North Sea Serenade – P.S.

I can’t believe that I forgot this yesterday but we had to go through immigration when we got off the ship.  The lady asked me why I was staying in the UK and I responded we’re going to Stonehenge and then we’re going to Wincanton.  She said ooh my cat’s name is Greebo.  And so we stood there visiting about Discworld and there is a huge line of grabby old people behind us waiting to go through immigration.

North Sea Serenade – Wincanton

This morning we got up – took a shower in a bath whose sides were as large as the Saracen stones at Stonehenge and Tom had to help me in and out.  I will be so glad to get back to my own shower.

So we have breakfast and all I felt like – after weeks of excess – was toast and coffee.  You would have thought I shot these people in the foot – anything else madam?  Nothing madam?  Are you crazed madam?  LOL  All I wanted was toast – and it was home baked and delicious and I didn’t need anything else. 

So off we go to Wincanton.  We are driving and the entire trip is like this:  you are too close on this side – I’m too close on this side – OMG Tom you’re too close – I’m too close on this side too.  It was nuts.  You have tiny two lane highways and people parking on both sides and traffic going both ways.  It’s insanity.  And so finally we make it to Wincanton and luck upon an excellent parking place.

When we get to the Discworld Emporium (DE) they fell upon us like lost family members.  It was so warm and inviting and special.  There was a whole bunch of stuff in that store that I still could have purchased but we had to carry it home.  It turned out on that day that they (DE) were entertaining a woman from the tourist bureau whom they were trying to get to add a tourist attraction sign to the highway so that people would come and see Wincanton and Somerset because of the DE.  So between sessions with that woman Bernard invited us into his office – which is one of those offices you would love to say oh my what is this and what’s the story behind this – a lovely office.  And he sat and talked to us for 45 minutes.  He is having extreme pain in his right knee and had a hard time getting around but he was so warm and wonderful and I have to say I love this man.  He told us that Terry Pratchett had offered to pay for his knee surgery which he is now scheduled to have in January thanks to socialized medicine but he didn’t want him to because he said then “Terry would own my knee and make me tattoo on it that this is the property of Terry Pratchett.”  If you have any opportunity to spend time with Bernard or Reb or Ian or Isobel (of DE) you should avail yourself because they are the most wonderful people on the planet.  And they have two lovely lovely cats.

So after Tom and I purchased everything in the store which Tom is now trying valiantly to pack we started our way back.  Tom bought me a silver quantum butterfly made by Ian who helps run the DE.  They also gave us a couple of sneak peeks about what is coming up for them and Terry.  But we can’t post about it because they trusted us not to leak the information.  Suffice it to say – it is amazing. 

As we were exiting the shop the woman from the tourist bureau wanted to speak with us and asked us if we really had come all the way from California to see the DE – well you know the answer is absolutely.  She said she didn’t have a lot of opportunity to speak with foreigners.  So we told her we would take her information and next time come back and be even closer to DE.  Bwahahaha.  LOL

I wanted to get a picture of the sign which says Wincanton that says twinned with Ankh-Morpork.  So Bernard tells us that it is by the grocery store.  We go to the grocery store and I walked up and down the highway looking for the darned sign only to find on returning that it was right there all along.  So we have pictures.  And also there is a housing development beginning in Wincanton which is based on Terry Pratchett novels unfortunately the sales office was closed and we couldn’t see his hands in the cement.  But I did get a picture of the street signs: Treacle Mine Road and Peach Tree Lane with Hens and Chickens Lane and a couple of others. 

So we are wending our way back – Wincanton (which goes right by Stonehenge BTW) with our you’re too close, I’m too close, there’s a car!!, there’s another car!!, it’s only due to Tom’s excellent driving that we are back here in one piece.  I would still be sitting in a roundabout crying.

So we come back to the hotel thinking we are going to relax but the room across the way has a bride for another wedding and the door is slam, slam, slam constantly.  Happily she is getting married at the moment however I’m worried about what is going to happen when they come back upstairs.

Tonight I had a scallop, salt baked cod (which was not salty as the name suggests but very tasty and lovely) and that banana macaron again and Tom had the scallop (which does not taste at ALL like Pacific scallops) and the lamb that I had last night.  The manager of the restaurant, the server and another girl that has waited on us before says where did you go today?  Wincanton.  I love Terry Pratchett too.  See? I’m never leaving!

So it appears that Tom has finished and we’re going to sleep and so tomorrow – home.  I will do one more blog which will be a recap of our feelings and bests and worsts probably not tomorrow but Sunday.  So now we go to bed happy, happy campers after a wonderful, amazing day and a wonderful, amazing trip.  

North Sea Serenade – Stonehenge and Great Fosters

This morning they shoved us off the ship but they did give us a great breakfast. So we get off the ship and find out that in order to get to our rental car company we have to get a cab ride of all of about five minutes.  And the cab driver yelled at us the entire way about how the cruise ships hire all the coaches and drive the passengers away from Southampton so they can make all the money and now the locals are making no money even though all these cruise ships are docking.  A very pleasant ride.

So we finally get to the rental car company and get our car whereupon I immediately go to the wrong side to get in.  I did that twice.  Tom did a great job driving and we had our GPS but it took us a little while to get the hang of the roundabouts.  This country is so green and lush – it’s beautiful.

So we get to Stonehenge and the first thing we see I think meh it’s okay but as we started to walk around it turned to ooooh and then to whoa.  Surprising facts:  no druids, no human sacrifice, no mystical significance to the stones.  The prevailing legend is that Merlin magicked them from Ireland for a burial place for Uther Pendragon.  Stonehenge was constructed about the time that they built the pyramids but they don’t know why it was built or why they stopped every couple of hundred years and then took it up again.  I was really glad we went.

Then we drove to our hotel for the next two nights.  We drove up to the hotel and there is a giant tour bus sitting in the driveway – nooooooooo!  But it turned out luckily for us it was leaving.  It is called Great Fosters and the building is ancient although the inside of the rooms is quite modern.  Our room is on the third floor and I will leave it to you to guess if there was an elevator or not.  Everything is watch your head – watch your step.  There are a zillion bees on this property and it turns out that they have a hive and make their own honey.  I don’t know if we will get any or not.    They have a hedge garden out in the back and it is very popular with people getting married and in fact there is a wedding here today.  There is allegedly a moat around the property but I didn’t feel like walking any more today so we will have to take their word for it.

We had an absolutely scrumptious tea (I had a raspberry macaron with fresh raspberries and clotted cream – so good) and will have dinner in a few hours – the menu looks lovely.  The dining room is called the Oak Room and the ceiling has flying buttresses although Tom and I don’t know if that is an exterior or interior construction.  It is beautiful and we had dinner while the sun set behind our building.  I had an amuse bouche of pork cheeks with pickled mushrooms.  The waitress said you Americans eat so fast.  LOL.  Then I had tandoori monk fish followed by lamb two ways.  Tom had foie gras which was delicious and halibut with cauliflower and mushrooms.  Then I had a banana macaron with banana ice cream and pop corn.  It was amazing.  Tomorrow . . . WINCANTON!!

North Sea Serenade – Fairytale Land

Today was our last shore excursion while on Regent Seven Seas.  And man did we walk.  Tom and I opted to take the longest tour available which we decided was a definite trend of ours.  And one not to be repeated in the future.  So today was Bruge.  Bruge is one of the most charming cities I have ever seen.  It is like a city where every building looks like Notre Dame.  Everything has spires and medieval architecture and it’s like a total fairytale.  If you really wanted to be a Disney princess you would move to Bruges.  The city has canals, cathedrals, churches, parks, swans by the hundreds, ducks, geese, cute little black birds with yellow beaks.  Palaces everywhere.

We were surprised that the language of Bruges is Dutch.  After years of watching Hercules Poirot I was certain the language was French.  “I am not a Frenchy – I am a Belgy!”  But some parts of Belgium speak French and our guide likened their French to Canadian French and said it’s not the same as French French.  And let me assure you this town was FULL of cobblestones.  I don’t want to see any more.  And I don’t want to walk on anymore.  Ever.

Imagine our surprise when we went to the Cathedral of Our Lady and they have a Michelangelo statue called Madonna and Child – it is beautiful.  It was designed for a cathedral in Sienna but the Archbishop didn’t want it because the statue of the child is naked.  The statue was in an area under renovation so I don’t know how well our pictures came out but the statue reminded me a lot of the Pieta.  Beginning and end.  Joy and sadness.

Wednesday the weekly market was out and we saw a whole bunch of food I would have loved to try however we had an appointment at the chocolate museum.  There was an extremely knowledgeable chocolate chef who showed us the difference between cocoa beans depending on area.  We were given a cocoa bean from Costa Rica and one from Peru and lo and behold they were indeed different.  I liked the one from Costa Rica best but the rest liked Peru better and the chef said that it was because the Peru bean was sweeter.  Then we had a demonstration of how they make their chocolates which are always filled because they like the snap of the chocolate and the gooey inside to contrast.  Then they made a big deal about real Belgian chocolate and chocolate that comes from China.  He said that M&Ms are MADE FROM COCOA POWDER AND NOT REAL CHOCOLATE!  CAN YOU IMAGINE??!!  Sacrilege!  He said that any chocolate which leaves a waxy taste in your mouth is not good chocolate.  Like we didn’t already know that.  J  Then we went to the palace court – I’m telling you these buildings are gorgeous and OLD.  We saw the Belfry Tower, the Town Hall and the Chapel of Blood where they allegedly have some of Christ’s blood. 

So then Tom and I went on our free time to a restaurant where we tried to have an authentic Belgian dinner and I had Flemish meat stew with pomme frites and Tom had steak with pomme frites and mayonnaise which is apparently how they eat them in Belgium.  Tom didn’t eat them that way but I did.  Then we went looking for some Belgian lace for the traveling hat and when I described to the lady what I wanted she said a lot of people come in here looking for that shape and I have some here and it really is very pretty handmade lace.  So Jennie will need to help me figure out how to combine my beautiful wool trim with the Belgian lace trim. 

We then went through the narrowest street in Bruges which used to be a street where no good was done and was also a public bathroom. Then we walked back to the bus – which was no small walk – and walked by the Lake of Love – Minnewater -- which was really very pretty and romantic.

So we came back to the boat – bitter sweet as it is our last night – and played trivia – although one of the questions was who was older Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or Goofy – please -- and lost so we took our Regent points and Tom got a visor. 

So now we are packing and tomorrow we get kicked off and then we are off to Stonehenge and another adventure.  

North Sea Serenade – Amsterdam

We began this day, which was also beautiful weather – other than Visby we have had spectacular weather and Tom and I are getting a tan if you can believe it – by a short bus tour through Amsterdam.  At first I will say that Dutch reminds me of Klingon.  If you don’t understand it – it sounds a lot like throat clearing.

We saw the Baroque-style Royal Palace which is built on approx. 14,000 pilings sunk into the marsh.  We saw the zoo and the Rijksmuseum where they have all the Rembrandts.  We saw Ann Frank’s house but it was at an odd position so we were unable to take a picture.  We saw the Westerkerk (or West Church) the Nieuwekerk (New Church) the Historical Museum and the Archaeologic Museum.

Then we drove out to Beemster Polder which is the oldest reclaimed land in the Netherlands.  We went to an original 17^th Century windmill.  A polder is a lake and they first build a dike and then build some windmills (the ring dike).  After those windmills have pulled out as much water as they can then they build another dyke lower down and some more windmills and keep going until they have drained the lake (the middle mills followed by the lower mills and draining mills).  The water is channeled into a canal and waterway system called a Beemster.  Even though they have drained the lake they have to lay down reeds to stabilize the ground and then they grow grass and then they plant some yellow flowers – this process takes years and then finally they can begin to use the land.  They like to use sheep to walk along the dikes because they tamp down the dirt.  Cows are too dirty.

Then we went to Broek in Waterland which is a town where the church was built in 1400, burned by the Spanish in 1573 and rebuilt in 1628.  This was one of the first churches of the Protestant revolution.  There were two separate areas of the church one for the women and children and one for the men because women and children had to be under armed guard in church. And of course – more cobblestones.

Then we went to a cheese factory where they make Dutch cheese and they let us try about 20 of them.  I chose a sheep’s cheese which was to Tom and I the most delicious. Then we drove back to Amsterdam and saw the Mint Tower.  I really am going to miss all these churches and their bells ringing the hour.  We also saw the Weeper’s Tower which legend has it was where wives stood to wave their husbands off to see – as the guide said if you weren’t very happily married they might be tears of joy.

We then went to the flower market – we have never seen so many flower bulbs.  Oh interesting matter of note – Holland only grows tulips once every seven years.  This was not one of those years.

So we came back to the ship, won trivia – no bingo tonight – and I cannot believe I am already typing this – tomorrow our last stop – Brugges.  

North Sea Serenade – Copenhagen/Malmo/Lund

Today we got up so early after our late, late night last night.  We had to be in the theater (the starting point for tours) at 8 AM but until 8:45 we sat and waited because we were apparently the last cruise ship to come into the port and there was a big delay.

So we went for the obligatory visit to the Little Mermaid statue – she’s apparently been beheaded twice and is now filled with concrete so that nobody can remove her head again.  It was a tiny statue in the middle of this gigantic – and I mean gigantic – group of tourists.  People were scrambling down the rocks to try and get a picture with her – no thanks.  We took two – we are in neither.  Photo shop works well for that I understand.

Then we drove to the Amalienborg Palace where the Crown Prince is in residence.  We determined this by the flag flying over the palace.  The original palace was built to accommodate the four main families of Denmark but are now owned by the royal family.  Then we drove through the city seeing a whole bunch of stuff I can’t remember but we have pictures and then we headed toward Malmo whereupon Tom and I totally fell asleep.  Something about a bridge and when you see it from an airplane it looks like it ends in mid-river but it doesn’t because it goes into a tunnel and then we made it to Malmo.  They told us that we had 1.25 hours in Malmo – AND NOTHING WAS OPEN!  So we walked around and around and if I never see another cobblestone again in my life I will die a happy woman.  Talk about twisted ankles.  

Eventually we found a restaurant which was open and I had an amazing hamburger but they were a little heavy on the mayonnaise but that was okay with me.  With Tom?  Not so sure.  But they were yummy and the fries were amazing.  The bathroom was totally unisex where you went into the bathroom area and picked a door which was marked with a male or female symbol or you just picked an empty one – which after you have spent days and days in a long, long line for a female bathroom I could cheer up a storm for that mentality.

So we get back on the bus and drive to Lund.  Lund is a medieval town which has a Viking cathedral which was built in 1100 and is the oldest church In Scandinavia.  They told us a legend about the cathedral which was that there was a troll which kept tearing down the cathedral.  The Bishop struck a bargain with him that if he could guess his name he would not tear down the cathedral anymore and if he lost the Bishop would lose his eyes.  So the Bishop tried and tried to figure out his name and he did not succeed and so the night before he was to go to meet the troll he went out to look his last on the things that he loved and he encountered a woman trying to comfort an infant and she said your father Finn will be here soon to give you all your dreams and so the Bishop knew the troll’s name.  So the troll comes to talk to the Bishop and the Bishop says I know your name and the troll was so angry he was going to tear down the cathedral entirely but it turned to day and the troll turned to stone.  And he’s down in the basement of the Lund Cathedral.  His wife and child are also down there.  We have photographic evidence.

Then we drove back to Copenhagen.  We went and saw the Rosenborg Castle which is no longer a residence but it is a museum with the royal crown jewels.  We didn’t get to go inside because we were already so late.  We drove by the Tivoli Gardens we saw the Christiansborg Palace and the Tivoli Gardens neither of which we got to go in but we were so late by the time we got back to the ship that we had no time to shop on the dock which had some interesting looking shops.  We played trivia and lost and played bingo and lost.  I’m beginning to sense a trend here.

We are now headed out to the North Sea and the captain announced that when we get to the North Sea around 2:00 AM, there will be a strong wind with six foot swells.  Right now we are still in the protected Baltic Sea and there is already a strong wind developing around a two foot swell.  However, tomorrow is a sea day and Tom and I are really looking forward to lounging around.  I may or may not post tomorrow – but then we are on to Amsterdam.

North Sea Serenade – Berlin

Today was a very long day.  We began at 9:45 AM and went and got on our bus which took us to Berlin.  The bus drive alone was 3 hours each way even though we went on the Autobahn – buses are still required to go only 66 mph.  So of course we were often passed by cars which almost blew us over.  So by the time I had dozed off we were in Berlin.  The entire first part of the trip was through what in my childhood we called East Germany.  It was mostly beautiful farms and cows and horses along the way.

Then we were joined by Johannes who was our local guide and he was fantastic.  Full of enthusiasm and knowledge and just a really super excited guy.  He said that Ronald Regan (Mr. Gorbechav tear down this wall!) was very popular in Berlin but that JFK was almost a hero because he did so much for them.  He said the Kennedy’s famous saying – Ich ben ein Berliner actually means I am a jelly donut but they appreciated that he tried and his face is everywhere in the Eastern area of Berlin.  And by no coincidence the souvenir stands.

First of all we went to the Reichstag and we walked to the center of all the German government buildings.  It was so nice – the citizens of Berlin were playing and spending time with their families – one father was pretending to be a bridge so that his young children could crawl underneath them and another couple was playing volleyball.  Makes you realize that life is not all that different wherever you go.  There are very few parts of Berlin which have not been touched by the war.  And the area has also fallen on hard economic times which makes recovery even worse.  The area has 20% unemployment.  

After that we drove down the Unter den Linden (which was a beautiful street lined on both sides by linden trees) and it was beautiful.  Then we went to the Brandenberg Gate which is the icon for Berlin.  All of the buildings surrounding the gate are new and ¾ of the figure on top of the gate is also new.  It made me sad that wars can cause such unhappiness and misery that even 30 years after the Berlin Wall came down it is still hard for that society to get going again.  We drove by many old but decrepit churches and buildings.

Then we drove by Checkpoint Charlie which reminded me so much of the Cold War it made me shiver.  We drove by the Topography of Terror which is where they have erected monuments to the Jews which died during the war.  They have names on all the pillars and there are a lot of them.  Again, really sad.

Then we went to Potsdam Square to the Sony Center for lunch.  I had Weinerschnitzel and potatoes and lemon – memories Janet?  Tom had what was described as a bacon and onion tart which turned out to be a thin crust pizza which was very good but I had visions of cow tongue and pureed spinach which is what my dad got when he ordered the special of the day when we were in Germany as younger kids.

After lunch we drove a super rich area of town which is where the US Ambassador to Germany lives and visited the Allied Museum.  This is a museum which the German people have erected to show their appreciation to the Americans and the British for the Berlin Air Lift during the war.  We got to see the “candy plane” which is a plane that the soldiers would load with candy and the candy would rain down o the city of Berlin and the children and run and laugh and try to catch the candy and the plane would tip its wings up and down to salute them. 

Then we went down the Champs Elysee of Berlin and we went to a supermarket in the area that had Cartier and Bulgari and Mercedes-Benz and Bentley and other super high end stores.  Tom and I looked around and then waited for the bus to come back and pick us up.

Finally we drove out to see the Charlottenburg Palace but by then it was getting dark and we were tired and ready to head back to the ship especially considering that it was 3 hours back to the ship.  Well imagine our surprise when we got back to the ship and the area around the gangplank was decorated with balloons and most of the crew was outside with drinks and clapped and welcomed us back to the ship.  And then they made us an amazing German buffet on the pool deck – where it was REALLY cold – with suckling pig (yes, the entire pig), spaetzle and some bratwurst and some other sausage which they said was different but it tasted the same to me.   So it was an exciting ending to a very interesting and sobering day.

So tomorrow – Copenhagen and Malmo. 

North Seas Serenade – Visby

The weather caught up with us today and it poured.  We got on the tender and got to the shore and the guide told us it never rains in Visby.  I almost said I have empirical evidence to the contrary.  The town was charming and pretty even in the rain.  Visby is on the island of Gotland and is a big vacation resort for the Swedish people.  It is a town built around 1200 AD and was a walled city for most of its existence.  We first started off at a scenic view of the town which was mostly rain and fog.

Then we sloshed through the botanical gardens where we literally went around the mulberry bush – no singing required.  A lot of the land is sandstone which they grind up into cement and ship to California.  So the guide said that Gotland is slowly moving to California.  Ha ha.  I have a piece of that sandstone which I am prematurely moving to Calilfornia.  Then she said that the land mass is unattached and is slowly moving and eventually will end up on the Russian continent.  

We drove around Visby and ended up at the Dalmansporten where the Cathedral is located and Tom and I opted not to go because (a) it’s so hard on Tom’s knees and (b) there are no handrails anywhere and I didn’t want to have to go down 50 steps by myself in the rain.  So we came back to the boat, dried off, ate lunch, took a nap, played trivia which we won and then lounged around and ate dinner and now to bed and tomorrow – Berlin.

North Sea Serenade – Riga, Latvia

Today was a beautiful lazy day because we didn’t get into port until 11:30 A.  We took a tour of Riga and it was very similar to Tallinn.  It’s so sad to see what countless years of occupation and depravation can do to a society.  The buildings are bleak and colorless because the Soviets did not want the working class to see the remains of the bourgeois society and so simply painted entire buildings black, gray or brown.  It is such a shame because the buildings here are done in a lovely art deco style with reliefs of Greek gods and goddesses on the faces of the buildings which now blend into the background because it is all one color. Oh and they planted trees in front of the buildings so they couldn’t see them even more.

The past few years have not been kind to Riga and the buildings are worn and decayed and are in need of some vital renovation.  We saw the Freedom Monument – which is beautiful only because these poor people have been conquered again and again because of their strategic location to the Baltic.  They have been conquered by the Swedes, the Danes, the Russians (the Empire not the Soviets – yet), the Germans and then finally the USSR.  And each occupation took both their natural resources and their youth.  And now the recession is taking them too.  She said something like 40% of the youth have left to find work in other European Union countries and will never return. 

Well anyway – we saw the National Opera House which was originally built by the first German land barons but was very pretty.  We went to the Town Hall Square and she told us a very interesting story about the sailors who traveled and brought back the first black men from Africa and they were so amazed that people actually had black skin that they clad them in the finest clothes they could offer and so only their heads showed and the people just naturally assumed that the only part of them that was black was their heads.  So they called them the blackheads.  The name stuck and was then applied not only to the black people who came to the country but also the sailors and foreigners which then followed.  

We saw St. Peter’s Church which was lovely but definitely needs some renovation.  Then we went across the Daugava River and the last two stops I didn’t even get out of the bus.  The last was the Riga Castle and it was nothing special even though it was apparently built in the 1200s.  But it also needs some work.

So now we are on our way to Visby, Sweden.  We came back to the ship, lost at trivia, lost at bingo and now are going to a reception with the captain because we are returning Regent sailors.  Yay us.  J

North Sea Serenade – I can’t keep track of the days anymore so this day is Tallinn

First of all we moved our clocks BACK an hour so between last night and this morning Tom and I slept 11.5 hours.  When we got up first this morning we opened the drapes to see what kind of a day it’s going to be.  Imagine our surprise when there is a gigantic mega-ship a gangplank’s distance away.  That resulted In a lot of screaming and running around and slamming curtains shut on my part.

So we go downstairs and I had poached eggs on some excellent corned beef hash and Tom had pecan pancakes which he said were very good.

Then at 10:30 A we went downstairs for our tour.  That is a very civilized time for a tour.  We stream out of the ship along with 6000 of our closest friends from the neighboring ship.  Nobody pointed and laughed so if someone did see us they didn’t see us on the gangplank.  Turns out that despite the mass of humanity heading toward the dock there were only 24 of us on the tour.

We drove through Tallinn and the guide pointed out the highlights of which there were not many.  It is a colorful and picturesque town but shows the marks of decay and neglect.  Apparently their humidity is very high and even massive stone buildings when not maintained do not survive.

The Town Hall is about 800 years old.  At various times this country has belonged to Sweden, the USSR, Denmark and then the USSR again.  So they are pretty happy about their current independence.  My only problem with these towns is that while cobblestones are very photogenic and add a ton of local color they are darned hard to walk on.  The guide called one street the street of vendors and I said more like the street of twisted ankles.

We went to the chocolate place and it was smaller than our house.  24 of us squeezed ourselves around a table which was designed for 8 people at most.  The woman who is the “master chocolatier” didn’t speak English so the guide translated.  Then we got to take some hunks of chocolate and dip them in white or dark chocolate and then decorate them with rose petals and hunks of orange and chili peppers – she said that in the winter they made chocolate with garlic and “wodka” which sounds quite frankly disgusting to me.  But it was fun and I had some really good hot chocolate from their store and then we continued our tour and had some free time.

We had the option to walk up a hill but Ann, Tom and I decided to stop in a local café and have some local food.  Ann and I had some delicious cheese and Tom had the mushroom  salad which turned out to be half mushrooms and half onions diced fine with bacon and two hunks of potatoes.  We had some wasps who were interested in sharing our meal, even though we didn’t invite them.

Then we went back to the chocolate place and picked up our chocolate and came back to the ship.  It’s a short day for us – all aboard is 3:30 P.  So we have tea and trivia (hopefully we can manage to win) and then we have dinner tonight in the steakhouse which is super yummy.  Then on to Riga!

North Sea Serenade – Day Six

Today we went to the Hermitage Museum after four hours of sleep.  Fortunately we did not oversleep today and made it to the theater in time after a very nice breakfast.  We drove to the Hermitage Museum where we saw the Small Throne Room, the gilded-column Armorial Hall and the stunning Malachite Room.  In the Malachite Room they have table tops and a huge vase which looks like someone chiseled them out of the same piece of stone – like marble – but she said it was many pieces pasted together – whoever made all that stuff did an extraordinary job.  Unfortunately we could not bring in large coats or I would have tried to sneak it out even though it was as tall as me.  We saw the Small Hermitage where they have a Peacock Clock although they only run it once a week on Wednesday at 6 PM so we won’t be able to see it since we are all aboard at 5:30 P today.  And now that I think about it – it’s only Tuesday so it only goes tomorrow.  And we’ll be making chocolate tomorrow in Tallinn.

Anyway the museum was super crowded and so our guide walked us up and down a bunch of stairs – I don’t think that they have ever thought of a hand rail in any of these countries.  And to be honest it really freaks me out to walk down the stairs.  Yesterday at Catherine’s Palace someone fell although even though I was nosey I could not find out what happened.  So we paraded up and down on our already tired and sore feet.

We saw two beautiful works by Da Vinci, a Rembrandt, some Greek artifacts, some Egyptian artifacts.  After the British Museum and the Louvre and this museum I’m surprised Egypt has any of its artifacts left.  We saw what is allegedly the world’s oldest mummy.  We saw some amazing stuff in the gold room of the Hermitage.  Apparently you have to make a special appointment to be able to see that room but they had saddle blankets which had hundreds of diamonds so you can imagine what else they had that was totally diamond encrusted.  But in the gold room they had some artifacts that are among the oldest ever recovered which were found by the Black Sea. I can’t think of anything else because my brain is totally mush today but if you look at Tom’s pictures he has pictures of most of it.  Except the gold room.

So we struggled back to the ship, Tom is now napping and we have trivia in less than an hour.  And that’s about all I’m going to attempt today.  We have a caviar reception tonight.  Yum-o.  It was delicious, we lost at trivia, went to dinner at Signatures and I did a face plant in the halibut.  It is such hard work having all this fun.

North Sea Serenade – Day Five

This morning was almost a catastrophe.  First of all we overslept because we’d been having such a hard time getting to sleep that we didn’t worry about setting an alarm.  But we should have worried last night  And then our original plans said that our trip was at 9:45 A and so we got up in time to get ready and have a roll and some coffee when Tom went to get out tickets it said 9:15 A so we really had to scramble to get to the theater in time to get on our bus.  So we didn’t get any coffee and we didn’t get any breakfast.  Which usually makes me pretty cranky.  So we go out and go through immigration with a woman who was so grumpy she must not have had her morning coffee either.  Not even a HINT of a smile.  So we get on the bus and the bus seats are so uncomfortable for us.  So off we go and there is a slight rain and everything is covered in fog.  Great.

Our guide was super funny.  We go through the station at the end of the terminal and he says everybody don’t smile because if you smile too much our men in black will come on and want to know why you are so happy to be in Russia.  So first of all we drive around the city and it’s hard to take pictures because there is rain all over the windows but Tom did his best.  Unlike my memories of Moscow the buildings here are all pastel in color.  We saw the Winter Palace and St. Isaac’s Square and the Aurora which shot the canon which started the Bolshevik Revolution.  Then we went to the Peter & Paul Fortress where they have the crypts for all the tsars. He said that contrary to popular belief it is not Anastasia’s body that was missing but Peter and Ivan.  

As we were walking around I noticed that there was a man who had noticed Tom and was sketching him.  It kind of freaked me out but I told Tom and he didn’t seem concerned.  Afterward he approached Tom and sold him the charcoal sketch – and it is really good.  For only $5 US.  Then we went to the officially sanctioned souvenir store and I got the scarf for the traveling hat.  It is a really soft, wool scarf which is about as thick as a spider web.  Then we went to the Spilled Blood Cathedral which you can’t go into but is one of the icons of St. Petersburg.  In front of the Spilled Blood Cathedral is what our guide called the Spilled Champagne Bridge which is where Russian brides go to have their pictures taken and in fact there were so many of them taking pictures that they had to line up.  

Then we came back to the ship and we were so hungry we ran up to get some food.  They had peanut butter ice cream that was just super yummy.  Then we went downstairs and almost slept through trivia but managed to make it downstairs whereupon we lost.  Who knew that Bridge Over the River Kwai was filmed in Thailand.  Oh right, I did.  But I forgot so that wasn’t very useful.  Because we knew that dinner was going to be late we went up to a special Russian dinner which the ship had prepared and I had borscht and stroganoff (I don’t think I’ve ever had stroganoff that had pickles and beets) and chicken kiev.  

Then we went down and got on our tour for Catherine’s Palace.  The trip was supposed to take 1.5 hours to Pushkin and the traffic was so bad we were almost 45 minute later.  HOWEVER, the other bus drivers opted NOT to take the expressway and so we had to wait and wait and wait for them to arrive in Pushkin.  So the guide decided to stall by making us walk to the carriage house.  Now most of the ladies, including me, had dressed up for the event since it was supposed to be an elegant dinner.  And everybody was complaining because the guide walked super fast and it was uphill a lot of the way and we all had non-walking shoes on so now I have blisters and I’m sure they do too.  

The carriages were super elegant but some of them reminded me of circus carriages.  And some people were complaining up a storm that they had to walk that far and I’m not a big fan of standing around.  So we wait and wait and wait and then we go into the palace and wait some more and then wait some more and finally we get to go into the palace.  You have to wear these super sexy brown covers on your shoes which reminded me of the shoes the Seven Dwarfs wear.  The palace cannot be described.  It is absolutely spectacular.  And they had a man playing the flute and one playing the harpsichord which I don’t think I’ve ever heard live and then we go to the end and got a seat and they played some Russian classical music and then Catherine the Great came out and we had a toast to world peace and then some court dancing which was kind of odd but it was well done.  

So after that we went to dinner and dinner at the Russian House Restaurant was salad, rubber chicken, a strange potato pancake and some sorbet with seeds.  There were some Russian folk singers but we have no idea what they were singing about but Tom danced with one of them but unfortunately I had to take the picture and it did not turn out very well.  The drive back to the ship was about half the time but we were so late and had to wait so long to get things going that it is 1:30 AM and we have another tour of the Hermitage and the Gold Room in about seven hours.  Did I mention that we are exhausted?   

Tomorrow:  St. Petersburg, Part 2.

North Sea Serenade – Day Two

I somehow didn't get this one before the other, so it's a bit out of order now. Enjoy.

Tom and I went to bed last night around 10 PM and woke up about 2 AM and chatted for a few hours and then about 4 AM went back to sleep and woke up around 9:30 AM in a panic because we thought we were going to miss breakfast.  The breakfast buffet was almost as good as the smorgasbord last night.  After breakfast we laid around the room and whined about being tired and not wanting to do anything but we had already paid for the hop on hop off bus and so we dragged ourselves out to the ship stop.  Then we went to the Vasa Museum.

For those of you who don’t know the Vasa is a ship that was commissioned by the King of Sweden in 1628 and after traveling 30 meters into the bay the ship capsized and sank.  The museum was not only an attempt to demonstrate the actual ship but to explain why it capsized and apparently it was a combination of fatal errors, i.e., design, construction and instruction by the senior staff.  There were 50 people who lost their lives when the ship capsized and they tried to explain but there wasn’t just one reason and the ship’s builder had already died so nobody got blamed.  We took so many pictures our camera died.

After that we took the hop on hop off bus around Stockholm to the ice bar which is a bar constructed out of ice which is maintained in a -5 degrees Celsius temperature so you have to put on a cape and mittens just to get inside the bar.  I thought it was pretty cool.

We continued traveling around and got back to the hotel and went up to our room.  I took a nap for about an hour.  Then we went down to the bar and had some olives which were amazingly good.  Garlicky and olive oily and rosemary-y.  Then we came back up to the room and got ready and then we went to Matsalen for dinner and although I recognized Mathias Dahlgren I was too late to get a picture with him but the food was spectacular and we loved every bite.  I have pictures of every dish.  It was, as Jennie says, very spendy but I was happy to pay it for such a memorable dinner. 

We are still suffering from jetlag, but hope to be adjusted to local time for the cruise which starts tomorrow.

North Sea Serenade – Day Four

Today we had a long morning to sleep in and Tom opted to do laundry.  I opted to take a nap—lazy me.  The ship did not dock until 11:30 AM but we keep changing time zones and for people already suffering from jet lag this is not helping.  So we got to Helsinki for the first shore excursion.  We drove to the Rock Church which is a church that was constructed by two brothers who were prohibited from building a church on their property because it would obstruct the rich folk’s view.  So they dynamited into the granite and built a church which is effectively underground.  It was a beautiful church.  And despite the number of people was surprisingly peaceful.  

We went to Sibelius Park which had an odd organ pipe like construction and a face that was allegedly brushed by an aluminum wind.  At the park they were playing a new sport in Finland which is effectively basketball played in a lake making it water polo while kayaking.  It was interesting to watch.  Then we drove to the Senate Square.  They were filming a movie and there were several young ladies dressed in traditional costumes so we hope the pictures turn out.  The guide kept referring to the square as the most important square in Finland but we are still not sure why.  

Then we came back to the ship – played trivia and won – and went to dinner where we met one of the sommeliers that we met on the last trip we took.  They must move around a lot.  So that is all for tonight and tomorrow is Russia, and we need to set the clocks ahead another hour!    These time changes are going to kill us, but they promise that this is the last time we turn the clocks ahead on this voyage.  So with the 11 hour time zone difference, we have effectively swapped day and night.

North Sea Serenade – Day Three

Today was a day of checking out and checking in.  We got up in the morning, had breakfast and then went upstairs to pack.  We checked out of the hotel and shared a taxi with Whit and Ann to the ship.  We are still suffering hugely from significant jet lag.  So we get on the ship around 12:30 and go up to the pool deck to wait until the rooms were ready.  At 2:30, they announced the rooms were available, and fortunately all of our bags showed up right away, so we were able to unpack before going to dinner. 

We had a lovely dinner at the Italian restaurant, but as I said, we were still suffering from jet lag, so we went to bed super early after I almost face planted into the cannelloni, and they told us we needed to move the clocks forward an hour, another hour lost.   I woke up about 2 AM thinking we were having an earthquake, but realized you don’t have earthquakes at sea and it was just the ship’s vibration.  The weather so far has been beautiful and we have the mild sunburn to prove it.  That’s about it for this day.

North Sea Serenade – Day One

I'm posting for Christy about her Europe trip....I've slacked on writing mine. We'll see if it ever happens.

Our flights to Stockholm were relatively uneventful but exhausting.  When we got to Amsterdam – where we were connecting – they made us go through passport control and on the other side we had to go through the ubiquitous bag check which was super odd because we never left the secure area of the airport -- only this time they were concerned about the amount of electronics we had in our bags.  So they removed almost everything from Tom’s bag, x-rayed the extension cord, re-exrayed his now empty bag and then gave him everything back to repack.  Mine they pulled out my checkbook, my DSi XL – which he said made me think I was “hip and trendy” and laughed and wanted to know if I had “caught them all” when I told him I used it to play Pokemon, my wallet, and said to me please open and then took them from my hands and opened them himself.  Except the DSi.  Odd.  I guess telling him I used it to play Pokemon convinced him that I am not a terrorist. 

Well we arrived at our hotel after driving through an absolutely torrential downpour on one side and sunshine on the other which created some rather spectacular rainbows as we drove along.  I am taking that as a good omen.

We arrived at the hotel and checked in.  Our room is gorgeous and the floor in the bathroom is heated.  So after you walk across the cool wooden floor the floor seemed to us unnaturally warm.  Very odd at first.  The hotel is gorgeous but not as big as I thought which gives it an intimate feel.  It reminds me of the Hotel St. James in Montreal.  Nice moldings, modern touches but maintaining the historical ambiance.  Our room has a magnificent view – the Royal Palace and the Swedish Parliament.  We can also see the sightseeing boats going up and down the Norrström River.  The tooting and bells and whistles remind us in our room that we are not in Kansas anymore. 

We laid around for a couple of hours and then went down to meet our friends Ann and Whit (who are going on our cruise) and two of their friends Bunny and Guy (who aren’t).  We had a “typical” Swedish smorgasbord and I think it is probably very high end but it was absolutely delicious. 10 varieties  of herring.  Many varieties of breads, one of which was a brown bread that was so rich it tasted like cake.  Cheeses to die for.  Cold smoked, smoked, lox of several varieties absolutely delicious.   Gorgeous and yummy desserts.   I had so much pickled food I think I will come home looking a couple of years younger.  Ha ha.  I fell in love with mustard marinated herring.  Bunny and Guy have been driving across Europe and probably would have gone on for hours but I sadly had to poop out and say I ran out of steam and have to go to bed. 

We actually were very tired, and once we got to bed fell asleep for a solid four hours, whereupon our body clocks told us it should be day time and you should be awake.  So we spent a few hours talking until we fell asleep again and slept for another three hours or so.  

Food Blog - Rhynn's Recipes

Hey everyone! I'm starting a food blog! Head on over to Rhynn's Recipes to check out the yummy food.

Just keep in mind, I'm not a photographer so just trust that they are better than they may look. ^_^

I am going to try to keep up on my food blog regularly. At least once a week, if all goes well.

Cooking

In preparation for my new found interest in cooking, I have made a few purchases. The first to arrive are these cute little flower veggie cutters, which I figured would work with dough well to make bite sized treats. I tried them out on some cucumber and bell pepper. The skin on the pepper was a bit too tough to cut through neatly, but it worked well on the cucumber. There are 4 different shapes.

Cute. I'm very happy with them so far. Can't wait to put them to greater use.

It's Official!

On Saturday, I received this in the mail:

It's now official, I'm graduated, Cum Laude! Yay!

Cereal

I have found the cereal we all want to have. Too bad it's so expensive....

It's gluten free, lactose free, sugar free, wheat free and nut free! And all organic ingredients. Very interesting stuff too: organic chia, hulled hemp hearts, buckwheat, cranberries, raisins, apple bits, and cinnamon.

As odd as the ingredients are I had to look up why anyone would eat them. Chia is apparently good to reduce food cravings. And hemp hearts are supposedly full of essential fatty acids and protein and stuff. Go figure. And the buckwheat seems to be a filler to keep the cereal gluten free and wheat free.

I wish it were cheaper so I could give it a try. Sounds interesting. The blog I found it on said it goes well on honey-sweetened greek yogurt. And you don't need much, just a few tablespoons to fill you up.