Here we go again

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Hi Everybody,

After two days of air travel we have arrived in Copenhagen. We are staying at the Marriott and have a beautiful room over looking the canal.

We are a short walk from the train station (we walked from the train station to the hotel with all our suitcases), shorter walk to Tivoli and can walk along the canal to one of the main squares.

Today we walked all over, trying new foods (all good), checked out Georg Jensen's outlet store - was going to buy fancy sugar cubes to bring back until I saw the price - $6.00 for 12 cubes.

Took a canal ride and saw many of the major sites.

Sidney is now downloading all of the pictures he has taken today.

We will be crashing soon. Tomorrow we start a new adventure in life "mystery cruiser."

Enjoy life.

HB

[redwitch]

You're in one of my favorite cities. Hope you have enjoyed your visit there. Have a good time on the cruise and see you when you get back.

[l2ridehd]

Copenhagen is great. Couple good restaurants to try. Across the bridge is the Raddison Hotel. In there basement is the Blue Elephant, a great Thai place. And as you cross the bridge, look left and you will see a boat that has a restaurant also. Very good. Also go to New Harven (New Harbor) there are many really good places to sit outside and eat. A really nice hotel unless your on Marriott points in the Front Hotel very close to New Harven.

[Hyacinth Bucket]

What a charming and walkable city! Reminds us of Amsterdam in its flatness,
>canals, bicycles, and friendly people. Took a canal boat tour today and saw
>an amazing diversity of architecture, both modern and ancient, all mixed
>together but done so aesthetically. Even got to see Hans Christian
>Anderson's 'Little Mermaid' statue in the harbor. Weather turned drizzly by
>mid-afternoon, so we came into the lounge at the hotel to warm up and have a few snacks which will serve as supper.

>Our flights worked out fine, and the info people at the airport convinced us
>that taking the train into the city would be easy and infinitely more
>reasonable than a cab (maybe a quarter the cost). So these old coots managed that, including pulling our suitcases through the streets to our hotel a few minutes from the central station. Worked out fine. Must admit made us feel young again, when we used to do this.
>
>Tonight we plan to go to Tivoli, one of the most famous landmarks in
>Denmark, a combination amusement park and city park. Apparently they do
>really neat things with lights at night which we're looking forward to.
>
>Tomorrow we get on the cruise ship.

HB and Sid

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Hi, we are staying at the Marriott - have a corner room on the 11th floor with a view of the canal. They offered us an excellent rate. There is a major medical convention in Copenhagen at the moment and rooms are at a premium with many hotels sold out.

We ate while we walked - street food that was really good. I never new I liked franks so much. I really enjoyed the franks the way they prepare them and the bread reminded me of French baguettes.

We are only here for one day and will not have time to try out the restaurants you suggested. Means we will just have to come back again.

Next we go do Dover where we will meet Sid's cousins and go out for High Tea to a quaint tea shop.

HB

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Left Copenhagen the evening of September 17th on a sea of glass which has continued throughout the voyage so far. First full day was at sea, from which we'd learned in the past is a great way to just relax. My own day consisted of breakfast followed by a nap followed by lunch, then a nap, and finally dinner in the 'anytime' dining room, followed by early to bed. Catching up on sleep from the flights to Copenhagen and our days walking around that charming city, I guess.

Docked early yesterday morning in Dover in front of the white chalk cliffs and a white lighthouse—and tons of other ships and ferries. Our cousins Bea & Jon met us at the terminal, and off we went to the nearest McDonald's. Did you know that WiFi is free at all McDonald's in Europe? What a plus! Logged in from the parking lot long enough to at least delete all the advertising and 'register' all the spam, with only a minute to write a couple of lines to answer what messages were there.

One of our favorite things to do with Bea & Jon is to go to a tea shop; they've taken us to the most marvelous ones. This morning we had to try three of them to find one that was open, this one in St. Margaret's. Turned out to be close by to the home of Noel Coward, and the shop had attached to it a small museum dedicated to Coward as well as two other small rooms, one about Ian Fleming and his 'James Bond' novels, the other about the laying of the first underwater cable from England to the continent. Interesting—and the tea was lovely! We gave Jon a bottle of wine for him and Bea to celebrate Jon's 80th birthday which was on August 6.

From here we went to Deal to wait for lunch at a favorite restaurant of theirs, on the ocean front facing the beach, with tons of flowers—geraniums and petunias in so many different colors—immediately in front of the restaurant as well as across the street around a small traffic circle. Easy to picture Victorian England or Miss Marple. As there was a function going on in the main part of the restaurant, we had a wait of about an hour during which time we went browsing, particularly into a thrift shop next to the car park where they raise funds for animal care. Lots of fun! Bought a vintage—but brand new—canister of dusting powder that'll look great in our guest washroom in Florida—and a set of three sachet holders in the shape of different Victorian cottages that Bea fell in love with which we quietly left in the car for them later, as we knew she would not otherwise accept it. Each cost 50p (about a dollar).

Lunch was excellent: toasted goat cheese with salad, poached plaice (a flounder-type flat fish that we seen to find only in England) with veggies, and a decadent chocolate dessert that Susan and I shared. All we seem to do with Bea & Jon is laugh a lot, and during lunch was no exception. The waiter, who knew them from past visits, seemed to eye me a little suspiciously. . . . Tried to get the bill from him but he refused. Drat! Drove from the restaurant a short distance out of the hustle and bustle of town to a parking area on the beach, from which we took a walk on a paved path and sat on a bench in the sun just chatting and taking in the view of the ocean. A group—obviously a tour—passed us; we asked where they were from, and they turned out to be from the 'Marco Polo,' a small ship docked next to our enormous Crown Princess looking as though it could be our lifeboat (slight exaggeration . . .).

It was then time to head back to our ship, wondering how eight hours had passed so quickly. Must have been all that laughter! Got back aboard, met up with our travel buddy Bob, grazed through dinner rather than a full dinner, and went to the pizza bar for 'dessert.' Will have to say that the pizza is just about the best food available on the whole ship! They make it fresh right in front of you, and evidently they are starting with fresh ingredients. After dinner Bob went to work, Susan decided to stay on the upper deck to watch a movie on a huge screen above the pool, and I went to sleep—for a change. Almost feels as though I catch up on a year's worth of missing sleep on each cruise we take. And today is another sea day with an itinerary of goodies to do. Whew! Will pass on napkin folding and scarf tying, though. . . .

HB and Sid

[Helene2008]

HB and Sid, sounds like you are having a wonderful time. Thank you for sending us updates on your trip, I am truly enjoying reading about all your adventures. :smiley:

[Mikitv]

HB and Sid, Miss you in chat but know you are having a wonderful time. Love tea shops and yours sounded like one I should visit. Thank You for the update and get lots of rest.

Mikark

[Cassie325]

Oh Mrs. Bucket...(Bouquet) you sound right at home in England...I hope you didn't run into your crazy family over there!!:1rotfl:

Can't wait to have you come back and show pictures!! Tell Sidney hello!!

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Following the 'at sea' day after Dover, our first stop was in Dublin. Took a cab—with a witty and informative cabbie—into the city to Bewley's, a world-renowned coffee shop and breakfast place. Having just eaten on the ship, I passed on ordering anything and left Susan and Bob awaiting their goodies while I wandered around taking pictures. From here we went to Trinity College ('the Harvard of Ireland') where we went to see the various items that make up the Book of Kells that go back to the seventh century—original writings of the Gospels with marvelous illustrations that reminded me of Grandma Moses paintings in their two-dimensionality. We explored the buildings of—and around—Trinity College, then browsed our way through the streets of Dublin, often passing the brass plaques set in the sidewalk depicting the points of stopping during the annual enactment of Bloomsday, out of James Joyce's 'Ulysses.' Shades of my college days! Had fish & chips lunch at a place with history but somewhat marginal food (though my plaice was pretty good). Finally back to the ship to plan for our stop the following day in Belfast.

We decided that it would be neat not to simply explore yet another city, in this case the capital of Northern Ireland; Bob arranged a car rental with Alamo/Enterprise which we walked to after the free shuttle from the ship had taken us into the heart of downtown and the huge Ferris wheel similar to but not quite as big as the London Eye. Our destination was 'Giant's Causeway,' a unique natural rock formation of thousands of basalt six-sided pillars along the coast. Geology says it resulted from the cooling of lava flow; myth suggests that it was the stepping stones of Finn McCool, a giant, on his way to visit his girlfriend in Scotland (across the Irish Sea). Definitely unique but crowded with countless tour buses there, including quite a few from our ship. Stopped at the Old Bushmills distillery—the oldest in the world—and what gorgeous scenery in the area!

And from here we went to a tiny place with the unique name of Ballybogy where Bob managed to mail postcards to all his participants in the cruise he organized for November on our very ship, and we had lunch at a local eatery. Bob had his passion—fish & chips (much better, he said, than in Dublin)—while I stuck with just a salad while Susan had a salad plus something called a pastie bap, the latter word being a kind of roll and the former describing the contents as some kind of mystery meat (likely mutton, considering how many sheep farms were around us) plus onions and other veggies. I should add that many place names in Northern Ireland begin with 'Bally,' so on our way back we stopped in Ballymena, a small city, where we found a Barclays Bank (where our ATM card works without bank fees) and our favorite Lidl Supermarket where we get local souvenirs.

By this point time was running late, and we still had the project of finding the car rental office. To be sure, no GPS! We got to the right general area, but lacking an exit from the highway that we thought had been there, we followed a local map and used major streets as landmarks. Doing this, we suddenly found ourselves in the very neighborhood—what looked like just ordinary residential streets with businesses—that had been the center of the sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics that had rocked Belfast for thirty years until the relatively recent peace. It was somewhat of an eerie feeling to see how ordinary the area looked—and yet how frightening it had looked in the news over the years. Now there is, say, a block of Irish flags, followed by the next block of British flags, in the midst of which were huge street paintings on the sides of buildings of the events of those days; the one I remember was of Bobby Snds who had martyred himself for the Irish cause by starving himself to death in prison.

We learned later from our cab driver that over 3,000 people had died during that time, pointing out that it was about the same number who died in the Trade Center, Pentagon, and the plane crash in Shanksville PA in the one day of 9/11. He was a history buff who showed us pictures of him in such varied places as 2 World Trade Center, the Iwo Jima Monument in Arlington National Cemetery, Normandy Beach, and so forth. As he explained, he doesn't smoke, drink, or gamble, so he uses his money to travel with his family who were also in the pictures. On the way to the ship he pointed out to us, in an area under construction, the actual tender that had taken passengers to the 'Titanic,' now owned by the British government and being made into an historic site. What a fascinating wealth of knowledge!

We got back to the cruise ship tired and happy with the knowledge that the three of us had done our outing for a total cost that was less than what the cruise ship excursion desk was charging for one—and we did it more comfortably and with more flexibility in our own car than in a huge tour bus. Disappointment followed with the announcement on the ship that bad storms around Iceland will prevent us from stopping there, so are now heading directly to Greenland—with three sea days before we get there. Frustrating but just part of travel—and all I can think of is 'nap time' (after 'lunch time,' of course . . .)!

HB and Sid

[islandgal]

HB and Sid -

Thank you so much for sharing - you are my trips to Fantasy Island.!
I look forward to each one of your posts.

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Three days of 'at sea.' Whew! A litany of eating and napping and eating and napping, with various ship activities in between: lectures, arts & crafts, lots of conversation with other travelers, and the like. Some of the seas were pretty rough, though it didn't bother Susan and me. Still, the days passed quicker than we would have thought, and we had no choice but to accept missing the visit to Rejkhavik, Iceland, which was in the midst of dealing with the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Okay, that'll be a trip for another day, one which we'd spoken about in terms of spending a few days exploring.

Well, it turns out that the sleeper/surprise of the trip was our visit to Greenland. I make an effort to be conscious of the big world beyond the U.S., and I still cannot help but shake my head when people, explaining how difficult it is to get their family together for Thanksgiving when one member lives in Connecticut and another in New Jersey, and I then comment that I am one of six first cousins who live in six different countries, with me the only one on the U.S. side of the Atlantic, they ask, puzzled, 'Why did they all move so far away?' Hmmm.... As far as Greenland is concerned, though, I must be honest and admit to being 'the ugly American.' I had always lived by the conundrum that Iceland is green and Greenland is ice, believing that there was nothing in Greenland but, well, ice and military installations.

Our visit there was to a town in South Greenland called Qarqotoq, with a population of 3,500, set in a natural harbor surrounded by exquisite scenery of near rock mountains (little vegetation) behind which are huge snow-covered peaks. Houses, neat as pins and all painted bright colors, dotted the area, along with public buildings like shops, churches, schools, other businesses, and significant maritime endeavors. There is also a beautiful lake behind the town with great hiking trails, we were told, but we never got there. Because it is hardly a tourist attraction (we learned later that no more than twenty ships may stop there in the course of a year), and even the cruise line doesn't offer any shore excursions, our arrival there was a particularly big deal to the point that the town had taken on 'tourism' as a project for the day.

Locals were out in native costumes, some selling their crafts on tables informally set up near the tender dock (where we bought a unique piece of beadwork) while others just out and about, those speaking English answering questions and offering information. The high school students (where, by the way, the ratio of students to teachers is 8:1) had spent the preceding week preparing for our arrival, putting together a welcome newsletter and preparing performances of native dances and Inuit sports. Even the boys of grades 8-10 had made earrings for the visitors; Susan was presented with a single earring of a pair of hearts cut from sealskin on the ends of beaded hangers. At the historic church, high school students who spoke English well were available to offer history of the area and answer questions. Something was going on everywhere, and close by to the central square, with the only operating fountain in Greenland (topped with small figurines of whales), is an area filled with striking sculptures and drawings carved into the rocks.

What made our visit even more memorable was meeting a man with a group of high school girls in front of the sculptures. The man spoke fluent English, welcoming us to Greenland, and while the girls did not make an attempt to speak with us, they happily greeted us and posed for pictures. Typical junior high school aged teenagers! The man answered many questions we had for him, and when he realized from our questions that we were interested in culture and history, he directed us to the high school where the events I mentioned were going on. He also gave us directions to a crafts workshop that was not part of the waterfront hoopla.

In a short while we found our way to the high school, where we ran into the same man and finally understood that he was a teacher at the school. We watched the events as well as kids playing soccer in the schoolyard and realized that kids act the same everywhere. We were intrigued that these kids showed a racial diversity that we hadn't even thought about. The population breakdown is about 80% Inuit (a term they use much less commonly than 'Greenlander') and 20% Scandinavian, mostly Danish, but there is so much intermarriage that one youngster looks Asian while the next is fair and red-headed. Our guide's surname is Ibsen (if a distant relation to the playwright, he had no idea) because his father was of Scandinavian descent, and his mother is Greenlander. When we mentioned to him that we hadn't been able to find the crafts workshop he had told us about, he offered to walk there with us, several blocks from the school, all the time our chatting and asking questions.

It turned out that the workshop owners were also neighbors of his, giving us a sort of 'in' along with his willingness to serve as translator for us. The couple worked primarily with native stones such as moonstone and bone carving, primarily caribou antlers. We ended up buying two small pieces of carvings to add to a one-of-a-kind beaded piece that we had bought from a craftsperson set up on a table near the tender pier, giving us tangible items which with to decorate our 'travel home' in Florida. We exchanged email addresses with our 'private guide,' following which he returned to the school and we continued our exploring through town. Then back to the ship, lunch, a rest, and so much reflecting on a visit that in all likelihood we'd never have made if not for this trans-Atlantic repositioning cruise. What an amazing experience!

Today and tomorrow are at sea days; the next following morning we reach our last port of call, St. John's, Newfoundland, where the three of us have a car rented for the day to explore yet another area that we've never visited before. After that it'll be two more at sea days and our disembarkation in New York, while the ship will continue on to its final port, Fort Lauderdale, from which it will then begin its Caribbean cruising season.
HB and Sid

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Hi Everyone,

We now have free internet :a040: we are back home.
12ridhd - we will have to go back to Copenhagen to do all the things you suggest.

Mik and Cassie - I am always at home in a tea shop. I wish we had this custom in the US. Sometimes we go just for tea and you can stay as long as you want.

Islandgal if you would like I will help you create your own fantasy trip.

Missed all of you - but the call to travel and explore is very very strong.

HB