Hey guys! I got back from my Norway trip at 1am on Monday morning and then had to head to an ultrasound appointment just 6 hours later. I have spent the last few days catching up on work and personal emails, plus reading through the threads here. Finally caught up! Prepare yourself for a long post.
First, the trip was great. DH and I both loved Copenhagen and really liked the Marriott hotel. We got upgraded to a canal view room and thanks to my gold status, we had free breakfast both mornings which helped a lot with costs. We took a canal boat tour on our first night and then toured Christianborg Palace the next morning before heading to the cruise ship. We ended up spending all the money that I had set aside for the trip, mostly because taxis were much more expensive than I had anticipated. It cost $50 to get from the airport to our hotel and then another $40 to get from our hotel to the cruise ship. We had to pay the same in reverse and then once we got to Chicago, it cost $45 to get from O'Hare to my parent's condo to pick up our car. And then food in Copenhagen was pretty darned expensive. DH really wanted to try the traditional Danish open face sandwiches for dinner the first night, but most of the places stopped serving them after lunch. We wandered forever looking and finally found a place. We each ordered a sandwich, split an order of fries and had a bottle of water each. The cost was $70! Seriously. I enjoyed the meal, but it wasn't what I would ever pay $70 for at home. On our other day in Copenhagen after the cruise, we opted for McDonald's just to keep the cost down.
The cruise itself was great and we loved the ports. On the first stop, we hiked to Pulpit Rock and it was pretty intense. The weather was supposed to be rainy, but it was sunny and around 60 F, which was perfect. But I guess I underestimated how much harder it would be to do that hike while pregnant. And I forgot to bring heartburn meds, which really slowed me down. But we made it all the way to the top and had about 20 minutes to enjoy before we had to turn around and head back down. We were the last two people back to the bus, but at least we weren't late. My Fitbit said that I had climbed the equivalent of 177 flights of stairs.
The next day we went to Bergen and did a city walking tour which we both enjoyed. As part of the tour, we went to a museum about the dried fish trade in Norway that was really fascinating. We also took the funicular up the mountainside and got great views of the city. The weather was a bit cold and rainy in the morning. After the tour, we went back to the ship for lunch and had planned to head back out afterwards, but between intensifying rain and very sore limbs from the day before, we took a nap instead.
Then we went to Alesund on May 17, which is actually a national holiday in Norway (Constitution Day). I had us booked for a morning hike up Sugarlump Mountain, but I wish I had known sooner that it was a holiday because I would have changed it to an afternoon hike instead so that we could have watched the holiday parade in the streets of Alesund. It was a great hike nonetheless, with really stunning views. We did go out into the city after lunch, but mostly everything was closed due to the holiday, so we just wandered the pretty streets for a while, enjoying the nice weather and then headed back to the ship.
We both enjoyed our last port, Geiranger, the best. It was the furthest north and had dramaticly high mountains surrounding the Fjord. The weather that day was rainy, but it didn't stop us from enjoying the amazing scenery. We had another 5 mile hike scheduled, but DH was not feeling well, so we cancelled it and booked a 2 hour bus tour that went to the summit of Mt. Dalsnibba instead. It was a good move because the views going up the mountain were pretty spectacular. We also really enjoyed the city of Geiranger. It was the smallest of the places we visited, but it had cute shops and restaurants. We enjoyed some pastries and truffles from a bakery before our tour and then we got Norwegian pancakes with strawberry jam and chocolate sauce at a little restaurant after the tour.
After the cruise, we had another day in Denmark and took a castles tour in North Zealand. We both really liked the tour and felt it was a great way to see more of Denmark outside of Copenhagen. Fredericksborg Castle was particularly stunning and we learned a lot about Danish history, which was surprisingly bloody, especially due to wars with Sweden. I always think of Scandinavia as such a peaceful, progressive place, but it wasn't always the case I guess.
And, finally, I had my diagnostic ultrasound Monday morning and they said that everything is looking really good with the baby. Normal growth and weight, etc. I am at 19 weeks on Friday, so I am really happy to hear that everything is going well. DH had them write the gender down and put it in a sealed envelope. He was thinking that maybe we would open the envelope when we visit with my parents this coming weekend. Or see if they can get a little gender reveal cake made for us to enjoy on Memorial Day. DH is still really enamored with the idea of a daughter, so for his sake I hope that it is a girl. I really have no preference except healthy!
) is happy and healthy!
I'm also planning on picking up some dollar store ponchos since I'm sure we'll get a thunderstorm in August. I'm also planning to buy a filtered water bottle from Amazon so we can utilize water fountains but hopefully filter out the terrible taste. We've used Amazon Prime Pantry to ship water in the past, but it's not worth it for just a three day visit. 
I'd like to ship water, etc for our September trip because it's about two weeks, but we're at the Dolphin and I'm not sure if I can... I need to look into that. I am all about dollar store or walmart ponchos. I've got a bunch left from our Disneyland trip last summer.
