The End

Determined to get the most out of our last day, we started out as early as possible with the Musee D’Orsay. The extra walking was too much for Kathy’s ankle and she stayed behind for the morning. We were half way through our visit when I bumped into a fellow Collin associate at the museum! John and Kathy took a canal cruise in the afternoon and Jim and I used the Metro and covered the Champs-Elysees and other sites on the right bank. We finished our vacation at Café de la Paix, a great restaurant next to the Opera House (where Eric and Meredith went after they got engaged). Tomorrow, we have an 11:40 direct flight to Dallas (10 hours) which will get us in DFW at 3:20. Kathy and John almost have another full day to enjoy Paris as their flight to JFK does not leave until 6pm. Hope to spent some of the time on the flight going through the 100’s of pictures we took trying to get them down to a manageable number to post on Shutterfly.

We Love Paris!

Today we finally unfortunately had rain but fortunately we planned the morning for the Louvre. Our continental breakfast at the hotel turned out to be a full breakfast with out of this world croissants. After an overwhelming 2 hours in the Louvre, we came out to fairly heavy rain and it was impossible to get a cab to Notre Dame so we decided to take a break to visit Angelina’s Tea Salon on the Rue de Rivoli near the Louvre and it was an excellent detour. We had African Hot Chocolate which was possibly the most delicious thing I have ever tasted and unbelievable pastries. It was the recommendation of Kathy and John’s daughter-in-law Meredith and it was fabulous. Cabs are impossible to find in Paris and we ended up walking to Notre Dame (which we needed after our hot chocolate). We thought it would be a short walk across the Seine down Boulevard St. Germain down to Fragonard Boutique, a wonderful perfume store. It turned out to be about 2 miles which would not have been too bad except for Kathy’s ankle. We finally found the perfume store and it was another great recommendation from Meredith. John and Kathy thought they would get a cab back to the hotel from the store but ended up walking another two miles due to lack of cabs. I dragged Jim to Luxemborg Gardens because the videos from the French class that I am taking (“French in Action”) are filmed there. The rain stopped shortly after lunch and the gardens were beautiful. We decided to try the Metro back to the hotel and I was successful in using my French and we did not get lost and were actually able to change trains. Our cousins Anne Marie and Katie Hynes happened to be in Paris and we met them for dinner at another Rick Steves recommendation, L’Affriole, it was delicious! We did SO much walking today, we almost walked off the African Hot Chocolate. We can’t wait to try out some more of Meredith’s recommendations tomorrow! Unfortunately some more light rain is forecasted for tomorrow.
Wireless Internet connection is great at the hotel (note to my CEWD friends – was even able to connect with VPN and access I: drive from Paris!)

Nous sommes à Paris

Arrived at our hotel, Relais Boquet which was highly recommend in Rick Steves Paris book and it lived up to all it’s recommendations (plus free wireless!!!). The hotel is centrally located close to the Eiffel Tower. We had chance for a quick walk to the Eiffel Tower and then had our first delicious dinner at a nearby French restaurant Le Florimond. After dinner, Kathy’s ankle injury was still bothering her and the Lussens went back to the hotel. Jim and I walked back to the Eiffel Tower where hundreds of people were picnicking on lawns in front of the Eiffel Tower waiting for it to become illuminated at 10pm. We decided to walk back to the hotel along the Seine and got a little lost but luckily had a good map. There are predictions of rain tomorrow so we might plan our visit to the Louvre in the morning.

Lussen Luggage Luck

Enjoyed our final night and woke up for the dreaded debarkation. It seemed to go so smoothly until the Lussens could not locate their final piece of luggage. All the luggage is picked up from the rooms the night before and is put in one large room when the ship docked grouped by color coded tags. The Lussens had red luggage tags and their last piece of luggage accidently got sent to the airport with the luggage that was going to the airport. We were going to the train station and luckily had enough time for the suitcase to get sent back from the airport. We then had an extremely pleasant 4 hour train ride from Amsterdam to Paris with beautiful scenery. We did run into a traffic jam with the motorcade going out to meet Ingrid Betancort.

Farewell to the Baltic Paris Nous Venons

On next to the last night was another fabulous dinner at the Murano restaurant with our new friends Alicia and Dustin. Wind was pretty brisk as we sailed into North Sea but still there were some sun worshipers out there. Spent a little time packing and enjoyed some of the onboard activities. Our group from Cruise Critic had one last get together and then our last dinner. Some people are getting off the ship at 6:30 for early flights. Our train to Paris is at 11:30 and the train station is two blocks away however they will probably want us off the ship by 9. We hear the weather in Paris could be rainy . We have a great list of recommendations for restaurants and shopping from Meredith Lussen  - so Paris here we come.
Tom and Jenny – realized, it is only number 9 anniversary, but still Happy Anniversary!

The Good Weather Godess is Still With Us!

I did stay up last night to see a magnificent sunset at 11pm and the bridge that connects Denmark to (I still do not know where). The ship docked in Copenhagen at 7am with clear blue skies. We boarded the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus right at the cruise ship terminal and the first stop was Amalienborg where the Royal Palaces are and saw the guards. It was then only a short walk to Nyhavn, a small canal flanked by 18th century houses where the merchants used to live. We took a canal cruise from there and passed by Christiana (the hippie colony) and had a pretty good close up look at the Little Mermaid (which was very “little”!) It was a great way to see some of the sights that we could not have seen walking. After the cruise right on the Nyhaven we found the best ever waffle cones and ice cream and continued on to Stroget, the main shopping street. We stopped for coffee and Danish beer outside of Illum a beautiful Danish department store. We reboarded the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus and passed Tivoli Gardens and Rosenburg Castle. It was a spectacular day and I particularly enjoyed it since Copenhagen is the birthplace of my maternal grandmother, Ellen Anderson, who left Copenhagen in 1901 at the age of 14 to come to America. We found the people to be very friendly and I never saw so many cute babies in beautiful prams. Jim and John thought the woman were pretty nice, too.
We sail to Amsterdam at 5pm today (we are 7 hours ahead of CST at this point). Tomorrow will be our last day – a sea day. Tonight we are going back to the specialty restaurant along with another couple that we have met. We will be thinking of Pop-Pop Sheppard tomorrow on the 65th wedding anniversary and Happy 10th Anniversary to Tom and Jenny Sullivan.

Sea at Last!!

Well earned day of rest before Copenhagen tomorrow. Today was clear and sunny but a bit brisk and windy (55 degrees). The only people wrapped in blankets by the pool were people from Seattle or Great Britain and other sun-deprived places. Can’t believe it is just Copenhagen and one more sea day before the cruise ends on Friday. Friday we will be taking the train from Amsterdam to Paris and I am not sure what the internet access will be there. Have been able to use wireless the whole time with some sporadic slow periods. For some reason there are some sites that I have not been able to get to, mainly one of my bank sites and my work Groupwise account (yes – I have not checked work email since Heathrow airport on the 21st!). It is 10pm here in the Baltic Sea and still daylight. Sun does not set until 11 and sunrise is about 4. At 11 tonight (if I am still awake), we are supposed to be passing under a big bridge that connects Denmark to some other country (forget what Captain said).

Pictures that go with next post

Having lots of computer problems today with blog site, pictures did not get u!ploaded with post that follows (also need to remember to "preview" before "publishing"

Tara, Chris, Meredith, Eric and Greg - there is still shopping in Paris and Copenhagen

Shopping was good in Tallin

Tallin proved to be as much of a pleasant surprise (far above expectations) as St. Petersburg was!! Our streak of good luck is continuing. Yesterday in Petersburg, it started out to be a beautiful day however we did have some rain when we were visiting the cathedrals. Today in Tallin, the weather was spectacular. We started out the day with a tour of the historic part of Tallin (an extra perk from our SUPER travel agent Cookie). We decided not to do the second part of the tour which was a bus ride out to the countryside and spend some more time in the town of Tallin because the shopping opportunities seemed to be good. Lauren, Molly, James and Allison benefited from shopping in Tallin. One of today’s pictures is Kathy shopping for sweaters and hats (Molly and Lauren – that is where your presents came from). We also ran into four of our new-found friends from our Berlin and St. Petersburg tours and knew that this was the place for purchases for “older” children as Sharon, my shopping cohort from Plano was coming out with two shopping bags of purchases. (Picture of us in front of the store). Final picture is Jim and I modeling purchases for James and Allison – ski hat for James and a hat-scarf (a lot cuter than it looks in picture) for Chicago weather.
Tallin was a short stay (ship left at 2) and we were able to catch some sun at the pool before some rain showers moved in. Tomorrow is a double bonus for catching up on some rest after 5 straight ports – a sea day and we gain back the first of the two hours that we lost

St. Pete Day 2

We were glad that today started a little later. We had a terrific dinner last night celebrating Kathy and John’s 38th anniversary in the specialty restaurant on the ship. The whole morning was spent in the Hermitage Museum. We were able to get early entry into the Hermitage with our tour and it really helped to get a jump on the crowds. It was quite an experience to see so many Italian, Dutch and French Impressionists in one museum. We had lunch in a local place that had delicious Russian meat pies and finished the day with some beautiful Russian Orthodox Cathedrals. We have one more port tomorrow, Tallin, Estonia before a much needed day at sea.

Saturday in St. Petersburg

We survived losing another hour and met our group for the St. Petersburg tour at 7:30AM. We connected with 7 other cruisers through the Cruise Critic discussion board and booked a private tour with Alla Tours. We were SO glad we did, we left behind long lines of people lined up for bus tours and met our tour guide Ekaterina and started out to the outskirts of St. Petersburg. We first toured the beautiful formal gardens and elaborate palace of Catherine the Great. We had lunch and spent the afternoon in Peterhof Park where there are beautiful fountains and the palace of Peter the Great. We returned to St. Petersburg via hydrofoil across the Bay of Finland. Our luck has continued with good weather as you can see from the picture that was taken in front of the palace of Peter the Great in Peterhof. There is so much to see in St. Petersburg that the ship stays overnight. Tomorrow we will be staying in the city of St. Petersburg visiting the Hermitage Museum and the major cathedrals of St. Petersburg.

Short Update from Helsinki

Well this will be short since there was not a lot in Helsinki, very small capital city with only about 500,000 inhabitants. We opted to tour a tour through the ship that included an overview of the city and then a drive to the countryside to a quaint fishing village of Porvoo. We had lunch at a small inn and then a scenic ride back. Weather was clear and cool in the AM, then it clouded over in the afternoon and we were able to avoid some scattered showers. We were glad it was an easy tour as tonight we lose another hour as we sail to St. Petersburg. We will be there for two days and our tour begins at 7:30am tomorrow.

Stockholm was super!

We arrived in Stockholm to brisk 62 degree temperatures but with clear skies, we were sure it would warm up soon. We had booked a Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus tour that started right at the ship. Stockholm is a relatively small capital city (1.2 million) and we stayed on the bus for one round to get a general idea of the layout of the city and ended up back at the Royal Palace for the magnificent changing of the guard at noon. We walked around the Old Town section of the city and then got back on the bus to visit the Vasa museum – the remains of a massive Swedish sailing vessel that sank on it’s maiden voyage in the early 1600’s. The ship left at 5pm and we has a special treat for the second formal night – we were invited to sit at the captain’s table again. It turned out it was actually the cruise director and one of the first officer’s that were hosting the captain’s table tonight but it was still fun anyway. Tonight we lose an hour as we travel further east and will now be 8 hours ahead of CST. Tomorrow, we will be in Helsinki.

Special Message to Lussen & Sheppard Kids

Here is your Christmas present – we are enjoying it now!!!

Sea Day

Today was a somewhat restful day at sea. Now that we are in the Baltic the seas have calmed down but it was still cool outside. Tomorrow we arrive in Stockholm at 10am but we have been told that the 5 hours before we arrive in Stockholm are quite picturesque as we pass through many channels. We plan on touring Stockholm on our own since we have heard everything is close by. We are expecting temperatures in the low 60’s.

Sorry about last post - do not know how to edit after publishing :(

If it's Tuesday, it must be Berlin

Tuesday, the shipped docked a Rostock on the northern coast of Germany, about 3 hours north of Berlin. We had been undecided as to whether or not we wanted to take the 3 hour ride into Berlin for about 6 hours of touring. One of our new found friends from the CruiseCritic website (who also happens to live in Plano) had found a great private tour company that would pick us up at the dock in a 16 passenger Mercedes van and then drive to Berlin where we were met by our guide and had a comprehensive tour of Berlin. We ended up with a group of 8 – ourselves, Kathy and John, Joel and Sharon from Plano and Dustin and Alicia from Greenwich.
It was quite chilly when we got off the ship but by the time we got to Berlin, it was 72 and clear. Our ride to Berlin included a rest stop at McDonalds (thought I was on the Jersey Turnpike).
We were met in Berlin by our guide Anaka, who spoke beautiful English and was extremely knowledgeable about her city. One of our first stops was a theme that we saw all day – a contrast of the unbelievable destruction from the war and the rebirth. The ruins of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church (nicked named the Hollow Tooth which was almost totally destroyed in the war stands next to a beautiful new Lutheran church built in the 60’s.
The first picture today was taken at Schloss Charlottenburg, the summer residence of Sophie Charlotte, wife of Frederick III. Our efficient guide got us to the Reichtag, Undter Den Linde, Brandeburger Gate, Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie along with various stops at the remains of the wall. We thought Berlin was a beautiful clean city, full of history and our tour guide was excellent. Our last picture of the day was taken against one of the few reamaining parts of the wall where they have allowed artists to paint murals. Our guide suggested this background depicting the mainly faces that passed through. Kathy and Alicia were resting in the bus and not in this picture.
We got back to the ship at 9:30 (still full daylight), enjoyed some delicious food and now ready for another day of relaxing at sea.

Recovery at Sea

First day at sea was still pretty rough and did not calm down until about 5 when we turned from the North Sea to the Baltic. Waves peaked at about 20 feet so there was a lot of motion on the ship. We took it pretty easy as we were still recovery from jet lag. We did however enjoy the first formal dinner and Broadway revue at the show.

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Just finished hectic first 24 hours of our trip. We arrived in Heathrow early Saturday morning to continue on to final destination of Amsterdam. Our travelling companions, the Lussens, just barely made the flight but unfortunately their luggage did not (delivered to the room later that night). We saw the top three highlights in Amsterdam, t he Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum along with a canal tour of Amsterdam. Boarded the ship around 3 today and will sleep WELL tonight. Sunset however is at about 10:30pm. The captain has warned of rough seas as we approach the North Sea. Thanks Cookie and Cruise Planners for the wine and a perfect table for four in the dining room. Monday hopefully will be restful day at sea.

On our way!

At JFK about to board for London. Anyone that has ever traveled with me knows that I do not travel light and the 50 lb limit does pose a problem. Was very happy that I did not lose an ounce of weight when my large bag checked in at 50 lbs on the nose!

Itinerary

Itinerary
Fri, Jun 20 DFW – Heathrow-Amsterdam
Sat, Jun 20 Amsterdam, Holland
Sun, Jun 22 Amsterdam, Holland
Mon, Jun 23 At Sea
Tue, Jun 24 Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany
Wed, Jun 25 At Sea
Thu, Jun 26 Stockholm, Sweden
Fri, Jun 27 Helsinki, Finland
Sat, Jun 28 St. Petersburg, Russia
Sun, Jun 29 St. Petersburg, Russia
Mon, Jun 30 Tallinn, Estonia
Tue, Jul 01 At Sea
Wed, Jul 02 Copenhagen, Denmark
Thu, Jul 03 At Sea
Fri, Jul 04 Amsterdam, Holland –Paris, France
Sat, Jul 05 Paris, France
Sun, Jul 06 Paris, France
Mon, Jul 07 Paris, France DFW

Baltic Cruise

We will be leaving for our Baltic Cruise on June 20th, 2008. Our itinerary will be Berlin, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Estonia and Copenhagen. The cruise begins and ends in Amsterdam and at the end of the cruise we will be taking a train to Paris and spending four days in Paris.