It's a long day to the USA!

 Our flight from Sydney left 2 hours late because of a technical issue. On arrival at Dallas we were stuck on the tarmac waiting for an off airport engineer from British airways  to move their A380 out of it's  slot. Dallas doesn't have too many spaces for the ' big bird'. The wait meant more minutes ticking down for my onward flight!

Finally we were able to deplane and head to border control. Easiest it's ever been -  "fingers, thumb, fingers, thumb" were the only words spoken to me before I was waved on!

Next was the wait for the bags. By the time I claimed mine I knew I was going to miss my connection! It was then an hour in a line  before a new flight could be booked. Initially I was booked to Atlanta on the 9pm flight but opted to also be on 'stand by' for the 7:30 flight.

With only 3-4 hours sleep on the flight from Sydney I was seriously flagging and I still had a couple of hours to wait before trying for the  stand by flight. I think I might have nodded off for a short time as I waited!! Hope I didn't snore! I almost begged the check in staff to get me onto the early flight. I would have jumped up with glee when my name was called but didn't have the energy! Atlanta is an hour ahead of Dallas and with a 2 hour flight it was nearly midnight before I arrived at my hotel!

My first stop was the shower - who designs the shower layout in hotels. I was blasted in the face with freezing cold water just turning the shower on. The clock clicked over to 0:00 as I was about to get into bed but there was a problem - where was the switch to turn the bedside lights off?!! Flicking all switches didn't work, checking behind the pillows revealed nothing! I didn't want to look stupid calling down to reception - that was getting close though - wh   friends. They wer e straight in the pool but I stayed on the side watching the mayhem unfold! 

Ivy and Benny are so much taller but luckily Benny is still shorter than me! 

We had a good catch up between the three of us. They remembered a few years ago when we made a video of us acting different parts and want to do an updated version!

I managed to stay awake until about 8:30 pm and then I was gone until 7 am today!.

Back to UK

 We arrived very early into a blustery cold Copenhagen where we were to spend 2 days.

We did the hop on/off bus. First stop was the Little Mermaid and a walk along the waterfront. We promised ourselves a Danish pastry whilst we're here. The cafe we chose didn't have a large selection but it was warm and pleasant. As soon as we left the cafe a lady cycling by pointed to her right, shouting  out, "That's the best place for a danish!" She was pointing further down the road from 'our' cafe. The bakery is emblazoned in our minds now.!

Our wanderings took us to the  Museum of Danish Resistance. We spent more than 2 hours there as it was so interesting with lots of interactive displays. 

Tuesday

Back on the bus. Saw the  'changing of the guard'  but not 'our' Mary at the palace. The guardsmen looked quite young. 

We found yesterday's  cyclist recommended  cafe and overdosed slightly on Danish pastries!

My sister thought it would be very funny to compare my size to the tallest man outside the Guiness World records museum.

Lots of walking on cobblestones is very tiring so it was feet up late afternoon. 

We left Copenhagen at 8pm.  It was  2 days at sea until we reached Southampton today, Friday.

We had a great time with good food, mostly great entertainment and fabulous weather. Unfortunately the UK was cold, wer and grey! 

I head back 'down under' on Tuesday.

It's been a great cruise visiting 5 countries. There have been plenty of varied activities and entertainment plus we have been so lucky with the weather!

Now arrived Copenhagen.

 Yesterday, Friday, we were still in Talinn (realised it was spelt with double nn!) as the ship had stayed overnight here. Luckily I was dressed when opening the curtains as another ship was alongside! 

Once again we 'hopped ' on the bus but only to the first stop. We were searching for the 'KGB Prison' - this was included in the ticket for the Museum of Occupation. Following the map through the Old Town along streets of interestingly designed houses, we came across an attractive grey building.

 Unfortunately the facade hid the horror of the KGB cells! The Estonian people were expected to tell the KGB about anyone family, friend or foe who were against the 'regime'. They were quickly picked up and thrown in the cells, waiting to be interrogated. The people of Eastonia are fully behind Ukraine.

We did a lot of walking  - the cobblestone streets make for weary legs! 

We set off late evening for Visby - on  a one of the islands of Sweden called Gotland - arriving around 8am. Another ship was in port. Imagine our surprise when we disembarked to find hundreds of Hells Angels leaving the German ship. They were actually on a Heavy Metal cruise and dressed accordingly!

We walked into the centre of Visby, cobbled streets again! It's a beautiful place  and is a World Heritage site. Its history dates back to medieval times. It has cute little houses. At one house the doorway was so low that even I would have needed to duck to enter. 

A food festival was in the town square. I stopped at a table to sample a truffle dish only for the lady to give me a run down on how many truffles were found in Australia - who knew?

Visby is very unusual in the fact that it has ruins of 12 churches. The building of churches here started in 11th century. These ruins are remnants of magnificent structures.

We left Visby about 5pm just as a Heavy Metal group started up - we were  all urging the captain to 'back out' quickly!

Today, Sunday, is a sea day - we are heading to Copenhagen. I went to a talk about DNA and the law - interesting.

The morning was spent playing table tennis quoits (I mastered that!) swimming in two different pools and time in the hot tub! Needles to say, after reading a couple of pages of my book, I nodded off. 

On to Tallin

Oops photos out of order - this is Tallin. Using bus wifi!

 After our day in Helsinki we were glad to be off our feet - a scone, jam and cream with a cuppa helped!

Much excitement (?) in the evening as we tok part in the silent disco! Not so silent with people singing at the top of their voices.

The ship left Helsinki at 10pm and we arrived in Tallin, Estonia at 4am - not that any of us noticed until we woke up. 

I was on laundry duty again and walked for kms up and down the corridor. 

We decided to get on the hop on/off bus. It lived up to its name for hopping on, but there never seemed to be an 'off 'stop. We passed the cruise terminal 3 times!!!  It did give us time to learn about the history of Tallin though!

When we were finally able to get off the bus, we made our way to the Museum of Occupation - very interesting and informative. The Eastonians are backing  Ukraine to the hilt following their times of occupation.

A very long cold 'hop on' finally got us back to the ship. A cuppa and scone helped with the cold but in no time it was back to the cabin for a shower and dress up!

Just back from the funniest show ever - it was a ventriloquist-  with eyes streaming and mascara running. It was a laugh a minute!

Helsinki

 We arrived at the port in Kiel about 8am, so after breakfast, we headed out to see the sights

We made it to:

Rathaus (City Hall)  - the facades still had bullet holes from WWII,

Opernhaus (Opera House) - not able to go inside,

Alter Market (Old Market)

Danische Strasse ( Danish Street) - shopping area,

Schloss (Castle) - nothing like you imagine a castle to be,

Schiffahrtsmuseum (Maritime museum) - being Monday, it was closed!,

St Nikolia Church

Holsten Strasse - shopping area

We also wandered through the city park and around a couple of large ponds. Autumn here is more advanced than the UK and cooler. We also nipped into Starbucks to get coffee and use wifi - sorry about interspersed photos in the blog, I was trying to be quick!

23/9 Day at sea.

Listened to another talk by the ex police office - were no nearer to solving any crimes. Jake and I decided that, no matter what, we were having a swim and hot tub. Beautiful sunny day, 12C , with a strong cold wind. I think we were lulled into a false sense of security when we saw others swimming because it was FREEZING!! Managed 2 laps before running soaking wet across to the hot tub. Oh joy, it was so warm and soothing, but my legs felt as if they had been cut a hundred times. We'll think carefully about the next swim!!!

Wednesday 

Arrived Helsinki 9am - 6C with a very chill wind.

After breakfast, we headed off the ship - slight mishap with sister as to where we were meeting!  

Hop on / off came up to the ship, so we headed out. Beautiful sunny day - reached 12C - so Helsinki was at its finest. Spent a number of hours seeing the sights.

First port - Kiel Germany

 The few days before boarding the ship, we were once again dodging showers, but we did manage to do some gardening. This entailed harvesting corn, tomatoes and raspberries. Jake had been worried that she had only a few tomatoes this year, but she has enough to feed a few armies! The freezer is now full of the above veg after a few hours of prep!

Friday dawned, surprisingly warm - reached 23C. Our drive down to Southampton was uneventful, and  after the boarding procedure, we headed to our cabins

. Jake and John are on deck 10 and towards the rear of the ship while I'm right at the front on deck 11. 

After lunch, when our cases were delivered, it was warm enough to get our swimmers on and have a swim. Very pleasant. 

This is the largest ship I've been on.  Fitness on here will not be a problem. It felt like I'd walked 0.5km just to get to laundry!

Met some interesting people at dinner and ended the day taking part in a quiz - we didn't do very well!

Saturday was a sea day. Unfortunately the weather clouded over and there was a chill wind - this was probably because we'd 'bagged' our deck chairs!

Jake and I went to dance fit, but it wasn't up to the standard of my Wednesday class! 

It was a black tie and Captain's evening, so we put on our 'sparkly' clothes and saluted the main crew members with Champagne! 

A half hour with a ' not funny' comedian ended the evening.

Sunday dawned a bit brighter and was another sea day. I had an early start as I was delegated to get the laundry done! I completed a number of laps back and forth - must find out how long this corridor is!!!

Interesting talk about DNA by an ex police Inspector. 

We came into Kiel early this morning and have had a wander around.

Windy and wet!

 I was unable to upload photos to my first blog but here are some photos from Liverpool.

We were able to have a walk and work in the garden before the rain drove us inside. I, of course,  think it's cold but my sister says it's not!

Photos from our walk and gardening.

Helped the English economy a little today - well I had to check Mark's and Sparks out! 

We did learn today, doing a crossword,  that

 a gust of wind is known as a 'willywar' on that note we've had a few 'willywars' today!!