Theron and I were talking one day about what we wanted to do for our 50th wedding anniversary (which will be in 2024). I had never been to the Baltics and with the war in Ukraine and Russia and unrest in the Middle East, we thought that might be a good safe place. In mentioning this to our neighbors, Steve and Marlene Harker, they said they had just booked a cruise to go exactly where we wanted and they could get us a great deal - done! We were going to celebrate early.
On September 11, 2023, we left St. George and flew to Copenhagen, Denmark. We spent an extra two days there before we caught our boat to sail away. I was fascinated by the canals:
One of the fun things to see in Copenhagen was the original Christus statue and the statues of all the apostles. It is located in a small church somewhat in the center of the city. This is the same statue that is now the symbol of the Church. These are the same apostle statues that the Rome, Italy visitors center were modeled after.
Each day as we walked the city, we noticed the large number of bikes that everyone rides. We also noticed a large smoke stack and facility across the bay. Wondering what it was, we went exploring and found it to be a garbage burn facility that they had built a ski slope and park on top. Along one of the sides was a huge climbing wall. A great use of a garbage dump.
The ski slope is all artifical grass.
We left Copenhagen on the 16th and traveled to
Warnemunde, Germany. This is a port to get to Berlin. We have been to Berlin, so we decided to do something different; we took a high speed train to Mecklenburg and rode a narrow gauge railroad.
Harkers went with us and neither of us had any Euros. We always use a card but in this small town on the coast, they don't take cards. We didn't realize this until after we had, had our street waffle and ice cream. Steve and Theron had to walk 3 miles to an ATM to get some Euros to pay. Yea, we almost missed our train to go back.
We were also traveling with Marlene's cousins all from Hawaii.
Our next stop was
Kalundborg, Denmark, where we visited a Viking village. Theron found a friend.
Sailing on, we stopped in
Gothenburg, Sweden, where we walked around the city and enjoyed a little rain. Sailing on again, we traveled to
Oslo, Norway where we enjoyed seeing Michelangelo's Madonna and Child statue. This was a work of art stolen by Germany in World War II and later found in a salt mine, recovered and returned to the Church. It is his only work located outside of Italy. We also visited the Kon Tiki Museum. What a marvel that these men built a raft and sailed from Norway to the Pacific Islands.
Kon Tiki Museum:
Now to
London, England, where the boat stayed for two days while people enjoyed going into London and seeing all the sites. We have been to London several times and so we decided to go as far up the Thames and
Greenwich. This town houses the tower that all watches and clocks are set from - Greenwich Mean Time is the zero hour for our 24 hour clocks. While on the hill where the Greenwich tower ball is located, we witnessed it setting the hour where the ball goes up the pool and then fall to indicate the exact hour of the day.
These are pictures from the Cutty Sark ship. They have a museum with replicas of all the ship mascots that ride on front. What a variety, including Theron.
Our next stop was
Le Havre, France. This is a gateway to Paris which we had also been to, so we decided to take a trip up the coast to a seacoast village called Entreat. It was a beautiful town and the cliffs were enchanting.
This is a World War II ammunition bunker built by Germany. It has pictures of what the town looked like before the Germans bombed it. What wasted destruction.
Now to Bruges, Belgium. We signed up for a waffle making class and then toured the city. I love this town, it is so quaint.
The red house is where the waffle making class was held.
The last stop was Amsterdam, Netherlands. We stayed here an extra day and interesting enough, Brent and Clair Padilla were ending their tour of Europe here and we met in the cheese shop. We learned how windmills work, how to make wooden shoes, how cheese is made and how to ride the train from one end of the city to the other. On the streets, there is a walking lane, a bike lane, a train lane and a car lane. You have to look both ways for everything as bikes have a right of way and can come from any direction.
The inside workings of a windmill.
This picture was taken showing the bombings in Amsterdam during World War II. The child alone symbolizes the devastation.
The ski slope is all artifical grass.
