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.