Twenty thousand or more steps a day (6/11/2017 Northern Europe Cruise)

[Hubie]

The June 11 - 18, 2017 Northern Europe Cruise was our 4th DCL cruise since 2013. On this cruise my beautiful DW of 53 years and I were in the Magic's Stateroom 6078. The two of us also enjoyed the June 29 - July 6, 2016 Norway Fjords Cruise in the Magic's Stateroom 6088, and we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary on the May 2014 WBPC Cruise out of Miami to San Diego via the Panama Canal on the Wonder. My DD and DS in-law introduced us to Disney back in 1997. We've now visited WDW with them and our grandkids from our homes in Portage, WI, nine times. On the trip in January 2013 they convinced us to join them on a 4-day Bahamian Cruise aboard the Dream. It was a first cruise for all of us, and I wasn't convinced that cruising would be for me. I had believed the misconception that cruising only consisted of sitting around on a crowded ship and overeating.

Did we eat a lot? Of course we did on that cruise and all of the others, but none of us gained even a pound. And we all found that we fell in love with DCL. After cruising with our family again this past November on the Dream's 4-day Bahamian Cruise, my DW and I are now Gold when we embark on the August 9 - 15, 2018 DCL cruise back to the Baltic. You might wonder why are we returning to the Baltic. Well we not only loved the 2017 cruise, but we found there is just too much to see and experience in the cities that the Baltic cruise visits.

Last year, just like in 2016 for the Norway cruise, we spent three days prior to the cruise in lovely Copenhagen. We were suppose to fly from ORD on Iceland Air with a stop in Reykjavik to change planes, but the airline put us on a SAS direct flight to CPH instead. It turned out to be a very good flight and SAS serves lots of food free, whereas you have to pay for food on Iceland Air. I had saved $650 on the price of our tickets over what we paid to fly SAS to CPH in 2016. We also loved the idea that you can stopover in Iceland and had made reservations to do that for three nights at the wonderful Hotel Centrum in Reykjavik on our return flight home. While there we did the Golden Circle Tour with a stop at the Hidden Lagoon instead of the Blue Lagoon. We booked the tour through Viator, prior to leaving the States. I can highly recommend them and the cost was very reasonable.

We arrived at CPH around 1:30 PM on Thurs., June 8. We waited anxiously a rather long time for our two suitcases to arrive on the carousel. Then we proceeded to the transportation kiosks and purchased 72-hr. passes ($30/person) that allow you to travel on the Metro, trains or city busses right from the Terminal and throughout the city. If you plan to be in the city longer than three days or wish to visit outlying areas from the city such as the Viking Museum or the summer Castel Palace a better buy would be 7-day Flex cards (about $37 a piece). These allow you to take trains to those sites that are out in the nearby countryside. That's what we plan to do this year.

From the airport we headed to the Crowne Plaza Hotel via their free shuttle. We stayed at the hotel in 2016 after our Norway cruise and found it to be a great place to stay while in CPH. It is very modern and has AC, King beds etc. Also a major convenience is that a Metro/train stop is located right across the street from the hotel. Another plus is that the hotel is right next door to the largest mall in CPH, which is named Field's. It's a great diversion for a rainy day. The mall is huge and has several sit down restaurants on its third floor. It also has a Starbuck's on the 1st floor where you can buy a Copenhagen Cup. However, I found that the one at the main railroad station was cheaper. And there's a grocery store at the mall where you can purchase beer or liquor to take aboard the Magic. I was able to buy 1/2 liter cans of an IPA for 16 Kroners ($2.50) each. In 2016, however, I bought my beer at the Carlsburg Brewery. If you or any in your party are beer drinkers I highly recommend visiting the brewery whether you purchase your beer there or not.

Crowne Plaza

After getting settled in our room on the 12th floor we took the Metro to the Kongens Nytorv (Kings New Square) Station and walked from there to Nyhavn (the New Harbor). We did the canal tour and visited Tivoli in 2016. We had pre-purchased our tickets for the canal tour prior to departing home through Viator. The tickets for the canal tour also included free entrance to Tivoli and its small aquarium.

This year we walked along Nyhavn and then headed down the mile-long Stroget (Pedestrian Walkway), past the round tower all the way to the City Hall. We were pretty tired so we finally headed back on the Metro from the Norreport (North Port) Station to the hotel and walked over to Field's to have dinner.

Metro station across from the Crowne Plaza. The trains tracks run right beneath the Metro stop and the road. There is an elevator that you can take luggage down to the tracks with you.

The Stroget.

This is the famous Round Tower. It was built between 1637 and 1642. The oldest observatory in Europe sits on its top and it’s still used to view the heavens. You can also walk to the top of it for a fee, on a wide walkway built for carriages to take equipment up, to take in the view of the city. The tower is attached to a church.

This is the City Hall building. There are some nice murals inside. When we were there a wedding was being performed on the second floor.

On Friday, June 9, we took the train into the main station in the city and walked the Stroget all the way to St. Albans Church near the Kastellet, which is located near the Little Mermaid.

The Grefion Fountain is located adjacent to the this Anglican "English" Church. The beautiful exterior is built out of flint. In Contrast, the inside is very plain.

From here we walked back past Frederick's Marble Church and the Royal Palace to Nyhavn to get some ice cream. Then we went to tour the Rosenborg Castle.

The Marble Church, with the biggest dome in Scandinavia, was built by Fredrick V.

Here’s the Renaissance Rosenborg Castle built by King Christian IV as a summer home. He loved it so much that when it was finished, he lived there until his death. It’s now a lavish museum, and most of the Crown jewels are kept in it beneath the lower level. You have to use a Kroner coin to store a large purse or backpack before you can enter the castle, but you get the coin back upon your return to collect your bags.

 

[happy wanderer]

What a great start! Can’t wait to read more!

 

[Hubie]

I can't figure out how to add anymore than 10 pictures! Does anyone know what my problem is?

 

[Geomom]

I can't figure out how to add anymore than 10 pictures! Does anyone know what my problem is?

There is a limit of 10 pics/post--just add more pics in the next post.

 

[Hubie]

Thanks!!

I forgot to add a picture of Nyhavn. The canal was dug in 1671 – 1673 to bring more commerce to the City Center. Until 1970, the area was a red light district full of shady bars and tattoo parlors frequented mainly by sailors. Now it’s a huge, tourist attraction with quaint shops, fancy boutiques, numerous cafes and ice cream parlors.

Denmark is basically flat and the Danes (Swedes & Norwegian’s too) like to say that you can stand on a case of beer and see from one end of the country to the other. The Scandinavian approach to life hygge (pronounced who–ga) is practiced on a daily basis in the attention given to ordinary activities such as serving a meal, and the value placed on leisure time spent with family and friends. But here you see mostly tourists sitting at the outside tables sipping a beer or wine and eating mediocre, overpriced food. Whereas, the local youth sit on the canal roadside curb and drink bottled or canned beer because it’s much cheaper. On Fridays & Saturdays Nyhavn does become the longest bar in the world.​

 

[Hubie]

After touring the Rosenborg Castle, we walked back down the Stroget and decided to have pizza at Mama Rosa's. If it sounds familiar that's because there's a Momma Rosa's at Hollywood Studios.

Saturday, June 10, we again took the train to the main station to inquire what train we would need to catch to get near the port. We found this to be very easy. You just board the train to the main station across the street from the hotel. Then catch the next train from there to the Osterport Station. From the Osterport Station you walk across the street to the bus stop to catch Bus 27, which delivers you two blocks away from the port and the Magic.

After departing the main train station we decided to go to the former Palace, which is now the Parliament Building. We skipped the tours of the ruins of Bishop Absalon's Castle in the basement, the Queen's Kitchen and the Stables. But we did ascend the tower in the tiny 4-passenger elevator (a little claustrophobic and hot ride). The three crown spire signifies the past Tre Kroner Union of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. The views of the city from the top of the tower are spectacular.



The rest of the day we just walked and walked. We did stop for coffee and also bought some chocolates at Hotel Chocolat. Finally we arrived back at City Hall and decided to grab a burger and beer at the Hard Rock Café.

This is the view out of Hard Rock's upstairs window where our table was located. You can see that Tivoli is located right across the huge six-lane avenue, which was where the city's original wall and moat were located.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, June 11, I walked over to Field's to purchase beer and than we eventually caught the train/bus combination to the port terminal and the Magic. A cab would've cost us about $60, but our 72-hour passes were still valid. Our embarkation time was noon and that gave us plenty of time to have lunch in Cabanas before our stateroom was ready at 1 PM. Our bags arrived shortly after that time.

We were surprised to find our room decorated by Small World Vacations, which included a large magnetic poster, the blanket at the end of our bed and several hanging mobiles. After unpacking we relaxed a bit and then went for walk on the ship. As my title hints, we averaged more than 20,000 steps/day on this trip.​

My favorite activity while on our veranda.​

 

[Hubie]

I'm not one to take food pictures and although I have many other pictures of Copenhagen including of the Carlsburg Brewery, the interior of the Rosenburg Castle and the Crown Jewels you can find them on other posts. As usual, we ran into some characters while walking through the ship.

​

Here's a shot of our first dinner with two of the six folks at our table, a couple from Chicago, Illinois. We've always had good luck with tablemates when we find ourselves cruising without our family.

That evening after dinner we went to O'Gills Pub to see our favorite band, the Gothard Sisters. They were also on our Norway cruise. I remember asking them where they lived in Ireland and they said they're from Seattle.

Monday, June 12, was a sea day and if I remember right, we took in a movie and just spent time walking around the ship, stopping for coffee and having both breakfast and lunch in Cabanas. That evening we again went to O'Gills after dinner.

On June 13, Tuesday morning we began our approach to Stockholm, Sweden.

The Swedes warred with their neighbors Norway and Denmark for centuries before the Tre Kronor Union and they conquered Finland in the 12th Century. They again fought the Danes in the 1500s and eventually defeated them. Stockholm became Sweden’s capital in 1634 and is built on 14 islands of tens of thousands of an archipelago, has Medieval and Renaissance era buildings in its Old Town and Government buildings built with palatial majesty. We decided to take the bus provided by Disney into the city and tour Old Town on our own.

The bus dropped us off right across from a bridge that led to Old Town and the Palace Grounds.

This is a picture of the Parliament Building. The Palace is behind me. We were surprised to learn that the Palace didn't open for tours until 10AM so we just walked around until that time. Right before it opened, their was a change of the guards.


While taking this picture, I was almost run over by motorcycle cops and several squad cars, which were leading and escorting the caravan containing the King. They all drove to the Noble Museum, but we didn't get their in time to see him enter with his entourage.

Just one of the narrow streets in Old Town.

 

[Hubie]

What a great start! Can’t wait to read more!

Thank you, it's my first try.

 

[BCV23]

Really enjoying your trip report. Congratulations on 53 years....amazing.

Like you, my DH and I thought we would not enjoy cruising until our eldest and his wife convinced us to give DCL a try.

 

[Hubie]

Like for Copenhagen's Rosenborg Castle, I have many pictures from the Swedish Palace that you can likely see on other posts. After touring the Palace it began to rain. We decided to walk back across the bridge and head into the city to just browse in a few stores.​

We started to get wet so we went back to catch the bus back to the Magic.

Soon after we boarded we ran into Minnie.

Poster of the latest Pirates movie that we went to that the afternoon.

We sailed into Helsinki on the morning of June 14. We decided to explore the city on our own again. Not only are the Disney excursions expensive but they leave you with very little time to experience a port. We'd rather just wonder around on our own. It's really too bad that cruises don't visit at each port for two days. That way you could go on a tour excursion and then explore on your own the next day.

​

While waiting to disembark, we ran into Goofy and Pluto.

We found this little group shortly after having coffee at a Starbucks located near where the bus dropped us off in the city. While at the Starbucks I purchased a Finland cup to add to my collection.

We walked to Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral. The Senate building, which is now the prime minister’s office is to the right of the cathedral. The statue in the center of the square honors Russian Czar Alexander II. He wasn’t popular in Russia and was assassinated, but he was well-liked by the Finns because he gave them more autonomy in 1863. The statue shows him holding the Finnish constitution, which he supported.

We then walked over to the harbor before proceeding to the red church.

This orthodox cathedral was built for the Russian military in 1868 when Finland still belonged to Russia. It’s now the largest Russian Church in Western Europe. Uspenski is Russian for the Assumption of Mary. The upper dome represents the sacred heart of Jesus and the smaller domes the hearts of the 12 apostles. I have a great photo of the interior of this church but its too large for the site to download. I've had that problem with several of the pictures I wanted to include in this report.

 

[Hubie]

Really enjoying your trip report. Congratulations on 53 years....amazing.

Like you, my DH and I thought we would not enjoy cruising until our eldest and his wife convinced us to give DCL a try.

DCL is amazing isn't it. I wish they had more options for longer cruises and would go back to Hawaii some day. Thank you for congratulating us on being married for over 50 years. We celebrated our 50th on the 2014 WBPC cruise.

 

[Hubie]

After visiting the red church we walked over to the Market Square and bought some raspberries. We ate them later with soft serve from Eye Scream onboard the Magic. The market is an outdoor food and souvenir bazaar located at the city's south harbor. I also found a nice Finland T-shirt at the market for a good price.

Just a shot of the local architecture. One thing we noticed was how well the main avenues were designed for both car, train and pedestrian traffic. There are three lanes for cars and busses in each direction, and two sets of track in the middle for trams that go each way.

Back on the Magic we're on our way to dinner. After eating we again spent time in O'Gills. I checked my Fitbit before going to bed and I had over 23,000 steps. Next stop Russia!

I shot this picture from my veranda as we were pulling into St. Petersburg on Thursday morning, June 15. It looks like a rocket but we found out later it's just an office building.

In St. Petersburg getting through customs is quite a unique experience. It takes the very sober officials several minutes to check out your background and documents. He or she then gives you a slip of paper. Don't lose it, because you need to give it back on your return. We did the adult excursion to Catherine's Palace and the Hermitage. We traveled on a very nice air-conditioned bus and our tour guide, who spoke perfect English and joked with us throughout the day, was wonderful. It's a don't miss excursion in our opinion! Wow! is all we can say.


We initially passed through some very stark and dull neighborhoods before traversing a long and impressive bridge near the very busy industrial port on the Neva River. Then we traveled over a high ridge just outside the city limits where the Nazi’s had set up their cannon during the siege of the city throughout WW II. Over a million residents died from starvation or the shelling.

We soon arrived in Pushkin and at Catherine's Palace. The picture is of the onion domes over the chapel which was being refurbished so we didn't get inside of it.

This shows only ½ of Catherine’s Palace, it was just too big to capture with my camera. The original Palace built on 1400 acres for Peter’s wife or Catherine the Great was demolished. Then in 1723 their daughter, Empress Elisabeth, replaced it with this much more elaborate one in 1723.

These are quarters for visiting dignitaries not for the hundreds of workers and servants.

Our tour guide, Mirena, cracked that we all had to don these foot covers to help keep the floors polished.

 

[Geomom]

Thanks for writing this up and all the pics! We'll be on the 8/9/18 Baltic cruise as well! It's a first trip to Europe for DH, myself, and DD14. DD18 did a school trip to Germany last year. This will be our second cruise (first was to Alaska in 2016.)

 

[oufpat]

Thanks for sharing, another cruise to add to my bucket-list!!

 

[Hubie]

Pretty awesome entrance to Catherine's Palace.


Our guide, Mirena.

Unfortunately, many of the pictures I have for the Palace are too large for the server to upload. This is known as the Green Room. Note the woman sitting in the chair. She's security and there was one in almost every room.

We exited the Palace out the back and walked over to a lake and cottage used by Catherine. Mirena apparently had announced that whatever we do we must not step on the grass. I didn't hear her and when I stepped on it to get a close-up picture of tulips a security guard yelled at me. Mirena said I was going to Siberia.

We had quite an interesting lunch accompanied with a tall shot glass of vodka and a glass of very good white wine. The Vodka tasted terrible! The first course, which we all thought was the whole meal, consisted of bread, a kind of fruit salad, crepes & salmon roe. Then we were served a clear soup with some sort of filling in ravioli's. The third course included a serving of very good mashed potatoes and what looked like a large-balled piece of meatloaf. It tasted good, but we all wondered what the meat was. Mirena assured us it was beef? Finally the last course came and it included coffee and two scoops of excellent pistachio ice cream in a sundae dish. Our waitress never smiled and didn't speak English.

After lunch we stopped at a souvenir store. When we got off of the bus Mirena told us if any of us wanted a picture of the Church of the Spilled Blood, she would take us to a place we could get one. But we'd have to move very fast. I have a couple of nice pictures, but again the server can't upload them.

From the souvenir store we headed to the Hermitage. The Palace was built in the mid-18th Century by Empress Elisabeth. Catherine the Great oversaw its expanded construction. It’s located on the bank of the Neva River in Palace Square and consists of five buildings containing over a 1,000 rooms that hold three-million pieces of art.



Portraits of Russia's great generals hang on the adjacent walls in this hall.


In Imperial Russia, and even today, the major religion is Orthodox Christianity. But I was surprised that through seven decades of Communist rule all of the churches and religious artifacts that were allowed to survive.

 

[Hubie]

T
Mirena said that Venus was considered the most beautiful woman in the world at one time, unlike the ultra-thin models we have today. She said after viewing the statue it makes her feel less guilty the next time she has a piece of cake.

The Peter and Paul Fortress was built to defend St. Petersburg from Swedish attacks. It’s the city’s oldest structure and within its walls is the city’s first stone church – The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The spire is 404 ft. tall and crowned by a golden angel holding a cross. The cathedral’s royal crypt contains the remains of Peter the Great and most of his successors. Peter was a great guy, he had his own son tortured to death for disagreeing with his reforms.

A tour boat on the Neva River and in the background is what Alena said was a monastery. This year we plan to take the boat tour excursion that travels the river up to the Church of the Spilled Blood.

The sisters were playing in the Magic's Atrium when we returned to the Magic.

And so was Mickey.

On Friday, June 16, we arrived in Tallinn, Estonia around noon. St. Petersburg is amazing and there is so much to see but this medieval, walled-town was our favorite port. Unfortunately, we only had about four hours to explore it. This year it's the first stop on the cruise and we'll have most of a day to spend there. It's where you want to buy things since the prices are much lower than in the other ports.

Shot from my veranda. Tallinn once consisted of two feuding medieval towns separated by a wall. The upper town on the hill, called Toompea (Cathedral Hill), was the seat of government for Estonia. The lower town was an autonomous Hanseatic trading center filled with German, Danish, and Swedish merchants who hired Estonians to do their menial labor. Fat Margaret Tower is named for its very thick walls and it guarded the entry gate to the lower town. Apparently in the past the seashore was much closer to the town. Twenty-six of the original 46 towers still stand and there are some tunnels that run between them.

I found a new friend.

Here we’re approaching the Town Hall building, which is now a museum.


The merchants dress the part.

 

[Geomom]

Thanks again for writing this trip report! We're doing the family version of the Catherine's Palace and Hermitage in St. Petersburg this August and we were wondering what our 'typical Russian lunch' might be!

 

[Hubie]

Just up a side street from the Main Plaza and the city hall building we stumbled upon the “Sweet Tooth” Coffee Shop, which has been in existence since 1864.

The sign says skinny people are easy to kidnap stay safe and eat cake.

I look forward to returning here. They have several good beers on tap for about $4. Again, I have many more pictures that the server won't upload. It keeps saying they're too large.


After another sea day on Saturday, June 17, we were on our way back to Copenhagen.


We're had the same server now for the last two cruises and have asked to have him again for this year.

On Sunday morning, June 18, back in Copenhagen we paid for the Disney shuttle bus to take us to the airport, and then we flew on to Iceland. Iceland has over 400 volcanoes and is basically just a high rise of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a volcanic submarine mountain range near the Arctic Circle. Yet, thanks to the Gulf Stream the small country isn’t covered with ice like Greenland. If Global warming were to ever cause a major disruption or even worse a permanent diversion of this major ocean current much of Northern Europe, including the British Isles, could become almost inhabitable.

The settlement of Iceland began in the year 871 with the arrival of Vikings led by Ingolfir Arnarson. Eric the Red came a century later. It wasn’t until the 18th Century that a small town formed around Reykjavik. The country’s Parliament first convened in 930, making it the World’s oldest, but the Danes soon took over. Then it was under Norwegian rule in the 13th Century. The country eventually became a sovereign state under Denmark in 1918, and didn’t become independent until 1940. Reykjavik only became the Capital in 1944.

This is the Hotel Centrum – its very nice but quite expensive as everything is in Iceland. A night’s lodging without breakfast was $265. The breakfast was wonderful but I gulped when I realized it was $31 a person more. Thank goodness we were only in Reykjavik for three days.


The massive cathedral is located on the highest point in the city.

 

[Hubie]

It rained often in Reykjavik but we had a beautiful day on Monday, June 19, and we walked over 13 miles exploring the city.

This gives a better look at the scale of the cathedral.


We found a Texas Honky Tonk Cantina in Estonia and we stumbled onto the Rio Bravo Restaurant in Copenhagen in 2016. The saying on the window of the Chuck Norris Restaurant says, "Chuck once kicked a horse in the chin. It’s descendants are now known as a giraffes." We ate our dinner at the Hard Rock Café the first night.

Tuesday morning, June 20, we left on the Golden Circle and Secret Lagoon Tour. The small tour bus picked us up right outside our hotel. It was pouring out at the time and our first stop was at a national park. I don't know it's name, but it's where the first parliament met and where the first Viking settlement took. At the stop we walked down a large gully in the pouring rain that was formed by the American Plate and the Eurasian Plates splitting apart and you can put one foot on each of them.

This geyser basin is where the English term “geyser” originated. It was still pouring out when we arrived here at our second stop on the tour. I took this photo in the men's restroom at the adjacent restaurant and store. Looks a lot like Old Faithful.

The rain finally let up when we arrived at Gulfoss Falls (Gold Falls).

 

[Hubie]

The secret lagoon isn't the famous Blue Lagoon by any means, but the facilities (locker room) are really nice and you don't have an industrial complex adjacent to it to look at. We really enjoyed the soak. They even have food and beverages available to purchase, including a couple of good beers.



There's some good restaurants down along the old harbor.

This is their relatively new music hall. I needed to use the restroom but found out you had to have Icelandic Kroners to get in or you could us a credit card to use the toilet. I left and finally found one of the few public facilities that are scattered throughout the downtown (see below).

The public loo's are very unique and they're free. You press a button and the door slides into the circular structure and you go in. Inside after doing your job, your have a place to stick your hands and they are washed and then dried automatically. When you leave the door quickly closes and then it sounds like a vacuum is operating as the whole interior is sanitized before another person can enter.

This is a statue of Ingolfir Arnarson.

The Puffin seems to be the country's mascot. They're in every store.

This was my last picture on this trip. We can't wait to return to Iceland again sometime in the winter to view the northern lights.