Cross Atlantic Cruise, May 2008

We arrived at the ship with no problems. The first five days at sea were very relaxing. The weather was pleasant and the sea fairly calm. The sea looked like this every day. We listened to some good lectures about history and travel to our ports of call.

Sunday, May 11 - Porta Delgada, Azores, Portugal. Slide Show We took a tour of a town where the Great River passed through and Fire Lake. There was a lot of fog, but it managed to break so we could see the volcanic lake. Some of the local restaurants bring huge pots of food there, bury them in the sand and come back later, dig them up all cooked and bring it back to serve at their restaurants. Then we visited a pineapple plantation. The fruit that they harvest are smaller and greener than the ones we are familiar with. The island is very green and nasturtium, lantana, calla lilies and hydrangea abound wild throughout the island. The natives consider them weeds. The sun came and went, with some slight showers. The day we were there the island was celebrating the feast of the Holy Spirit. "The Butler", a wealthy man in the village, pays for the band to celebrate this feast and entertains the villagers with all the food and drink they can consume. This happens in different villages all summer long.

Tuesday, May 13 - Lisbon, Portugal. After docking in Lisbon we toured two small towns. Slide Show In Sintra, a mountain village, we toured the summer residence of the kings of Portugal for 600 years. Cascais (pronounced Cashcaish) was a small seaside town, but it is now a fashionable seaside resort. Lots of shopping can be done here. We had sun for most of the day and it was warm.

Wednesday, May 14 - Vigo, Spain. Movie Slide Show We were taken to a very nice hotel where we had very good tapas and wine. We drove along the coast to a town called Bayona. Again this area had many shops. I bought some things that are native to this area of Spain. Bob went to see a replica of the Pinta. It rained on us on and off all day.

We spent a day at sea on our way to Southampton. At night as we were crossing the Bay of Biscay we had a great deal of fog. The ship was blowing its foghorn at regular intervals. In addition, this was the night of the Passenger Talent Show Bob's Performance

Friday, May 16th - Southampton, England. First, we docked in Southampton. Then we went to Stonehedge and then to Salisbury. where we visited the cathedral. People are no longer allowed to walk among the stones at Stonehedge but it was still very impressive. The cathedral was also very interesting.

Saturday, May 17th - Normandy, France. We arrived in La Have and visited the invasion beaches in Normandy. Movie Slide Show We saw most of the beaches but it's a little different than in the movies. The beach houses and vacation homes are back. Ponte de Foc was interesting. This is where the rangers climbed the cliffs to knock out the guns overlooking the landing beaches. The guns had been withdrawn (the rangers found them and disabled them anyway) but the destruction by the bombing and shelling of the German emplacements was impressive. We spent some time at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. They have a very interesting museum there. One of the buses that took people into Paris broke down on the way back to the ship. As a result we were two hours late leaving port. When we left the Azores two couples were still on the dock but they weren't on a ships excursion.

On Sunday, May 18th, we had another sea day crossing the North Sea. In the morning we attended Morning Prayer in the aft theater lead by the First Officer. It was very nice and we had a homily by a Methodist minister who was also a passenger. We passed through an area that seemed to have numerous oil well platforms. Our last formal evening was that night. Because of the delay leaving La Have we got into Oslo late on Monday, May 19th. Movie Our tour was canceled so we just walked around the town. Oslo Slide Show

May 20-22 - Copenhagen, Denmark. Slide Show We stayed an extra three nights in Copenhagen. Our first day off the ship, we walked into town and looked for somewhere to have dinner. We stopped at a restaurant where we had our first taste of smorgasbrod (an open face sandwich). The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel at their buffet. It only cost $75 for the two of us. Then we went to the railroad station to get our Copenhagen Card. For two days we had unlimited access to the transportation and museums of Copenhagen. Of course, we went to see the Little Mermaid, then a fort and palace. We had lunch in O'Leary's Pub. We had smorgasbrod sandwiches again and Bob had his second beer of the year. On our last full day, we took advantage of the pedestrian streets (no cars) in the center of Copenhagen. Bob went to the top of the Round Tower and took pictures of the city. Here is a 180 deg view from the Round Tower of Copenhagen. We had a great dinner but discovered that all restaurants in Copenhagen don't take foreign credit cards. Bob found an ATM, so we didn't have to do any dishes. Here you can see some movies of the birds in the moat around the fort, The Rosenborg Castle and the army band practicing, and a little of the Tivoli Gardens.