicated to his memory. There is a memorial to him inside built around the exact spot where he died, and you can still see his blood on the cobblestones.
The rest of the church is, as my darling Sally would say, "Amazeballs". It's all done in moziacs from floor to ceiling
Before our two day St Petersburg adventure ended, we had time for just one more attraction...St Peter & Paul Fortress, the original citadel of St Petersburg which was founded by Peter the Great in 1703.
as well as the remains of Tsar Nicholas II, his family and entourage, whose remains were re-interred here in 1998, the 80th anniversary of their deaths
We can certainly say that we saw a LOT of St Petersburg - and loved every minute of it. Do svidaniya Russia!
Sunday 6th July – Hot
on the heels of St Petersburg came Helsinki, Finland. We were still pinching ourselves that we were
so far from home and somewhere we never thought we would visit in our wildest
dreams.
As
expected, Helsinki is another gorgeous Baltic city. Shuttle buses were available from the port to
the city so that’s just what we did – 10 euros for a return trip was a pretty
good deal. Once deposited in the centre
of the city we walked down a very long park until we reached the
waterfront. Here we saw a booth offering
90 minute cruises of the waterways. The
day was warm and pristine – too good to pass up. It was fascinating – so many
leisure craft, lots of little inlets, lovely houses everywhere and every one of
them seemed to have a sauna down by the water’s edge (apparently that’s one of
their favourite leisure activities…have a sauna then an invigorating dip in the
cold water). Seeing as how the whole
river freezes over in the winter months it was not surprising to see lots of
very white skinned Finnish people outdoors either in their boats, sunbathing or
swimming.
Back
at the waterfront and there was a large market going on. Of course we indulged in some more shopping,
but it also gave us the opportunity to taste some traditional Finnish
food. In line with some of John’s quirky
tastes, it was not surprising to me at all that he loved the pickled herrings
and barbequed whitebait...
For
the remainder of our time in Helsinki we walked, and walked, and walked. In fact we walked so much that we got hopelessly lost and it took us quite some time to get our bearings
as to where the shuttle bus back to the ship was located. As nice as Helsinki is, we didn’t fancy
having to stay after the boat departed. But as fate would have it we turned a
corner and recognised the gaudy exterior of a nightclub that we passed at the
beginning of the day, so we were able to find the bus stop from there.
Monday & Tuesday,7th & 8th July –
Stockholm I
just happened to wake up around 6am this morning, looked outside and the Ryndam
was sailing into Stockholm through the myriad of little islands that make up
the Stockholm Archipelago. It was
absolutely beautiful, so we sat on our balcony for the next two or so hours
that it took to slowly and quietly cruise into port. This was certainly a great introduction the
next two days.
Once
in Stockholm we opted to purchase two day tickets for the Hop on Hop off bus,
which also gave us a boat ride…a great deal, given that the port of Frihamnen
was quite a distance from the city, and an incredibly boring walk. For once we managed to snag the front two
seats at the top of the double decker bus and it was really enjoyable as the
bus travelled down many tree-lined streets, passed fountains and the
magnificent architecture of Stockholm.
We
decided to get off the bus at the stop for the boat rides. Because there were
so many tourists we decided that we should get this out of the way first –
another great idea. And as Stockholm is the “Abba City” our boat was aptly
named “Take a Chance on Me” (we started up a little sing-song with a couple of
other people from the ship before we boarded, just to get in the right mood…as
you do).
After
the nearly hour long boat ride, we then headed for Gamla Stan (the Old
Town). It was majorly crowded when we
got there but we did manage to buy a bagful of souvenirs for us, Jack, Olivia
and Lucy. Our plan was to wait until we
returned to the ship before eating, but by that stage we were starting to get
quite peckish and as the weather was really warm we both needed a cold drink. So we found ourselves a very nice little
restaurant with the most delightful waiter and had lunch. As John wanted to try
some of the local fare, our waiter suggested a dish of chard, seafood risotto
and mussels which according to my little connoissoir was the best meal of the
whole trip so far. I was able to order a
child’s size buffalo mozzarella pizza, which was really not that small, but
absolutely delicious.
Prior
to leaving on our trip I had done lots of research for all the places we were
visiting, and in Stockholm that included about nine pages on Gamla Stan. We decided to come back here earlier tomorrow
and follow our self-guided walking tour so that we could look beyond the shops
and restaurants and learn about the history of this medieval town. So, it was back on the bus to finish the
‘loop’ of Stockholm and back to the ship around 4pm.
The
next morning we headed straight back to Gamla Stan, armed with my notes. It was
sort of like a medieval scavenger hunt trying to find all of the streets,
houses etc that I had researched.
Especially exciting was when we found the old rune stone on the corner
of Prästgatan (“The Priest’s Street”) and Kåkbrinken. This is a raised stone
with an inscription that was a popular tradition during the age of the
Vikings. This stone dates back to around
1000AD and is one of the oldest items to be found in the city.
We
walked along the many streets and alleyways of this fascinating town, spotting
old windows and doors, churches, statues and carvings. All in all we spent
nearly five hours here and enjoyed each and every minute.
Because
it was ‘all aboard’ by 4.30pm we didn’t have time to stop for any refreshments,
so after leaving Gamla Stan we managed to time it just right for the changing
of the guard at the Royal Palace, after which we ‘hopped’ back on the bus which
took us to the area where the Vasa Museum, open air museum, zoo and, most
important of all, the Abba Museum is located. I didn’t particularly want to go into the Abba
Museum, but what I did was to get my photo taken with (or more precisely ‘as’
one of the foursome)…
Dinner
was in the Rotterdam dining room at 7.45pm followed by a show. It’s going to be so hard to go back to normal
life.
Wednesday 9th July – After
a few hectic days it was divine to have a day at sea to do absolutely
nothing. We had a marvellous sleep-in,
given that we didn’t get to bed until nearly 1am, and were up in time to get
dressed and have breakfast in the Rotterdam Dining Room.
When
we got back to our cabin, there was an invitation waiting on our bed for a
special Mariner’s Lunch right back again in the Rotterdam for 11.30am. We really didn’t feel like eating again so
soon after breakfast but we thought that it might be a buffet and we would just
be able to have something light….but this is a cruise ship, and naturally a three course
lunch was served. We sat at a table with
a most delightful Australian family and a lovely lady from Florida which did
make for a very pleasant few hours.
And
if we hadn’t eaten enough, we had a reservation in the Caneletto Restaurant
that we had booked before leaving home…for 6pm!
It was absolutely amazing of course and my seafood marinara was probably
the best I have ever had.
But we were
sooooo full – uncomfortably so. So we
took a stroll around Deck 6 before heading up to deck 8 for the show – an
absolutely brilliant violinist.
Definitely the best show yet.
Sadly though, John spent a rather ‘irky’ night – too much rich food for
his delicate stomach.
Thursday 10th July – The
ship berthed in Arhus, Denmark, just after 8am this morning – and with a brass band
playing for us no less. We had a VERY
light breakfast in our cabin before heading on to shore. The ship was due to leave around 2pm so we didn’t
have a great deal of time to explore. There
were lots of friendly Danish ‘greeters’ all over the place so we singled out
Lars to guide us to where the Resistance Museum was. As it didn’t open until
10am we had plenty of time to have a wander around the Old Town, which is a
whole selection of museums and houses from the last 500 years of Danish
history. Sadly there was quite a lot of graffiti around the buildings and all
the alleyway walls which detracted from the significance of the place.
The
Resistance Museum (The Besaettelsesmuseet) turned out to be brilliant. There
was a cost to go in but we didn’t have any Danish Krone, nor did they take
credit cards, but the lovely man on the front desk let us in anyway. He was obviously very proud of what they had
created here and didn’t want to turn anyone away. He gave us English guide books of the various
exhibits in the museum and for the next hour and a half we wandered through and
learned all about what the Danes went through during the German occupation of
World War Two. The interrogation room,
complete with photographs and the various torture weapons they used was really
creepy – you could almost hear the screams of the poor beggars that were
tortured way back then.
After
shaking the hand of the dear man that let us into the museum, and also having a
chat with another lady that worked there, we made our way back to the
ship. John was still not feeling a
hundred percent so we went to the Lido deck for a sandwich and a cup of iced
tea for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon in our cabin.
Tonight
we booked the Pinnacle Grill again so that we could share a special dinner with
Mo and John. And it was very special as
we got to know this lovely couple better.
After dinner we went along to the show which tonight was called “Droom”,
an excellent production by the Ryndam singers and dancers. As tomorrow was to be a ‘sea day’ we put the
‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on our door and prepared for a long and luxurious sleep
in.
Friday 11th July – A day at sea As
anticipated, our sleep-in was indeed luxurious and when we pulled back the
curtains the day was revealed to be crystal clear with calm and sparkly
seas.
A quick breakfast up in the Lido
restaurant and then it was back to our lovely little cabin to spend the
next few hours reading, doing crosswords, watching a movie that I had on my
laptop and listening to music.
We
did have a brief interlude during the afternoon to attend a ‘Watch Spectacular’
where John bought himself two watch sets and I bought myself one as well,
followed by an Indonesian Afternoon Tea
and a few hours later by dinner at a
table for two in the Rotterdam Dining Room.
A very tiring day!
Saturday 12th July - and here we were back in Dover. But, unlike so many of our fellow passengers, our cruise wasn't yet over. We had been to Dover on a few other occasions but had never been to Dover Castle. So this was our mission for today, and in particular the Secret War Tunnels.
During the course of the next several hours we walked all through the grounds and buildings of this place.
At the end of the day the Ryndam once more set sail from Dover, but this time the weather was rather bleak and rainy - who cares, we were quite happy in our little cabin with a day at sea to look forward to tomorrow.
Sunday 13th July – a sea day which was pretty much a repeat of our last day at sea except replace “Indonesian
Afternoon Tea” with “UK High Tea”, take out the shopping and add Canneletto
Italian Restaurant in place of the Rotterdam Dining Room.
Monday 14th July – Bergen, Norway How
wonderful it is to open your eyes first thing in the morning, look out of the
window and see mountains, quaint little Norse homes and crystal clear waters
All through breakfast we sat and
watched this beautiful scene until, around 10am, we finally berthed in Bergen,
the second largest city in Norway.
We
joined the rest of the hordes who exited the ship as soon as the gangway was
opened, but we had a specific purpose…to get to the Floibanen (funicular
railway) as soon as possible. Great idea
in principle, however it turned out that several hundred other people had the
same idea. But we patiently waited until
it was our turn to travel up the very steep Mount Floyen in the two car
tram.
Once on top of the mountain we
stayed for a few hours. We walked away
from where all the masses were congregated and found a dirt track which led to
a very comfy seat which overlooked the city below.
Maybe it was something to do with the higher altitude, and our kids would definitely relate to this, but while we sat at our little vantage point we had a great old time making up rhymes about Bergen Bugs, Suburban Bergans and Norwegian Gnats.
When
it was time for our descent in the tram car John just couldn’t resist – he
started singing “Funiculi Funicula”.
Fortunately there was an Italian man from our ship with a great big
booming voice who started singing as well, and before we knew it we had half of
the car singing – and the other half taking our photos or videoing us. When we had finished singing, a cute little
Japanese lady smiled up at us and said “encore”. Well, how could we disappoint her?
Once
down the mountain we had a wander around the market to see some of the things
they had for sale – moose meat, whale meat, elk sausage and reindeer burgers…no
thank you
We
wandered down to Bryggen, the Old Town, with its colourful and ‘leaning’
buildings
down passed the museum and forts
and passed the docks with many tall
ships berthed there waiting for next week’s Tall Ships Race
and then back to the Ryndam
Tuesday 15th July – Geiranger Today
was probably the most breathtaking day we have had in terms of scenery. We set
the alarm so that we could wake up early this morning, as the Captain had
promised that the three hour or so sail-in into the town of Geiranger was one
of the most beautiful stretches of scenery in the world. And he certainly wasn’t kidding. Although there was a misty rain falling, it
only added to the mystical feel of the place.
We ordered breakfast to be delivered to our cabin and we happily sat out
on our balcony and enjoyed the spectacle
The
Ryndam berthed in Geiranger around 10am but we didn’t head to shore until after
lunch. We had a shore excursion booked –
the only one of our whole trip – which didn’t leave until 3.15pm. As it was we arrived at the town, by tender
boat, around 1.45pm and we had pretty much seen the whole town by 2pm so for
the remainder of the time while we waited for the excursion to leave we sat on
a seat by the water’s edge and enjoyed our surroundings.
There were two other cruise ships in port
today – the MSC Orchestra and the Aria, a really creepy looking Italian ship
with a huge mouth and eyes painted on it – so there were a LOT of people in a
very small town. Apparently the
population of Geiranger is 250 but at the height of summer they have around
700,000 visitors.
At
first we thought that our shore excursion might have been a waste of the $200
it cost us because the first viewpoint that we visited, where we were supposed
to get panoramic views of the fjords and the Seven Sisters Waterfall, all we
got was fog…very thick fog. But, the
next place we travelled to – up, up, and up Mt Dalsnibba, right to the very
summit was absolutely amazingly beautiful.
We passed a huge inland lake flanked by high snow-capped mountains, lots
of cascading waterfalls, old farms, little huts with grassed roofs that used to
be used by the people that dug the roads, mountain goats and sheep and at the
very top of the mountain we felt like we were on top of the world
The bus made it back with five minutes to
spare before the last tender of the day – just in time to grab a quick burger
from the Dine In bar and scurry back to our cabin for the sail-out along the
Geiranger Fjord for the next few hours.
As the weather had lifted we were rewarded to more incredible
scenery. We declared this day to be the
highlight day of our trip
One thing that I want to mention are the daylight hours...there are a lot of them. Rarely does the sun go down before 10.30 at night and it's up again bright and early around 4am. Consequently we got to see some stunning sunsets (but definitely no sunrises)
Wednesday 16th July - Alesund, Norway's fishing capital and a city known for its Art Nouveau style (the majority of Alesund's buildings were rebuilt in this style following the almost total destruction of the city by fire back in the first years of the 20th century). There's not a whole lot to see in Alesund, but what we did see was from a very cute little tourist train that tootled us all through the streets and up the mountainside for a few hours
After our train ride ended, we intended to do some shopping but the prices were extraordinary! A little 000 short sleeved jumpsuit in a brushed cotton worked out to be $A58 (needless to say we didn't buy it). In John's words "Fuck-me Rhona, that's a lotta Krona!"
Thursday 17th July - our last port before the end of our cruise (insert sad face here) was Eidsfjord. Everyone said that the best thing to do here was to head up to the Vøringsfossen waterfall way up in the mountains. So, accompanied by a lovely English couple that we met at dinner the previous night, we headed off for the 90 minute bus ride to what was promised to be a spectacular scene. However, the more we drove the more the clouds rolled in and the more it started to rain so that by the time we got up there the visibility was almost zero. We could hear the ROAR of the waterfall but couldn't see a thing. There were about twenty or so other people on the bus with us and everyone, including John and Pat (the English couple), headed disappointedly back to the hotel near where the bus dropped us off for a warming cup of coffee by the fire...but not us. We stuck it out in the hope that the weather would magically clear and we would be able to see what we paid for...AND IT DID!!!
enough to make us happy and to justify us getting horribly wet...and cold.
When we got back to the Ryndam looking like a couple of drowned rats, there waiting for us at the gangway was one of the lovely staff with cups of hot chocolate...I don't think I have ever tasted anything so absolutely delicious.
After wonderful hot showers we rugged ourselves up in time for the sail-out from Eidsfjord and the journey through Hardangerfjord
Friday 18th July - our last day at sea and time to pack up our 'home away from home' and try to fit everything into our cases. Fortunately I had packed an extra bag into the bottom of mine before we left and it proved to be a saviour. Apart from the packing we didn't do a whole lot today but laze around the cabin, go to another Mariners' lunch in the dining room (after this cruise we will be 3 star mariners - only one star away from free laundry on all of our future cruises!) and say farewell to some of the 'special' staff members who made our cruise so wonderful. Especially our cabin steward Wido, who kept our cabin pristine and who left chocolates on our pillow each night as well as towel animals on the end of our bed
Saturday morning 19th July - and so endeth our wonderful holiday. It was all over now bar the shouting and the interminably long trek home. We disembarked the ship at 7.30am, hopped on a shuttle bus for the journey to Heathrow Terminal 3, where we checked our bags in and waited until 8.40pm for our Emirates flight to Dubai. Fortunately it was made bearable by the fact that we had booked ourselves into the Serviceair lounge, a peaceful haven tucked away from the noisy rabble of the terminal. Here we enjoyed free wifi, comfy leather lounges, a selection of alcohol, soft drinks, hot and cold food and snacks, TV, magazine and newspapers.
The flights home on the A380 were OK - very little turbulence and we had good seats - but they were LONG. Finally we touched down at Brisbane airport at 5.30am on Monday 21st July, having 'lost' a day in transit. We were very fortunate in that no other flights had landed at the time we did so we just zipped through Customs and the baggage carousel, straight into a waiting taxi and home to our little house at North Lakes.
Our five week holiday will go down in our lives as one of the most wonderful we have ever enjoyed. So...where to next?
