June 3 – North Cape (Nord Kapp)
Since we are so far north, it does not ever get dark, but it
was interesting to leave the suite drapes open.
Seabourn even provides eyeshades to help guests sleep with 24 hours of
daylight and avoid disrupting our circadian rhythms. However, since we are 9
time zones out from home, ours are already messed up.
June 4 – At Sea
The rough seas and heavy winds persisted most of the day,
with temperatures gradually increasing. Tonight
was the last night north of the Polar Arctic Circle and we were fortunate that
the skies cleared as many guests again gathered in the Observation Lounge to
experience the sun approaching the horizon, never quite getting there. This was also the last “formal” night before
arriving in Copenhagen in a few days. At midnight, the lounge was full as we
all watched the sun approach the horizon.
The sun then moved through north to the east reaching its lowest point
at 0141 am and eventually started getting higher on the horizon.
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| Final night under midnight sun |
June 5 – At Sea
The temperature has increased to 46 degrees and for most of
the morning the skies were overcast. A
sizable swell was still present. About 1100
the winds switched to the West and started to increase. Other than some lectures on Viking history
our day was spent relaxing.
June 6 – Olden, Norway
Miriam boarded a bus for a different tour into the villages of
Blakset, Fjelli and Holland, then on to several viewpoints, including the
spectacular Nos viewpoint with a 1600 foot sheer drop into the valley below. Her tour concluded with a visit to
Nordfjordeid village before returning to the ship.
June 7, 2017 – Bergen, Norway
Since we have been to Bergen several times and have seen
most of the traditional tourist sights, we had arranged to meet our friends Randi
and Stewart MacKay, who live about 35 miles away on a island south of
Bergen. The Quest docked right at one
end of the old harbor, an easy 5 minute walk to the center of Bryggen, the
historic Hanseatic area of Bergen at the head of the harbor. We spent from late morning to late afternoon
catching up and swapping pictures of kids, grandkids and places we have been,
while enjoying a nice meal overlooking the inner harbor at Bergen. When it was time to return to the ship the
light rain from earlier had turned into serious showers.
June 8, 2017 – Stavanger, Norway
Stavanger has exploded in size and has massive new
construction since Patrick last visited it on business 35 years ago. The Seabourn Quest docked right in the inner
harbor at 0700, so those people hiking to Preikestollen (Pulpit Rock) could
make the hike (a 7 ½ hour round trip) and get back to the ship before it
departed at 1600. Patrick was one of the
27 guests attempting the hike in steady rain and fog. Patrick had completed the hike previously, wearing
business attire. The trail is in much
better shape since the Norwegian government hired Nepali Sherpas to rebuild the
trail and it now resembles the trails Patrick hiked on the way to Mt. Everest
Base Camp in 2012.
The ship and tour guide enforced strict “turn around and
descend” times to make sure the group could catch the correct ferry boats and
return to the ship. About half the
group, including Patrick, made it to the top where the fog, rain and clouds
made it a dreary place, offset by the champagne toast the guides had waiting at
the top.
The Seabourn Quest departed Stavanger on time, completing
the Norwegian portion of our cruise, heading for Skagen, Denmark.
June 9, 2017 – Skagen, Denmark
The predicted strong winds that could have prevented the
Quest from docking at Skagen never materialized, so the ship docked on schedule
at 0900. The cruise ship terminal is
fairly new and within walking distance from the town center, but a free shuttle
bus was provided anyway.
The rain held off, mostly, until departure time, and then
was steady through the night as the ship travelled the 155 nautical miles to
Copenhagen.
June 10, 2017 – Copenhagen
The ship docked early, at 0600, close to the center of town
and just two city blocks from the “Little Mermaid “statue. Rain was predicted,
sometimes heavy, with temperatures only reaching 60 degrees. We have to be back on board by 1545 for the
safety briefing before we depart and begin the Baltic portion of our
cruise. All but 38 passengers
disembarked here at Copenhagen, so we will have a whole new group of people to
meet.
The rain never materialized and after the hubbub of
disembarkation for those guests leaving the Seabourn Quest we headed ashore and
walked around the Kasstellet near the ship.
This fortress is still an active military installation, open to the
public. It is a pentagon star shape surrounded
by a moat with high walls on both sides of the moat. The moat is now the home of swans, ducks and
other sea birds. The crowds around the
popular attractions such as the “Little Mermaid” continued to build, as did the
tour buses, so we returned to the ship area and walked around an outlet mall
right across from the ship. Like most
outlet malls there were few real bargains and nothing that screamed “take me”
for either of us.
The cruise departed on schedule with a full ship and 292
passengers new to Seabourn out of the 420 on board.
Miriam and Patrick celebrated their 45
th wedding
anniversary with a dinner in The Grill by Thomas Keller, at a table decorated
with rose petals in a heart shaped pattern.
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| 45th Anniversary dinner at the Grill on Seabourn Quest |
June 11, 2017 – at Sea
A relaxing day at sea under mostly sunny skies, with an
ability to soak up some Vitamin D. Many
of the new passengers are in large family or social groups, so the interaction
with the other guests is harder than on previous Seabourn sailings. When our stewardess, Natalya, found out about
our anniversary we returned to a cabin littered with hearts and kissing swans
made from towels!
June 12, 2017 – Tallinn, Estonia
June 13, 2017 – St. Petersburg,
Russia
The ship docking location was changed from Lieutenant
Schmidt’s Facade on the Neva River just a few short blocks from the Hermitage to
the newer Marine Façade cruise terminal 5 miles from the Hermitage. The Marine Façade is capable of holding as
many as 7 cruise ships, and we were one of 5 when we arrived.
The bus trip to the center of the city takes as long as 45
minutes when the traffic is heavy. The
streets are complicated by the many canals winding around the city, and the
relatively few bridges crossing them. Our
tour began with immigration formalities and a bus ride to the Hermitage Museum,
with a photo stop at St. Isaacs Cathedral just a few blocks away. Our tour began with an early entry (before
official opening hours) into the museum, where we had to shed jackets and
backpacks in the cloakroom before entering the museum. Passing through the Egyptian Room, our first
stop was the gold and diamond rooms where photography was prohibited, but where
we saw much of the Romanov collection of artifacts and jewels. Our guides could translate the explanations
given by the museum tour guides, which are required in those rooms. In fact, we were split into two groups of 10
for that portion of the tour. Those
rooms require the museum guides and they limit the number of groups in the
rooms. By the time we exited those rooms, the public was streaming into the
main museum and we became part of the massive crowds viewing the artwork and
sculpture. It was nearly impossible to
get close to the Da Vinci’s, but with plastic protecting them, the view was not
that good anyway. An individual could
spend days in the Hermitage and still not see everything.
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| Miriam in Hermitage Museum |
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| Church of Spilled Blood |
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| St Peter & St Paul |
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| The altar inside |
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| Catherine Palace Entrance |
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| The Amber Room |
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| Amber room Detail |
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| Ballroom and concert |
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| Chapel at Catherine Palace |
Leaving the Hermitage sometime after noon we then visited
St. Peter and St. Paul Church with it’s slender 431 foot gold spire, the
highest in Europe. The church sits
inside the fortress of the same name on an island in the Neva River. The river and canal system was crowded with
sightseeing boats, hydrofoils and private yachts, all traveling at relatively
high speed down the waterways.
Returning to our bus, we headed back to the Admiralty Façade
for lunch at “Bellini” restaurant, which included vodka, borsht, stroganoff and
a folkloric show.
After lunch, our final stop of the day was at “The Church of
Spilled Blood”, a massive orthodox style building commemorating the assassination
of Czar Nicholas II. The building is
made to look old, but in fact was built in 1905. After the Bolshevik revolution, the building
was used for storage, and as a morgue during WWII. The building escaped major damage during the
war. It was restored beginning in 1971
and an unexploded artillery shell was found imbedded in the dome while
repairing leaks in the roof.
Returning to the ship we hurriedly changed and grabbed a
bite to eat before re-boarding busses for the one hour trip to Catherine
Palace, in Pushkin. We entered the
palace after hours for a special tour, putting on booties to protect the
floors. The palace was heavily damaged
during the war, and is still undergoing restoration. Photos were allowed,
including in the “Amber Room”, considered by some to be the 8th
wonder of the world, where the walls are composed of complex and beautiful amber
mosaics.
Entering the massive ballroom, which reminded us of the Hall
of Mirrors at Versailles, but better restored, we were served champagne and
then listened and watched classical music, opera arias and folkloric dancing
before exiting to the main courtyard. In
the main courtyard we were treated to a military band as we slowly walked back
to the main gates of the palace and got back on the buses for the one hour
drive back to the ship. The rain and
wind started just a few minutes after we boarded the bus. We arrived back at the port about 2230 and
after clearing Russian immigration were greeted with a banner held by 8 crew
members saying “Welcome Home”, and then offered hot chocolate with Bailey’s
after we cleared security on board. The
biggest surprise were the snack plates waiting in our suite, with small
sandwiches, cookies, fruit and chocolates.
June 14, 2017 – St. Petersburg
Morning arrived all too soon and after breakfast in our
suite we headed for the bus, after clearing Russian immigration again. No new stamps, just a look to see if we were
on an organized tour. Our destination
was the Romanov palace called Peterhof, about one hour drive away on the Gulf
of Finland. We once again had early
entry before the crowds, and after once again donning booties visited a number
of rooms restored after Nazi shelling heavily damaged Peterhof during the war. Many of the artifacts were removed before the
shelling and either buried in secret locations or transported east of the
Ural’s for safekeeping. What could not
be removed was either destroyed or looted during the time Germany occupied the
area. The restoration was done using the
same materials, tools and techniques as in the original construction and was
very beautiful. After touring the palace
itself we headed for the gardens, some 4500 acres of 150 fountains and gardens,
both formal and wild. The view from the
canal leading to the sea reminded one of Versailles, only more spectacular with
all the fountains in operation.
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| Part of gardens at Peterhof Palace |
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| Fountains at Peterhof |
Returning to the city for lunch at “Almond” restaurant we
then proceeded to the Faberge Museum and looked at the collection of Imperial
Eggs and other Faberge creations. We
also looked at similar enameled work by other Russian jewelers. Following that visit we returned to the ship
under sunny skies for a relaxing evening on board Seabourn Quest.
June 15, 2017 – St. Petersburg
We spent the day aboard getting our luggage ready for the
next phase of our journey. Without going
on an organized tour we could not explore ashore, but we did not desire that
anyway, since the ship is moored far from the city. The skies cleared and the temperature climbed
into the 70’s, a welcome change from the cool, wet weather of the last few
days.
The ship held an “epicurean event” on the pool deck as we
departed, with lots of caviar and other gourmet treats as we sailed away from
Russia. On the way out we passed a large
Russian naval base guarding the approaches to St. Petersburg, passing through a
narrow entrance guarded by fortifications on both sides. The only naval ship of note was a submarine
flying the Russian St. Andrews Cross flag, so it is apparently still in
commission.
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| Hydrofoil on way to Peterhof |
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| Russian Submarine as we left St. Petersburg |
June 16, 2017 – Helsinki, Finland
After transiting some narrow passages, the Seabourn Quest
docked near the old town shortly after 0700.
The weather was nice enough to eat breakfast outside on the aft
deck. We had arranged a “Introduction to
Helsinki” tour after Patrick’s kayaking excursion was cancelled due to lack of
participants (he was the only one who signed up). After the tour which included the Rock Church
and the Sibelius Monument, Patrick walked around the old harbor and looked at
the many icebreakers moored close to the Quest. The Baltic is now mostly ice free in the
winter so they get little use.
June 17, 2017 – Stockholm
The approach to Stockholm was obscured by dense fog. We could barely see the small islands lining
the channel on either side of the ship.
The foghorn sounded every two minutes right up until we were backing
into the slip at the cargo terminal some 6 miles from downtown.
We had ordered breakfast in the room, and it arrived early,
at 0615. The Seabourn Quest actually docked at 0700 and by 0715 the first
guests were leaving the ship for the last time.
Our transportation to town was set for 0900, so after a final cup of
coffee in the main dining room we headed down the gangway at 0830.
By the time the 2 ½ hour tour was finished our room was
ready at the hotel. Miriam rested and
Patrick headed on foot to the Vasa Museum, about 2 ½ miles from the hotel. A detour around the island of Gamla Stan,
just across from the hotel, was interesting, but on a sunny Saturday was packed
with tourists. The Vasa museum was also interesting, but dimly lit for
preservation reasons, so photos were hard due to both the dim lighting and the sheer size of the Vasa inside the
building. The Vasa is basically the same
length as HMS Victory in Portsmouth, but narrower. The narrow beam and insufficient ballast are
believed to be the primary technical reasons for the capsizing just 20 minutes
into her maiden voyage. The builders
knew the ship was “tender”, but no one was willing to tell the Swedish King of
the risks.
We have an early train to Gothenburg in the morning, so
dinner happened at the hotel. The dinner
included an unusual presentation of pickled herring, which actually tasted very
good. On the other hand, the souls vide
beef presentation was not, so we asked to have it put on the grill for a bit,
which made it OK.
June 18, 2017 – enroute Denmark via
Gothenburg
Stockholm central station is only 2 blocks from the hotel,
so getting there in time for an 0810 train was easy. The trains are modern, have wi-fi and to our
surprise our ticket included both breakfast and lunch, but so close together we
were still full from the first meal when the second was delivered.
The train arrived on time and the taxi ride to the ferry
terminal only took a few minutes at a cost of 200 Swedish Krona, about $20 USD.
We arrived so early we were the only people in the terminal for some time. Large glass walls on the seaward side of the
terminal provided good views of the many pleasure craft and tour boats going in
and out of Gothenburg harbor. By one
hour before departure the large lounge was packed with foot passengers and
luggage heading to Denmark.
We boarded the Stena Jutlandica on time for the 3 ½ hour
transit of the Kattegat to Fredrikshavn in Denmark. The route winds its way through the Goteburg
Archipelago filled with boats under sail and power and some very large
marinas. The topography really reminds
us of the San Juans. Leaving the
Archipelago the ferry nosed out into the mild seas of the Kattegat.
Arriving on schedule at Fredrikshavn we joined the throngs
of other foot passengers disembarking the Stena Jutlandica. There is a long covered walkway leading out
of the ferry terminal area and crossing the main road, with escalators and
elevators at the end to get back down the street level. The car rental agency was one block away, but
closed! Several phone calls and 30
minutes later we found that the keys were at the concierge desk in the Hotel
Jutlandica, right at the base of the elevator.
A few minutes later we were in the car and headed for the
beach cottage in Hou, where Ted and Lisa Marx had a light meal waiting for us.
June 19, 2017 – Hou, Denmark
After a continental breakfast Patrick and Ted began
assembling the 10 by 5 meter tent which was last used at Lisa’s birthday party which
we attended in 2013. That project took
until noon, but fortunately the wind held off until after the roof of the tent
was on. We all went to the harbor in Hou
for Danish hotdogs for lunch and then relaxed under the tent playing Mexican
Train. Dinner was at a shoreside restaurant
in Hals where we had Wienerschnitsel with fresh peas and roasted potatoes in
servings so large we each only ate half
and took the rest back to the cabin for lunch the next day.
The evening ended with another marathon Mexican Train match.
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| Lisa Marx's Cabin |
June 20, 2017 – Hou, Denmark
After a continental breakfast in the sun facing the Kattegat
we headed into the local fish market, which was unfortunately closed on
Tuesdays. Back in the car we headed for
Voersgaard Castle, built in 1523, not far from the town of Saeby. We had driven by the castle, which is believed
to be haunted, in 2013, but it was too early in the day and was closed. It seems every castle open to tourists in
Denmark claims to be haunted, probably just to attract tourists. Today it was open, and several tour buses
were in the lot. Workmen were building
sets for the upcoming Medieval Fair in July, where everyone wears period
costumes.
Returning back to Hou, we looked for items for dinner, which
was to be an outdoor event with a number of other attendees, both relatives and
friends of Ted and Lisa. We ended up
deciding on pizzas and shrimp salad. The
wind had picked up again, so Ted and Patrick added several of the side walls to
the tent to provide a windbreak, as well as additional lines and stakes to
combat the wind.
The evening was very enjoyable as we shared martinis by
Patrick, the salad by Ted and the pizza by the local pizza joint.
June 21, 2017 – Hou, Denmark
After breakfast in the sun , we headed to Hou to buy fresh
fish for dinner. The fish market had a
wide variety of fish, some still moving around.
Lisa picked Plaice, which is reputed to be better than Dover Sole, as
well as some peel and eat shrimp, We
then went to Hals, where we were pleasantly surprised by a large flea market. We found some gifts for Ted and Lisa and also
for our upcoming lunch hosts, Jette and Mogens Hertoft. They live next door to Ted and Lisa and have
a large house and extensive gardens.
Lunch was Smorrebrod, aquavit, beer and carrot cake for dessert. Lunch finished about 1530 and then the
neighbors on the other side showed up for a visit.
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| Our smorrebrod lunch by Jette |
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| Enjoying lunch at the Hertoft gazebo |
Dinner was finally cooked by Lisa near 2000, with the fresh
Plaice pan fried, boiled potatoes and fresh peas. After dinner we started the final game of
Mexican Train.
June 22, 2017 – Enroute Copenhagen
The night was all too short, since the game finished after
0100. After a quick breakfast we headed
out in the rain and began the drive to Copenhagen. We took two ferries, one a high speed SWATH
vessel that travelled at 40 knots and carried several hundred cars and
trucks. The ferries cut 150 kilometers
from the trip and we arrived at the airport to drop off the rental car shortly
after 1500. We took a taxi back to the
city to 71 Nyhavn Hotel for the evening and enjoyed a Thai style tasting menu dinner
at “SEA” restaurant on the waterfront in Nyhavn.
June 23, 2017 – Enroute Bellevue
After a typical Scandinavian buffet breakfast at the hotel
we took our pre-arranged transportation to the Copenhagen Airport. It is under massive renovation and can be
confusing on where to go. After checking
in we were able to use “fast track” through security. Inside security was a massive shopping arcade
which one had to walk through to get to immigration control for the flight to
Heathrow. British Airways has a new
lounge next to the departure gate which we were able to use.
The flight appeared to be fully booked and the line to board
was unusually long as they were trying to convince many passengers to check
their carry-on bags to reduce the crowding and delays in trying to find space
for the bags. Even in business we had to
search for a spot several rows back to place our bags. There was a meal service even on the 1 ½ hour
flight, consisting of a cold chicken, watercress and potato salad.
Arriving at Heathrow, we were bused to the main terminal and
after clearing security proceeded to the BA Concorde Lounge, where we relaxed
until our flight was called at 1500. While
in the lounge we had some salt beef sandwiches and rose champagne while we
waited. Our flight left from Satellite
C, which meant an additional delay to ride the underground train to the
boarding gate. The flight was just
boarding, so we were one of the first passengers on board. After a glass of champagne we changed into
our sleep suits and relaxed for the next 9 hours as the British Airways 747
flew over the middle of Greenland, Baffin Island, Northern Canada and on to
Seattle.
So ends the European 2017 Adventure.
