Thursday, September 4

Tallinn, Estonia

Well we woke up to a very beautiful old walled city, in the mist. The weather is 55 and misty, but we are here and are going to set out to walk the town. The church with the tallest steeple is St. Olav’s and dates back to year 1000 and in 1500 was at a height of 520 feet, the tallest building in Europe!

The pictures are:
St. Olav’s church
The view from the top
The Russian church
Barb buying one of her many scarves (it is the year of the scarf)

We took the Carnival shuttle bus to the old town and set out on our own with Bob and Sheila from Florida. We spent the next 6 hours walking and climbing around this medieval town and learning about its history. Lots of winding streets and little alleys to visit throughout the city.

We stopped at noon in the city square and had lunch and watched others having lunch. After that, Bob and Sheila shopped and we went back to St. Olav’s church to climb to the top. It was 258 steps to the top in a very winding spiral stairway. In addition, the steps were 12 inches high. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin and The Russian Cathedral – all magnificent houses of worship.

Then a little gambling once we got back to the ship and then a wonderful dinner.

Both Ed and Bob qualified 1 and 2 in the blackjack tournament and then in the last round, Barb also qualified as one of the 7 in the finals.

Bob won the tournament and Ed need not to bust in the last hand.

Then Barb hit a nice jackpot in slots to end the evening 'cause tomorrow we are in RUSSIA!!

Night

Wednesday, September 3

A day at sea

Well after a really long day at sea, it was just fun to have a day that we did not have to get up.

Ed slept till 9:30am and Barb till 10:00am and then it was up and out on the ship.

After buying our pictures from the day before, we went and had lunch – the choices that they are so many. Next to us sat another couple and we both realized it was a couple from the Phoenix Corvette Club that we had met on a cruise two years ago in Europe – again, what a small world.

We joined our friends from Florida and went and played bingo. Bob and Barb each won a jackpot. Bob won $110 and Barb won the $150 jackpot, but she had to split it. Not bad for the investment.

Then it was on to the casino for an afternoon session. Everybody there is so nice.

Tonight was formal night and Barb had a beautiful long gown on and Ed had his black tux on. We went out early to watch the people and of course to have photographs taken.

After a wonderful dinner, lobster, prime rib and other great meals, it was on to the show and then to the casino.

It’s 1:00am on Thursday, it is time for bed because we will be in Tallinn, Estonia and we plan to leave the ship by 8am!!

Night for now.

Berlin – Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Berlin

The pictures are:
On the train to Berlin
The Brandenburg Gate
We went to the top of this church
Pedal Cab
2 of 4 boats that escorted us out of the harbor

After 5 hours sleep, we got up and were on the train to Berlin at 7:15am and arrived in Berlin at 10:30am. While the Eurostar train to Paris was first class plus, this train was out of an old movie. An isle down the side of the car with compartments for 6 the entire length of the car. If we would have wanted to, we could have shut the door, pulled the curtains and gone to sleep as there were bunks for all 6 of us.

In our compartment there were 4 others from St. Louis. Barb had met one of the ladies on Sunday when she had complimented Barb on her scarf. After a while on the train, this lady noticed my Bloomington Gold jacket and said she had been to the show last year. We explained to her what we did. On the train back, she said that she remembered Barb at the show because she had asked her directions at the show when she was in the food court and saw Barb cleaning off tables. What a small world.

We arrived in Berlin and showed the 4 from St. Louis how to get around on the subway by going with us to the Brandenburg Gate – what a sight when we saw it for the first time. Barb and I then joined a small group walking tour of the main city for the next 3 ½ hours. We spent most of the time in the former East Germany side, including seeing the small portion of the Berlin Wall still standing and Checkpoint Charlie. It is so hard to imagine what the life might have been like either in the war or after in East Berlin.

After the tour we went to the Berlin Dome which is the largest church in Berlin and walked up the 276 steps to the very top of the dome and saw the city from an outside viewing area – wow.

Then we took a ½ hour pedal cab ride back to the Brandenburg gate area to walk around. Then just before we left, I had a great bratwurst – wow was it good. Interesting enough, our train back was to leave from a different station, so we had to take the tube there and get on the train back to the port and we were on the ship be 9:30pm.

The ship had a local German band playing on the pool deck when we got here; we listened a little and then watched the local fireworks, celebrating 4 cruise ships in port.

We are now sitting out on our deck at 11:00pm and the German band has moved to the pier to play while we start to leave. There are a lot of people from the small port down of Warnemunde, where we are, standing on the dock to see us leave – it is quite a sight.

Tomorrow is a day at sea so we will have a chance to relax and then it is on to formal night tomorrow.

Night for now.

Copenhagen – Monday September 1, 2008

Well we made it to our first port – Copenhagen.

The photos are:
Lunch at a butcher shop
The canal ride
The Rosenborg Castle
The harbor entrance and the windmills as we set sail for Germany

We got off the ship at 8:30am after about 5 hours of sleep. It was clear, crisp and about 50 degrees out so we had to take a jacket.

We shared a cab into the city center with a young couple from Mexico and Venezuela and went to the City Tour office were we joined a 90 minute walking tour of the old city and had a lot of information thrown at us in a short period of time.

Only 20% of the population has a car. There is a 180% tax of the purchase price tacked on as a tax for any car purchased. They really don’t want cars in the city. There is virtually no crime here and the city seemed very safe.

After getting a sandwich from the butcher shop, we walked to the Rosenborg Castle – a castle from the 1600’s and totally furnished and restored.

Then we walked about 15 minutes down to the canals and hopped aboard a canal
for an hour tour of the city.

Back on board at 3:30am – not enough time but we had to be back because we sailed at 4:00 pm to Germany.

We finally took a nice nap to get ready for the evening. Dinner was wonderful and afterwards, we ran into a photographer who was on the Europe cruise that we took last year. She is really good and we can’t wait for her to take our pictures this year.

The show was a magician – comedian who was really funny. After a quick stay in the casino, it is back to the cabin ‘cause we get on the train to Berlin at 7:00 am tomorrow for the 3 hour ride into the city. This city should really be interesting.

See you tomorrow.

Late, late Sunday, August 31

Our first day at sea

August 31 brought us our first day as sea as we travel to Copenhagen.

The pictures are: (the pictures will not upload, will try tomorrow)
Barb and Claudia, our casino host at the slot tournament.
Barb playing video poker for the first time – and probably the last time.
Barb writing in her travel journal
This is what you see from our cabin deck – just the sea, but what a sight.

It is the first time that we have ever been on a cruise where it was too cold to lay out on the deck with sun tan oil on. The day was bright and clear but it was just a little cold to lie out.

So we did the next best thing – we slept, ate and ate and gambled.

Ed was up and ate breakfast while Barb slept in. We joined our friends for lunch and stuffed ourselves. Then it was on to the slot tournament where both Barb and Sheila qualified to be two of nine for the finals. Sheila didn’t place and Barb came in second. First paid $500, while second brought Barb some Carnival “stuff”. Ed didn’t make it to the finals.
We went to ABBA dancing and then played bingo. Talk about relaxing. Then we played a session of gambling and did great.

The evening was eating, going to the show and then gambling till 12:30; but, we have to turn the clocks ahead one hour so we had better say good night because the next stop is Copenhagen.

From somewhere at sea!!!

From somewhere at sea!!!

Wow – doesn’t that sound wonderful?

The pictures are:
The church built in 606
Inside the church
The Borough Market
Departing the Port of Dover
Barb at the pool on the Lideo deck

We started our first day on the cruise by getting up early in London and taking the tube to the London Bridge stop. Just outside that stop was a church that was first built in 606. It is now a Cathedral serving the south half of London. An amazing church to see and read the history on its walls.

Then we went to Borough Market. This is the largest outdoor food market in London and it was huge. Every kind of food you can imangine and also flowers that were very beautiful.

Almost every one of the booths had samples to try and we spent the next hour eating our way around the market.

Following the market, we took the tube back to our hotel area, which was at the corner of Hyde Park and walked down and back on Oxford Street, a very main shopping area.

By that time it was noon and it was time to be picked up and taken to the ship.

After a 2 hour ride with our friends from Florida, we arrived at the Port of Dover and our ship. It is the largest one that Carnival has built and there are 3,200 guests aboard but the ship is so well laid out that it does not seem crowded

Our check-in was slower than normal because their computers were down and everything had to be done by hand, but after a half hour we were in our cabin – a 10th floor balcony cabin.

Our dinner table was perfect, a round table for 8 in the first level of the main dinning room, the Black Pearl. Our table mates are a couple from Vermont and a couple from New Jersey along with our friends, Bob and Sheila from Florida.

Barb and I then went to the casino and met the new casino host, Claudia, and she seems very nice. We had fun in the casino meeting everyone on the staff and finally crashed about 12:30am.

This morning brings clear skies and cool enough that no one is wearing a bathing suit to

day. It is going to be a wonderful day at sea. Bye for now.

Thursday and Friday, August 28 and 29

London and Paris – we saved the best of the first week for the last two days.

The pictures are:

The town of Windsor as we got off the train.

Windson Castle

The Cathedral of Notre Dame

The Louve

On Thursday, in London, we started out by taking the train to Windsor and visiting Windsor Castle which is the home of the Queen during the weekends. It is undesirable it is so beautiful. We took a tour with a guide and then spent another couple of hours just exploring on our own. Because the Queen is in Scotland for these two months of the summer, they let you see the State Rooms and some of the areas that are normally off limits.

Then we took the train to Hampton Court Palace which is the largest Palace in existence. It was wonderful, but after seeing real working palaces, if was really just another historical sight.

Then up till 11 wandering the streets and eating out. We finally went to bed because we had to get up at 4:30 am to catch the train to Paris.

Paris on Friday – wow.

We took the EuroStar high speed train and we didn’t even realize that we had gone under the English Channel. It was totally first class and very smooth – a wonderful train ride. They served us breakfast also.
In Paris, we first went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. A beautiful sight but after seeing St. Peters in Rome, all other Catholic churches seem small and almost plain and they are, by comparison.

Then it was on to the Louvre which cannot be described except to say it would take weeks just to go by every exhibit and read the information they have. We saw the high lights like the Mona Lisa and some other famous paintings and sculptors and then left for a walk along the Left Bank where all the artists are. Saw some wonderful things.

We then took a boat ride along the Seine River and then on to the Eiffel Tower. They had closed the very top but we went to the second level and could see for miles.

Paris is really a beautiful city and we really enjoyed our day. It is so different, bright and lively compared to London.

Anyway back on the train, dinner and back to the hotel to pack for the cruise.

See you later!!!