Baltic Adventure

Baltic Adventure: Our Amazing Race After much deliberation and questioning our sanity we decided to travel to Europe for our Baltic and Transatlantic cruise even though poor Mike has a broken leg and can't weight bear. It is going to be difficult but eased by travelling with a wheel chair and crutches. His Doctor gave the OK and told him to be careful! (After volunteering to go in his place!) The Doc gave him a walking boot and the go ahead to start weight bearing in two weeks. So....off we went with Linda to go out for lunch then to the airport. On the way Westjet called and told us our flight was delayed for TWO hours. Causing us to miss our connection to London. We raced to the airport and managed to bully them into getting on to the earlier flight to TO via Thunder Bay. Big Mistake. All was well until landing in Thunder Bay....some little gizmo malfunctioned and caused them to cancel the flight entirely. Westjet kindly gave everyone hotel vouchers and sent us on our merry way telling us to contact the head office and sort it out, stressing us to the max. So we did! An amazing, helpful woman got us sorted out after searching many options, with flights from T Bay to Toronto, then Montreal, on to Air France to Paris, and on to Copenhagen to catch our cruise by the skin of our teeth. After this miracle of organization we got to our assigned hotel and found no rooms left! A kind man found us a room and the folks at the next hotel were wonderful, very helpful and we had a good dinner and even a decent nights sleep. We arrived in Copenhagen at 9am after a harrowing delay in Charles de Gaulle Airport at the mercy of the "helpers" who did their best to make us miss our plane. It was very scary as they did not get us to the gate for our connection until it was mostly boarded and only 15 minutes until takeoff. I had to communicate very firmly and in a loud voice to the young man who was sitting calmly saying that help was on the way and again to the batch of rude incompetents making us late at the next terminal. I feel for anyone who has mobility issues and has to travel through that terrible airport. It must be hell. After a relax at Starbucks, where 2 regular coffees and a cookie cost $17.00 we jumped on a shuttle and were whisked through embarkation (the wheelchair has some pluses) and were in our lovely big balcony cabin by noon. All this meant we didn't see anything of Copenhagen but we are back in 10 days so hope to do some sightseeing then. The Emerald Princess is as beautiful as ever and the crew are beyond helpful, getting Mike up and down the gangway easily. Our cabin is great, very large, with a huge bathroom so Mike can shower safely. The balcony is such a treat, and we have used it a lot already. Dinner in the Michaelangelo dining room was prime rib and happiness. Slept for many hours and woke up in......... Oslo, Norway Rain, rain and more rain..... So the grey day in Oslo looked like no fun. We were met on the dock by the Hop on Off Bus so we hopped on. Mike is pretty good at hopping, in fact he has mastered the skill. Oslo is a beautiful city with so much history. Since we are coming back on the next cruise we decided to get an overview on the bus and plan our visit. We got off the bus at the Vigeland sculpture park, where the artist donated hundreds of sculptures to the city and arranged for free admission. There is a famous large one called ??? Which is a depiction of life. Sadly, we don't remember the name but I did get a picture. We enjoyed all of these in the pouring rain, which made Mike a bit cranky, so we just got back on the bus. Next time we are going to see the Viking museum and the Thor Hyerdal museum. Just as we got back on the bus the sun came out and saved the day. Everyone got a lot more cheerful! Aarhus, Denmark This second largest city in Denmark has many museums and good shopping! Mike stayed on the ship and I went walking to the Aros Art Museum. Just an amazing place with a 360 degree circular glass walkway of coloured glass called the Rainbow Walk on the tenth floor. It had no visible supports so the view was amazing. Aarhus is situated on a canal that runs through the middle of the city so all the cafes and bars have outdoor patios facing the water. Very trendy! Expensive shops and stores everywhere, so I got a sweater, for our visit to Greenland. Berlin, Germany Up at the crack of 5:45am for our early bus tour to Berlin. The journey took about three hours but was well worth it to see the sights of this historical city. Some of the beautiful things we saw included the Charlottenburg Palace, the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Cathedral. We visited Checkpoint Charlie, and saw several segments of the remaining Berlin Wall. Another very special place we saw was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is near the Reichstag and Bundestag so that the politicians don't forget and have a constant reminder of mistakes of the past. It is extremely moving. We also drove through Kurfurstendamm and Potsdamer Platz, saw the beautiful new train station, the Neue Synagogue, and learned a lot about the history from our excellent guide, Nikolai. Back on the bus for our three hour trip back to the ship. What a day....dinner in the Michaelangelo Dining room was all we could manage before falling into a comatose sleep!