Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Wow !!!  What a wonderful, eventful day !
We docked in Warnemunde, Germany and left the ship with a packed overnight bag.  We took 2 trains, about 3 1/2 hours, to Berlin.  I feel sorry for the passengers who have to just turn around and go back to the ship, giving themselves only 3 hours to see SOME of Berlin.  There is a wonderful public transportation system in Germany.  You pay 6.50 Euros and can ride any bus, subway or train for all day.  The buses run every 15 minutes, too.
We had lunch at the main train station in Berlin, comparable to Grand Central Station in New York.  We split a ham and cheese sandwich on the greatest bread.

Ham and cheese sandwich

We are staying in a hotel near the airport.  They took us in their shuttle to the bus station at the airport, after selling us the all-day pass, and told us how to get to the historical area of Berlin.  So helpful !
On our way to the Brandenburg Gate, we saw a lot of vendors vying for tourist money.

Fancy pedi-cab

There were mimes/statues painted gold, in bear costumes, etc.  The same as we see in every other country !

Craig at the Brandenburg Gate

I think we must have walked about 8 miles today ..

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe --- very moving

Of course, we had to stop for apple strudel and kaffee !

 We visited Checkpoint Charlie and the part of the Berlin Wall that has been preserved.

Berlin Wall

About 8 PM, we stopped for dinner at a sidewalk cafe.  I had a garden salad with sliced roasted chicken and Craig had pork cutlets and spaetzle.  Of course, I also had to have a German beer !  Everything was quite good.

German beer !

After dinner we walked to the bus stop to go back to our hotel and stumbled onto a Berlin street fair that was awesome.  We had so much fun people watching .... we wished we had waited to eat there.

Fire acrobats at the Berlin Lach

I have soooo many more pictures that are just impossible to post, but hope you find these interesting.
After arriving back at our hotel, we discovered that it is already 11:30 PM and we NEVER stay up this late.
Good night.

Monday, July 30, 2012
We landed in Aarhus around noon today and as soon as we got off the ship, it started pouring rain .... big drops !  Since we only had a few hours here, we got back on the ship and took a nap.  We had been awake since 3 AM .... still adjusting to time change, I guess.

During the rain ....

After the rain !  On to Berlin ...

Sunday, July 29,  2012

We woke up this morning around 7 AM, after a wonderful night’s sleep.  Craig said that there were some 12-foot swells during the night, but I sure didn’t feel them !

We sailed into the beautiful Oslo Fjord early this morning and it took about 3 ½ hours to make it down, or up, the 60 miles to the dock at Oslo.  What a neat city !  It dates back to about 1048, as far as anyone knows.

Looking out our balcony, you can see the Akershus Castle and Fortress, which was built before 1300 B.C. 

We walked into Oslo, which was a short distance away, and visited the Nobel Peace Center, which displayed all of the recipients and described their deeds.   

This Viking Troll is evident throughout the tourist areas of the city.

 From there,  we took the Hop On – Hop Off bus to the Vigeland Sculpture Park, which has some 200 statues in granite, wrought iron and bronze.  

 

Next stop was the Viking Ships Museum, which had three oaken longships from the 9^th centurt in a remarkable state of preservation.  They had been used as tombs for noblemen, who were buried along with jewels, food and furniture for the afterlife.

From there, back to the ship for a light lunch and a walk to the Akershus Castle and Fortress, as it is on the left bank of the Aker River …. Where our ship is docked. 

After all of this exercise, we had to make our way back to the ship for Afternoon Tea, with scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam.  Oh, yes, they also had little sandwiches and cookies, but who noticed them?

Craig is napping while I am writing this, as he didn’t sleep well last night.  I doubt we will make it to any of the “Lively Entertainment” on board tonight !