Return to USA

            Saturday, 25 May 2013 – We sat our alarm for 5:30 AM, finished packing, and took a taxi to the airport.  The taxi cost us 25 Euros (about $33.00 US), but we couldn’t fathom navigating public transportation with our luggage that time of morning.  The first flight, from Hamburg to Amsterdam was delayed by 20 minutes due to a mechanical failure, but we arrived in plenty of time for our flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.  Security at the Amsterdam airport is very tight, so we were both scanned and patted down twice before boarding the plane.  We both watched a couple of movies to pass the time and to drown out the noise of the crying children sitting near us.   We also had a couple of good meals and a couple of glasses of wine.

            We had a four-hour layover in Detroit.  We were both very tired by then, but we worked on filing e-mails on our computer, which helped to pass the time.  We were able to access the internet and read the recent postings on Facebook.  We also completed reviews of our hotel stays and the Costa Cruise.  Of course, we complained about the Costa staff confiscating our wine!  Except for that, all of our ratings were pretty favorable.  We had a really good cruise.

            Marge was waiting at the Moline airport when we arrived, and drove two very tired travelers back to Bettendorf.  We hate to end this trip on a bad note, but this afternoon we heard some very bad news.  Apparently, our friend Marge fell down some stairs, broke her neck, and passed away yesterday (Sunday, 26 May 2013).  She was such a good friend and we will miss her dearly; but we are sure that she is now in a better place.  Please pray for the rest of us, Marge!

THE END

 

Debarkation & Hamburg, Germany

            Thursday, 23 May 2013 – We woke up about 6:20 AM, about 25 minutes before our alarm clock went off, had breakfast, and finished packing.  At 8:10 AM, the cabin steward “kicked us out” of our cabin.  Apparently, we were supposed to have been out by 8:00 AM.  Then we proceeded to our assigned debarkation lounge, where we sat and talked with a couple from Puerto Rico.  Although we had gone on several excursions with them, we never did get their names.  (Like many others, they went on English-speaking tours, though English was a second-language for them.)  They gave us their opinion about Puerto Rico becoming a state: apparently, 98 percent of the citizens voted for Puerto Rico to become a state, but a few “powerful” citizens/organizations blocked it.  But they agreed that there are both pro’s and con’s regarding statehood.

City Hall

            It took about an hour for our tour bus to reach Hamburg.  Northern Europe has had too much rain this spring (just like eastern Iowa); we saw water standing in lower-lying fields.  When we walked, it was lightly raining some of the time, but not pouring rain as it had in St. Petersburg or in Warnmünde.  The ship newsletter predicted the coldest temp (about 55 degrees F) of our entire trip to be at debarkation in Kiel.  During our bus ride, our tour guide, Pedro, pointed out sights in Kiel and the countryside, and gave us a little history of the area – in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  In Hamburg, we passed through downtown Alster Lake and the city’s exclusive areas, the Jungfernstieg with its luxury shops and shopping malls, the Renaissance-style City Hall and Stock Exchange, modern downtown architecture, parks and gardens, the TV tower, the exhibition center, and 19^th century court buildings.  We also visited the city’s famous landmark “Michel” – St. Michaelis Church and the “Kramer Amtssuben”, a well preserved complex of restored buildings, presenting the living conditions of the early 18th century.

Schweinske Restaurant

            After the tour, the bus driver dropped us off at the Hamburg train station, before proceeding to the airport with the remaining passengers.  Instead of finding our way to Hotel 66 by public transportation, we decided to splurge and pay 10.7 Euros for a taxi.  After a short recuperation period, we walked through Hamburg’s famous red light district, eating dinner at the Schweinske Restaurant, which specialized in Schweinerschnitzel.  We ordered one plate with onion-bacon sauce and French fries, and one with sauce and Spätzle; both also contained small salads.  Also, we each had a large, dark beer (called Duckstein).  Sally had forgotten how huge the plates of food are in Germany – we easily could have split one meal.  With some difficulty (for Sally, who felt the beer), we returned to the hotel, walking several blocks out of our way, at first missing the street our hotel was located because we had walked back on the opposite side of the street.  Since this walk was almost totally in Hamburg’s red-light district, Jesse was quite distracted by the signs and shops.  Sally was in bed, asleep, by 7:30; Jesse by 9:00 PM.

            We awoke around 7:30 AM, Friday, and went to breakfast – yes, Sally slept 12 hours!  It was a full breakfast with eggs, various meats (including salmon), cereal, breads with nuts and raisins, cheeses, juices, and coffee.

Joker Restaurant

            Later, we walked straight down our street several blocks to the bank of the Elbe River.  We saw a paddleboat that looked like the Mississippi Belle, local cruise boats, and a cruise ship in the distance.  Sally had to stop at a bakery for two Florentine cookies.  Around 4:00 PM, we walked by to the red-light district for dinner at the Joker restaurant, where we ordered Duckstein beer again (large for Jesse, regular for Sally), and a Schnitzel to share.  This one was much smaller than the ones we had last night, but we both had plenty to eat.  When we examined the bill, we noticed that it did say “Schnitzel, Wiener Art,” which probably means that it was Wiener (veal, not pork) tonight so this would explain the difference in cost/size of serving.  While there, a large group of young men came in for dinner.  When we heard them speaking English, we asked where they were from.  They were from Manchester, England, and had taken a 1.5 hour flight to Hamburg for a bachelor party for one of their group.  Distances are so much closer here – we wouldn’t even think of flying to another country for bachelor party.  Then we returned to the hotel to pack for our trip home.

Warnemünde, Germany

            Wednesday, 22 May 2013 – We joined Jorg, Gabi, Christine, and Lois for breakfast in the dining room.  We were expecting to order from the menu, but we were pleased to find a buffet.  Additional menu items were available from the waiter.


Railway Station

            Others had planned to join our “excursion” group, for a total of nine of us, but during lunch, all except Jorg and Gabi bowed out of the excursion because of the heavy rain.  So, the four of us had a romantic walk in the rain along the shore of Warnmünde to the lighthouse and back.  The walkway was lined with numerous shops, bars, and restaurants, but we didn’t stop at any of them.

            After dinner, we said our goodbyes to Jorg and Gabi, Chris and Susan, and several other friends that we made during our cruise.  Then we danced a little longer than usual at the Grand Bar Rhapsody, until Sally insisted that we quit.

Gdansk, Poland

With Gabi and Jorg - Gdansk

            Tuesday, 21 May 2013 – Today, we had a five-hour tour of Gdansk.  The ship docked at Gdynia, and we took a one-hour bus ride to Gdansk.  Although we had visited Gdansk previously in 1999, it was still interesting to see it again.  We followed our tour guide through the streets of Gdansk and stopped to visit the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary.  This is the largest brick church in Europe and one of the largest in Europe.  Forty percent of the church was destroyed during WW II, but it has been completely restored.


Neptune Monument

            We noticed a few changes in Poland from our 1999 visit.  First of all, we noticed that many of the people were talking on cell phones (just as in the U.S.), as they walk along the streets.  In 1999, most of the young men had almost completely shaven heads, the young women were all dressed in very stylish skirts and dresses, and almost no one was overweight.  This time, the population looked more like typical Americans.

            Right before the ship left Gdynia, the crew announced that our stop at Bornholm/Ronne (on a Danish island) had been cancelled due to bad weather and strong winds, and that we would be stopping at Warnemunde, Germany, instead.  We are scheduled to arrive in port about noon.  That being said, we will not need to get up early again tomorrow morning!

            We joined Jorg and Gabi for dinner, and discussed our plans for Warnemunde.  Costa excursions are available for Berlin (9.5 hours) and Lubeck (8 hours).  Since both excursions would return us to the ship after 9:00 PM, we decided to follow Jorg and Gabi around tomorrow instead.  They’re not sure what they will be doing, but we’re game for just about anything (except bungee jumping).  After dinner, we danced for a little while in the Grand Bar Rhapsody.

Klaipeda, Lithuania

Horizontal Sundial at Parnidis Dune





Witches Snare (Fulfills Innermost Wishes)

            Monday, 20 May 2013 – Today, we had a seven-hour tour of the Curonian Spit Peninsula.  We began with a ferry ride and a one-hour bus ride to the small resort town of Neringa, situated in the forests of the Curonian Spit National Park, a unique narrow peninsula with sand dunes and pine forests, separating the Baltic Sea from the Cauronian Lagoon.  We first visited the 52-meter-high Great [sand] Dune, where we also saw a giant sundial.  Next, we stopped at the Thoman Mann Memorial Museum which depicted the life of Klaipeda’s most famous author.  Then we proceeded to Nira, where we saw old fishermen’s cottages, traditional fishing boats, and weathervanes that depict the old times of Neringa life.  About 1:30 PM, we enjoyed a traditional Lithuanian lunch in a restaurant with beer.  (Some of the best beer in Europe comes from Lithuania.)  After lunch, we climbed 42 meters up the “Hill of Witches,” which contains many large wood carvings of characters and events from Lithuanian fairy tales.  Many are of witches, devils, and fairy tale monsters with grotesque expressions.  Our guide, Ingrida, explained the fairy tales or legends being depicted.


Witches Hill

            For the last few minutes of our excursion, Ingrida showed us the main sights of Klaipeda, which has only 200,000 inhabitants but is an important seaport.  Lithuania was under the USSR for many years, just becoming a free country in 1990.

Since tonight was a formal night, we dressed for dinner, enjoyed champagne, and danced in the Grand Bar Rhapsody in style!

Riga, Latvia

House of the Blackheads (Riga)

            Sunday, 19 May 2013 – Today we had only an afternoon excursion at 1:40 PM.   Although we shared our bus again with a French-speaking group, there were more English-speakers than yesterday.  As we rode around Riga, our English-speaking tour guide, Ieva (pronounced Eva) described the sights.   We made photo stops at the Riga Brethren Cemetery, the Monument of Freedom, and the Opera House.  We were given free/shopping time in the City Hall Square, where we saw the House of Blackheads (yes, there is one in Riga also), the Statue of Roland, and the Museum of Occupation. 

Riga suffered throughout its history.  Ieva told how, first, the Germans invaded during n W.W. II and forced men to serve in their army; then the Russians came and forced men to serve on their side.  As a result, sometimes a brother was fighting against his brother.  Then they lived under Communism for many years.  Some of their apartment buildings that were built by the Soviets have tiny kitchens because the people were supposed to eat in the communal canteens.  The joke was told: Do you know what their tallest building is called?  Answer: The KGB building, because from there, you can see all the way to Siberia.  Latvia has been free for only about 20 years.

Even though lilacs were blooming and it was obviously early spring, today it was about 85 degrees.  This was not good news for Sally; she had expected cool weather for this entire trip and didn’t bring any of her broad-brimmed hats to shield her face from the sun.

            We joined Jorg and Gabi or dinner, and afterwards, danced for a little while in the Grand Bar Rhapsody.

Tallinn, Estonia

            Saturday, 18 May 2013 – We woke up to our alarm at 6:30 AM, and for the first time on this cruise, Sally slept for the entire night.  We had also set our clock back an hour last night, which helped.  From the ship, we could see nothing but heavy fog.  After breakfast, we made our way to our excursion meeting point, where we were surprised to find that only six passengers had signed up for the English-speaking tour.



Viru Gate

            The six of us sat at the rear of the bus with our guide, Dea.  The rest of the bus was full of French-speaking passengers.  After the 10-minute ride, Dea led us through the streets of Old Town, telling us the history.  We walked down both the “Long Leg” and “Short Leg” streets, the two streets that start from the same point and connect Toompea with the downtown.  The Long Leg is much wider and could be travelled by carriages and coaches; the Short Leg is rather steep and was meant only for pedestrians.  We stopped for brief visits at the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin (which was built about 1229, and is called the “Dome Church” by the locals) and the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (which looks old but was built in the late 1800’s).  Although we were inside for a portion of the Orthodox service, we were not allowed to take photos of the interior.  We also saw the exterior of the house of the Brotherhood of Black Heads, which is nearly the sole surviving renaissance building in Tallinn.  The name of the organization refers to their patron saint, the African St. Mauritius, who was executed for his adoption of the Christian faith. 

House of Blackheads

During our “free” time, we visited a restroom that was located in what resembled a dungeon and purchased foot cream at the Town Hall Pharmacy (ca. 1422).

            The fog turned into a light drizzle during our tour, for which Dea apologized; however, we were glad that at least it was better than yesterday’s downpour in St. Petersburg.

            By noon, we were onboard the ship again and went to the dining room for lunch for the first - and last - time.  We spent 1.5 hours there, mostly waiting between courses, compared to about 0.5 hours it would have taken us at the buffet.  Also, because we sat at a table with all German-speakers, the time went slowly.  After lunch, Sally rested while Jesse watched BBC and nodded.

            When we noticed that the daily program listed a dance lesson in Tango at 5:00, we stopped to see what was being taught.  Since the basic step looked unfamiliar, we assumed it was the Argentine Tango, which is not what we have learned.  So, we left and attended Mass, which was being held elsewhere on the ship. 

After Mass and dinner, we danced for a while in the Grand Bar Rhapsody.  For the first time, we could feel some ship movement while we were dancing.  The sea has been remarkably smooth on this voyage.  When we returned to our cabin, we noticed that the fog had finally lifted and we could see other ships for the first time all day.

St Petersburg, Russia

            Thursday, 16 May 2013 – We woke up to our alarm at 6:00 AM and had a quick breakfast in preparation for our excursion meeting time of 7:45.  Despite forgetting our tickets at first, we met the deadline – though our group didn’t leave the ship until about 8:15.  Then we stood in a very long, slow-moving line for the Russians to check and stamp our passports.  Finally, about 9:00 AM we boarded our tour bus.

            Happily, this tour consisted of only English-speakers (so that we were hearing English from Julia, our tour guide, all of the time).  Where intersections in St. Petersburg should have traffic lights, often there are none, and our bus just edged its way along, bullying its way across traffic to make turns.  Several times, we thought we would see collisions.  Also, at one point, Jesse watched a woman walking at an average pace on the sidewalk near the bus, and her speed was about the same as ours!  But when he could, the bus driver barreled ahead full speed (it seemed), jamming on the brakes when he came to stop lights.  It was a rough ride!

St Isaac's Square

            Besides some short photo stops, we spent two hours in the Hermitage Museum, formally, Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace.  Lavishly decorated with gold leaf, it contains a huge collection of paintings created by the most famous artists in the world.  (It was like a college “Art Appreciation” class.)  After stopping for nearly 2 hours for an excellent lunch (where we had a choice of wine, beer, or vodka, along with bottled water), we visited St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, where Peter the Great and other members of the royal family were buried.  In the Hermitage and the cathedral, our very knowledgeable guide passed on much Russian history to us through our earphones.  Before we left the church, a small group of monks entertained us in a small side room by singing a Russian Orthodox hymn.

            Julia told us that St. Petersburg averages only about 31 sunny days each year, and this was definitely one of them.  It was the warmest day so far for us (in the low 70’s), and at one spot we saw sun bathers soaking up the sunshine.
 

            Most of this English-speaking group were from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Puerto Rico, etc., who speak English as a second or third language.   (Very few were Americans).  Indeed, English has become the international language, and occasionally we saw English words (mixed with Russian) on signs, or even a small billboard advertising Coca Cola.  We saw a BP gas station, and one McDonald’s.  All of us marveled at the fact that we were in a country that had been our enemy for so many years.  When Julia talked, she spoke of “the Communists” in past tense – but for us older people, it was not very far in the past (and we know there are still some Communists and KGB there).
 

            Our second-day excursion in St. Petersburg on Friday was only a half-day one, scheduled to leave at 1:00 PM.  We squeezed in both a big breakfast and a very light lunch (including gelato) before leaving.
 

By the time our excursion departed, it was sprinkling rain.  (This was NOT one of the 31 sunny days of the year.)  During the long bus ride to Peter the Great’s Grand Palace, our tour guide, Tamara, pointed out the sights.  When we arrived at the palace about 3:00 PM, it was raining pretty hard, but we both had hooded jackets.

Peter the Great's Palace

People with long coats or backpacks had to check them, and we all had to cover our shoes with cloth overshoes before entering the palace.  No photos were allowed inside.  Also, a stern looking Russian woman was stationed in every room and chastised anyone that came close to touching the walls, doorways, or furnishings.  The palace and furnishings were magnificent.  Many of the wall carvings were covered with gold leaf and most of the furnishings were original.  The palace tour took about 1.5 hours.  Next, we walked out into the rain and around the fountains and gardens.  Although we departed the palace about 5:00 PM, with the rain and heavy traffic, our return trip took over two hours.
 

Since we were on a Costa excursion, no one was concerned that we were delaying the ship’s 6:00 PM departure, and the dining staff had been notified that busses were late so that dinner went on as usual.  We noticed that least one excursion returned even later than ours.  (However, if people are off on their own and return late, they risk being left!) 
 

            When we finally made it to our dinner table, Jorg and Gabi were eating their dessert; however, they were nice enough to stay and talk with us through most of our meal.  After dinner, we danced to a few songs in the Grand Bar Rhapsody, as we watched the ship finally depart St. Petersburg around 8:30 PM.
 

We are scheduled for an 8:30 AM excursion tomorrow; however, we also get to set our clocks back one hour, so at least we’ll get an extra hour of sleep.

Helsinki, Finland

            Wednesday, 15 May 2013 – Since we weren’t scheduled to meet for our excursion until 12:15 PM, we didn’t need to set an alarm clock.  Sally still woke up around 4:45 but Jesse slept until 10:00 AM.   We ate a late breakfast, where we ran into Susan and Chris (of Scotland) and talked for several minutes.  Afterward, we sat around the cabin until almost noon; then we proceeded to our excursion meeting point.  We were scheduled for the From Helsinki to Porvoo through the Finnish Countryside tour.  When we arrived, we were very surprised to learn that our excursion had left 45 minutes earlier!  Yes, there was a notice in the Costa Cruise publication, Today, that we needed to set our clocks one hour forward.  The cruise staff was very accommodating and booked us on a similar excursion, Tour of Helsinki, which was scheduled to leave at 1:15 PM.  They gave us credit for the previous excursion and only charged us an additional 2 Euros each (the cost difference), for the later excursion.  Thanks Costa!



Helsinki Senate Square

Sibelius Monument

            Our tour bus drove around the harbor and city, as the tour guide, Anna, described the significant sights in English and in Italian (with a heavy accent in both), for appropriate passengers on board.  We stopped at the Senate Square, where we toured the Cathedral, and later at the Temppeliaukio Church, a modern masterpiece built into a hill of rock and known by locals as the “Rock Church.”  We also made a brief photo stop at the Sibelius Monument, constructed of hundreds of steel tubes that “sing with Sibelius’ works” to honor their greatest composer.  We returned to the ship at 5:15 PM.

            Jorg (pronounced York – we’ve been misspelling his name) and Gabi joined us again for dinner, where we had more interesting conversation.  Afterward, we went to Grand Bar Rhapsody for dancing and were later joined by Jorg and Gabi.  We danced only a few dances and returned to our cabin for the night.  We will dock at St Petersburg, Russia, starting at 7:00 AM tomorrow for two days.  Today we were told that we need to move our clocks forward again tonight, but at least we know this time, so hopefully won’t be late for tomorrow’s excursion!  We will post again after our two days in St Petersburg.

Stockholm, Sweden

            Tuesday, 14 May 2013 – We had sat our alarm for 6:00 AM, but Sally didn’t sleep well and woke up at 1:30 AM.  Still awake at 4:40 AM, she went to the top deck.  The sun was already up, the sky was clear, but the wind was cold.  We were passing small islands and buoys that marked the channel for ships passing through.  Houses, often fairly large, became more frequent as we came closer to Stockholm.  Later, we learned that Stockholm is built on 14 islands, and thousands of islands are part of Sweden.  We heard the exact number (a huge one) of islands help to form Sweden.  Since we were supposed to meet with our excursion group at 8:15, we hurried for breakfast at the La Paloma Buffet by 7:00 AM a little before it opened – but part of it opened early.


            By the time we boarded the bus, the weather had changed from sunny to rainy.  There weren’t enough English-speakers to fill a bus, so our bus consisted of English-speakers (with Gulda for our guide) and another group of Italian-speakers, with their tour guide.  While in the bus, the two guides took turns pointing out places of interest, but with rivulets of rain running down the windows, decent pictures were out of the question.  Following a drive around Stockholm, we stopped at the historic City Hall with its Golden Room decorated with 20 million pieces of gilded mosaic tile. (The Nobel Peace Prize is celebrated at the City Hall.)  Then we traveled to the center of town to visit the Royal Palace.  Afterwards, we continued on foot through the old town (not easy walking on the cobblestones) and were given 1.5 hours of free time for lunch and/or shopping.  By then, the sun was trying to shine and it was warmer.  Since we are prone to getting lost, we decided to join another couple and their daughter.  We ended up having lunch at Kaffegille I Gamla Stan AB, where we ordered Irish coffee, French onion soup and meatballs.  (Although the menus didn’t call them “Swedish” meat balls, of course they had to be.)  Except for the onion soup, which was disappointing, the rest of the food was excellent.  One of the others ordered reindeer meat; we were tempted to try it, but it sounded like too much food.  (We haven’t figured out just how much money that meal cost us, with the money conversion, etc.)


Stockholm Statue

            

 Lunch at Kaffegille

          Immediately after finishing lunch, we re-boarded our bus and continued on to the Vasa Ship Museum.  The Vasa, the pride of the King of Sweden, sank in 1628 in the harbor on its maiden voyage, and was only hauled out of the water and restored about 15 years ago.  It is remarkably preserved, though now also restored.  Very unique, even beautiful in its way, with ornate carving, it sits in the museum that was built around it.

            Although our dinner table for eight is half empty, we enjoy interesting conversation with York and Gabi.   Afterward, on our way to the Grand Bar Rhapsody for dancing, we ran into Susan and Chris (of Scotland) and talked for several minutes.  By the time we made it to the bar at 8:15, the band had already gone on break.  Since we were both extremely tired, we returned to our cabin for an early night.
 

Embarkation & At Sea Day

            Sunday, 12 May 2013 – After starting the day with the hotel’s German-style breakfast, packing up, and checking out right before noon, we walked to the bus stop with our luggage in tow.  According to the information we were given at the hotel and had found online, either bus numbers 41 or 42 would take us to the cruise terminal; however, everyone on the Internet insisted that it was only a short distance away and recommended that one walk the 1500 meters (a short distance for Germans!).  When bus 42 arrived, the driver spoke no English.  Although Sally tried to communicate with him, the only word that we could understand was “hier” (here), as he pointed down with his index finger.  We understood this to mean that this bus did not stop at the cruise terminal and we would have to wait here for another bus.  (Later, we wondered if he meant that we should board the bus.  However, he had not tried very hard to help us.)  After realizing that the next bus wouldn’t arrive for 45 minutes, we gave up and walked about 30 minutes to the [most distant] cruise terminal, where we checked our luggage about 1:15 PM and waited for our turn to board the ship.

By 3:15 PM, we were in our cabin.  Sally was ready for a nap, but there was no time.  Instead of waiting until the second day to conduct the life boat drill as Costa used to do, the drill was conducted 30 minutes prior to the ship’s departure at 4:30 PM.  Also, we were each given a bar coded “life boat drill” card, which the staff collected during the drill to ensure that EVERYONE received the training – a good policy after the Costa Concordia disaster!

Sally Relaxing after Embarkation

Although our requested early seating for dinner had never been confirmed, we were assigned a table at the 6:00 PM seating in the New York dining room.  On our way into the restaurant, we ran into Susan and Chris, from England/Scotland.  Sally had connected with Susan through the CruiseCritics.com website two weeks earlier, but they were assigned to a different table.  We sat at a table with York and Gabi, from San Francisco (but originally from Germany); Suzanne and Lois (Suzanne from Vermont, Lois from Washington, DC); Christine (from Melbourne, Australia), and Alan (from South Carolina).  Alan was with us only this night; he will be joining the rest of his family at another table.

Very soon we learned that Costa charges for coffee and tea with dinner, so everyone at our table drank tap water, which the waiter brought in a pitcher.  (By far the majority of passengers on this cruise are Europeans, and Europeans don’t drink tap water.  This waiter might have had an awakening.)   Most cruise lines do charge for alcoholic beverages, bottled water, soft drinks, cappuccino, etc, but Costa has gone a little overboard with charging for coffee and tea!  Complain, complain!

After dinner, we attended a 7:45 PM Mass (today was the day of Ascension) in the Amadeus Lounge.  (Our last Costa Cruise had a priest onboard, also.)  Although Mass was conducted in Italian, we were provided a handout with the readings written in English so that we could follow along.  Having grown up hearing Mass in Latin, Jesse thought it all seemed normal.

Then we danced to Katy’s Duo in the Grand Bar Rhapsody for a few songs.  (Only one other couple was dancing.)  When we returned to our cabin, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the Jimmy Fallon TV show was on CNBC – the “other” English TV Channel.  Sally was in bed by 10:00 PM, while Jesse stayed up and waited for the rest of our luggage.  We received a call from Guest Services around 10:30 PM.  Apparently, Costa had impounded two of our suitcases after finding a bottle of wine in each of them.  In our experience, both Princess and Carnival Cruise Lines have allowed one bottle of wine person to be brought onboard.  There were several other suitcases in Guest Services and lots of confiscated wine bottles on the shelves.  They promised to return our wine during debarkation.  But why did they wait until 10:30 to call us?  Enough complaining; we probably wouldn’t have had time to drink the wine anyway.  We’ll have it in Hamburg before we leave for home.

            Monday was an “at sea” day, as we cruised from Kiel to Stockholm, Sweden.  We awoke around 10:00 AM.  Going for a late breakfast, we were pleased to find “free” coffee and juice at the buffet.  Afterwards, we explored a few decks of the ship (the top deck was loaded with sun worshippers in lounge chairs) and registered our credit card for the ship’s account.  This was done prior to boarding on all of our previous cruises.  Then, we return to our cabin for an afternoon of relaxation and BBC TV.

            At 4:00 PM, we met at Rick’s Piano Bar for an “English Speaking Guests Let’s Get Together, where about 20 guests showed up.  One man named Mike was originally from northwest Iowa, but now lives in Greece with his wife Anastasia who is Greek; Peter and Karen from near London; Christine from Australia (who sat at our dinner table last night); a couple from Paris, France (she is originally from the UK and he is French); Mike and Sarah from Minneapolis, MN; Molly and her daughter Gabriella, also from Minneapolis, MN (Sarah and Molly are sisters and Molly is currently with the military and stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany; and others.  The group leader from Costa Cruises was not very organized, so the meeting could have gone a lot better.
 

            We were afraid that we might be eating dinner alone tonight.  The single women at the table last night have all moved to a table next to the window to get away from the noise.  Finally, Gabi and York showed up.  It turned out that they had forgotten our table number and had sat at the wrong table.  After dinner, we danced to the La Dee Dee Smith Band, who played very good ballroom dance music.  Unlike last night, the dance floor was crowded tonight.

Kiel, Germany

Thursday, 9 May 2013 – Yes, we have departed for ANOTHER cruise.  This time, we will sail on the Costa Pacifica.  The cruise is 11 nights, and sails out of (and back to) Kiel, Germany, with stops in Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), St. Petersburg (where it is in port for 2 days), Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia),  Klaipeda (Lithuania), Gdynia (Poland), and Ronne/Bornholm (Denmark).  The stop in Poland is actually to sightsee in Gdansk, which is the only place on the cruise we have visited previously (in 1999).

After a very late night of final packing, we flew first from Moline to Detroit.  Then, during our long flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, we were sandwiched in the middle two seats of the four-seat center section of the plane.  A very friendly retired Wall Street stockbroker (a bachelor) sat on Jesse’s right; he was headed to Africa, where he will spend some of his month-long stay on a safari.  We look forward to seeing his photos on his FaceBook page.  Jesse sat glued to his small movie screen, where he watched three “action-packed” movies during the flight.  Sally tried (unsuccessfully) to nap.

Friday, 10 May 2013 – At about 6:00 AM we arrived in the Amsterdam airport, having lost six hours since leaving Moline.  (Those 6 hours were essentially our night’s sleep.)  Soon after loading onto a smaller plane headed to Hamburg, the pilot announced first in Dutch and then in heavily accented English that this plane had a communications problem.  After returning to the terminal, we were bussed to a different plane.  Since he “used to be an engineer,” Jesse wanted to offer his assistance, but they solved the problem without his input.  Amsterdam was chilly and raining, just like during our last visit there in 2010.

When we arrived at the Hamburg airport, after only a short wait we boarded an airport shuttle (bus) headed to the Central Station in Kiel. 

B&B Hotel Kiel

In Kiel, we were pleased to end up within walking distance of the “B&B Hotel Kiel.”  Arriving at the hotel at 12:00 PM, if we had not been totally exhausted, we might have danced with joy when we were allowed an early (immediate) check-in.  The one-hour delay in Amsterdam had kept us from having to wait for a room, showing that sometimes even delays work out for the best.  This hotel is newly constructed and has been open for only about four weeks so that the facilities look unused.   Dog-tired, we took showers and napped until about 4:00 PM.  Afterwards, we walked, surveying the immediate area of Kiel and found out that we should be able to walk to our ship with our luggage in tow.  Although the view from our hotel room is an ugly one of railroad tracks, the location is not far from the harbor.  At first, we could see another docked cruise ship; we heard its horn blow as it sailed away.  The weather here is much like May has been in Iowa: cool, but a very warm sun – and the tulips and dandelions are blooming profusely.

Dinner at Cabana Rodizio

We stopped for dinner at a German steakhouse, where we both ordered salads (one topped with steak and the other with chicken) and pilsner beer.  Afterward, we stopped in a store where we purchased two bottles of wine, which we hope will be allowed on the ship, and returned to our hotel for an early night.


We both woke up around 4:00 AM Saturday morning.  Since breakfast wasn’t scheduled to start until 7:30 AM, Sally spent a couple of hours on e-mail while Jesse searched through the TV channels looking for English programs.  As last night, he was only able to find BBC World News and Bloomberg European TV (similar to CNBC at home).  About 6:15, Sally went back to sleep, and about 8:45 we went downstairs for our breakfast.  It was definitely German style, with very strong coffee, soft-boiled egg, fresh (mostly whole grain) Brötchen, cut up fruit in juice, delicious jams, German style cereal and cream, and either mixed juice or pink grapefruit juice.

After while, we went out walking through stores, and out to the ships.  Several ships in a row were docked, but no Costa Pacifica yet.  We realized that the Pacifica might be more distant than we expected, perhaps 1.5 km or more from the hotel.  We walked through a park, where there were some memorials of historical events, and stopped in a grocery store for some fruit.  Afterward, we went back to the room to rest again before dinner.

1870 German War Memorial

Jesse with His New Friend

Dinner at Vapiano

At 7:00 PM we ate at the “Vapiano,” a pizza and pasta restaurant next to a walking bridge over the fiord.  The ordering method was different from any we had seen.  We were given “credit cards” to take to the cook and bartender to order our meals and drinks, and then a timer to wait for our order (calzones).  While waiting for the timer to vibrate, we sipped our 0.5 liters of Krombacher beer.  The bartender was a German woman who had grown up in Ohio.  Although Jesse left his umbrella at the table (for the 99th time), a young man who had been sitting near us ran up with it before we left.   A lot more German people seem to speak at least a little English than used to.  When we arrived back in our room at 9:00 PM, the sky was still light.