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page 3 The Great 30th Birthday Trip...
The day we left Russia was the most beautiful sunset I have
ever seen. We all packed into the front of the boat to admire
the blazing sun as it dipped into the water.
The next day was Helsinki. I should give it the benefit of
the doubt - after all, what could be exciting after having
just been to Russia, but it was kind of like the Cincinnati of
Europe. I'm being too harsh - it was a lovely waterfront city.
The Russian church was lovely, and the service going on inside
mystical and beautiful. First I need to backtrack. We walked a
little ways from the port with David and Linda, looking for a
bus or a cab. Cab came first. He dropped us near the market in
Helsinki. The 4 of us hit the Tourist Indo center, and
arranged to meet for lunch at the Garlic Restaurant before
heading out on our own.
 We did the Rick Steves
self guided walking tour which was quite brief. Senate Square,
with the big white church, then the Russian Orthodox Church.
We wandered through the open air market, and stopped for some
iced coffee. We took the tram to the rock church. While on the
tram, a local, older lady sat down next to me and began to
speak in Finnish. I smiled at her in that "I'm sorry, I have
no idea what you are saying" way, which, according to my
husband caused her to look quite cross. We went inside the
rock church. Theoretically it is interesting, blasted out of
rock like it is, but that type of architectural style just
doesn't do it for me. We walked quite a ways through the town
then, stopping in at a local grocery store for drinks. I
always love to see what's on the shelves of foreign
supermarkets, though it amuses me endlessly to picture a
foreign tourist in my local Kroger, wandering the aisles,
pointing to his or her spouse at the exotic things on our
shelves like Captain Crunch and Karo Syrup. We met David and
Linda for lunch, and thoroughly enjoyed consuming mass
quantities of garlic. 3 types of garlic were freely available
on the table, as well as a pot of garlic mayo, which hour
server refilled repeatedly, as we kept lathering generous
quantities onto our bread. We went to Stockmans Dept store
next to use the internet, then wandered around a bit more,
through a wide treed lane between the two sides of the main
street, in what was almost like a park. Lots of street
performers were entertaining the crowds. We took a bus back to
the ship late afternoon, and had a quiet evening on board, as
I was still sick with the head cold.
 Stockholm was next. We
didn't get off to a good start, being unable to locate the bus
to take us to town. Rather than argue all morning about it,
and spend 25 minutes walking out of our short time, we decided
to take the ship shuttle, which dropped us off in the center
of Stockholm. It was very quiet when we first arrived in the
city, so we were able to explore the cobblestone streets of
the Gamla Stan almost to ourselves. After looking around there
for a while and getting some Swedish Kroner, we took a bus to
the island with the Vasa Musueum. It was a hot day, and the
bus was stifling. We took a wuick tour of the Nordic Museum
first - we had the Stockholm card, and it sounded interesting.
I guess if we had taken the time to get the English audio
guides, it would have been more meaningful, but the theme of
the day was to go, go, go. It took us quite a while to get to
the entrance of the Vasa next, but it was well worth it to
step inside and see that incredible ship. So amazing that this
Viking ship sank and was preserved for over 3 centuries. We
walked around the whole ship, admiring it from every level in
the museum. Quite remarkable. We stopped in the gift shop for
a book on the ship, then headed to Skansen, the Open Air
Museum. We bought the map, which showed a one hour walking
circuit. Unfortunately, there were no signs in the park to
correspond to that particular circuit, so we had to rely on
Brian's navigational skills. Again, I wish we'd had more time.
Ideally, about 2-3 hours for Skansen, so we could actually
look into the many buildings from around the country. But once
we made it up the seeming never-ending hill, and fortified
ourselves with a pastry from the old bakers house, we were
content to wander around and take it in. A pleasant surprise
after seeing the brown bears was a free water fountain. We
drank down our bottle of Vitel, and refilled it for free. In
this insanely expensive city, that was a treat!
 We took the bus back off the island and walked back
into Gamla Stan, which was much busier by bow, and had lunch
at a Mission that donates proceeds to the hungry. We toured
the Royal Palace next, and missed having Lena there to explain
everything like we had in Russia. We strolled the Gamla Stan
until it was time to catch the shuttle back to the ship. It
was a lovely sailaway that evening through the Archipelago -
all these wonderful forested islands scattered throughout the
sea.
 Sunday, the next
day, was Visby. We took the tenders to shore fairly early, and
explored the small town and its ruins with David and Linda.
Very charming and picturesque town, though quite leisurely and
quiet on a Sunday morning. They were, however, having a
medieval festival, so we were able to attend an open ait brass
concert at the old church, sitting on the lawn. Very relaxing.
We browsed through the medieval market next, which was fun to
see, but similar to a Renaissance festival at home, so all I
bought was a Christmas ornament. We had just enough time to
watch the parade befoe we had to return to the ship.
 We had a nice afternoon at sea,
played and won some games, and dressed up for our final formal
night. Before dinner, and after champagne with David and
Linda, we played the Not So Newlywed game, at which we failed
miserably. Dinner was an extravagant affair that night - lots
of fun, show and spectacle. I became a true cruise passenger,
and ordered two appetizers. It was just too hard o choose
between escargot and caviar. And if you don't have to choose,
why do it? That night the nurse got me some good medicine
after dinner so I was finally able to breathe, and sleep. I
definitely needed a good night's sleep to get me through the
upcoming day.
 Monday was our long day at port - Warnemunde Germany.
Having breakfast in the Lido that morning, I heard them
announce on the intercom the weather forecast for the day… 100
degrees Fahrenheit. I thought it was a joke, but no punch line
was forthcoming. We dressed for the heat and set out. We took
the train to Rostock, which, surprisingly was about a 20
minute walk to the city center from the station. We had some
difficulty finding our way, and were also surprised at the
apparent unfriendliness of the locals. This was something we
had not encountered in Germany last year. We finally found our
way though, and spent some time in Rostock, and enjoyed a big
hearty German lunch right by the harbor of fish and potatoes,
before taking a train to Stralsund. Disappointingly, Stralsund
was just another town similar to Rostock, and we endured a
train ride with no AC and closed window to get there. The
heat, and my inability to find a bottle of water with "no gas"
did little for my humor, and we decided to call it a day.
Luckily the train on the way back was cooled, and I had a
(finally) big bottle of still water and a chocolate ice cream
cone to cheer me up.
Despite all my talk of people who go on cruises, and eat on
board instead of in the country they are in, we did precisely
that. There we were - Germany right outside the ship, and we
ate in the dining room. I think it was the point in the trip
that I needed something to be easy, and we had that option so
I took it. Besides, I consoled myself with the fact that
Warnemunde was a touristy port town, little more culturally
enriching than eating on board.
 Tuesday was our last day at sea. Good day to
recuperate after our taxing travel schedule of the preceding
10 days or so. We lounged around , did our packing (which
necessitated buying an extra bag for our souvenirs) did a
little laundry when we were able to get to a machine that
wasn't heavily guarded by angry women, played some games, and
of course ate. We had some cocktails with David and Linda in
the Crow's Nest before dinner, polished off our last bottle of
Merlot at dinner, and were completely soused by the time we
played Trivia. For the first time, we lost.
It was sad leaving the ship Wednesday, even though we were
headed to further adventure in Paris. It had come to feel like
home in the 10 days we were on board. We made friends, we
relaxed, we traveled to wonderful places, we ate lots of yummy
food, and I think I would have stayed if I could. Come to
think of it, that could be why I just sent my application in
to Holland America to work on board…
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