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!

Machu Picchu, Cusco, and Quito

Our three day trip to these amazing places was a blur of ancient civilizations and various very short hotel stays. The highlight was the well preserved Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. Pictures do not do this place justice, it is huge and stunning. The terraces up the mountain are so perfect after 500 years, the temples and houses still standing in perfect condition. The ancient cities of Cusco and Quito are both well preserved and beautiful. It is impossible to describe the experience, we are still recovering from the lack of sleep. We were fortunate to have several guides who gave the local perspective about each area.

Valparaiso and Coquimbo, Chile

Two ports in Chile that seem to be gateways to other, better places. Valparaiso is the gateway to Santiago, the capital, and Coquimbo is the gateway to La Serena. La Serena is a little gem, with a nice seafront and a big, bustling market. We enjoyed our day there, just wandering and seeing the sights. We took a tour in Valparaiso that was really bad but we did see some beautiful buildings and a nice museum. Our tour guide was so disorganized that the frustration factor took over and enjoyment fled! We leave tomorrow for Macchu Pichu, and our tour takes us to Cusco, and Quito, Ecuador. We are pretty excited about this trip and hope for an amazing adventure. Michael is having a great birthday, he had a mention on the morning TV show, got asked to be in a fashion show, and drinks with our new friends from Regina.

Puerto Montt, Chile

Chile is a very llloooooonnnnggggg country. We have been sailing along the coast for many days. It was cool down by Cape Horn but the sea was calm and it has been sunny. The weather in Puerto Montt was grey and rainy, and our trip to the rain forest was a little wet. The hike through thousand year old trees was beautiful and pretty easy. Our guide, Patricio, told us a lot about Chile, the education system, and life in general. We toured an amazing private museum started by a local German farmer, built to save the antiques brought to Chile by the settlers in the 1800s. It was an extensive collection of household and farming items. Really well done. We visited a lakeside resort for shopping and I bought a beautiful Alpaca wool shawl, lime green, of course!

Antarctica!

A special, crazy, amazing day. It started off pouring down rain and we were still in the dark about our final destination, as the Antarctic trip would be aborted and a trip to a national park would be substituted due to bad weather in Villa des Estrellas. Our guide, a professor of veterinary medicine, with 30 years experience in the Antarctic, told us when we got on the bus to the airport that 'it's a GO' to much applause! After a 90 minute flight we landed on a gravel runway on the the dark side of the moon. Rock and patches of ice everywhere. The only vegetation are moss, lichen, and algae. Best word is bleak, but very beautiful in a unique way. The little village is surrounded by ice but has several roads and a few vehicles. They are very concerned about fire, in fact the fire hall burned down a few years ago. We toured the village on foot, seeing the awesome Russian Orthodox Church, the Chilean Catholic Church, the naval base, and the little shop. Pictures were taken of the local BABY, who came to the base at 11 months of age. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, seems they enjoy visitors. It was a big day for them as a Brazilian Herc landed just after us with supplies for everyone. In the afternoon we boarded Zodiac boats for our trip to Ardley Island and our visit with the Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins. Just so amazing that these little guys survive at all. Only 10% survive to adulthood, sad. We laid down on the rocky shore and they chicks came right up to us and were very curious about our clothes etc. It was a highlight of the day! After a COLD ride back we had some hot chocolate and wandered back to the plane. The flight back was 3 hours long and they fed us royally, poured Pisco sours and champagne, and we arrived back late to the ship but very happy!

Ushuia, Argentina

I keep spelling the name of this place wrong. However, I will remember it for the three piles of burning tires that met us on the pier. Apparently they are still quite upset that Princess, with Bahamas ship registry, visits the Falklands. There were a few protesters but nothing happened. The town is very beautiful, built up the side of some mountains and overlooked by glaciers. It is very modern and full of outdoor stores that outfit Trekkers to Patagonia. We had a hike planned to the Martial National Park, which took us up to a chair lift in a taxi, a wonderful long ride over a rushing river, and a little hike up the mountain so we could take some pictures of the glacier. Local beer and lunch at a cafe and post cards sent from the "end of the world". It was a perfect day and we are happy to have made some new friends, Judy and Bruce from Regina!

Falkland Islands

We were so happy when our Canadian Captain, Todd McBain from Alberts, announced that we would be able to tender to Stanley, Capital city of the Falklands. Woke up to sunny and cool, made it to shore on the first tender and found our tour. We four wheeled for 2.5 bourse over the wettest, roughest terrain I have ever seen. Good thing there were hundreds of Gentoo, and King penguins waiting for us. And the most beautiful beach with aqua surf rolling in. It was pretty close to heaven. The penguins were not bothered by anyone, they just stood there with their little chicks on their feet, or ran on their stubby little legs to the water. It was amazing and we enjoyed it beyond words.