Day 12-13 – At Sea and Copenhagen (again!) Sunday, Monday – September 9-10, 2012

Sunday – at sea.

Very often on a cruise you will have as many days at sea as you do in ports of call. But with the Scandinavian cruise the ports of call are all so close together that most are reached overnight. So in a way it has been a grueling cruise without time to breathe. So today (Sunday) it was nice to get up late, have a leisurely breakfast and wander around the ship.

But even this day was not without its busyness, because Karen and I are singing in the “Princess Pop Choir,” so we had two rehearsals and sang for our supper in the atrium area, where there was a good crowd on the three floors that open onto the atrium. We actually did quite well, considering that we only had four hours of rehearsal and sang from lyric sheets, no music. Since I'm not really into pop music, I didn't know half the songs. Nevertheless, I learned them, along with the choreography(!) and the audience was enthusiastic, cheering and giving us a standing ovation on every song. Of course, there were very few chairs, so they had to stand.

Our dinner table friends took pictures and even made a video recording which they will send to us, so you may even get to see it!

Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive

Monday – end of the first phase of the cruise – Copenhagen

This was the end of the 11 day Scandinavian cruise and about 2300 or the 3100 passengers got off here, with only 800 continuing on for the Atlantic Crossing cruise. However, new passengers came on board, don't know how many, but now we experienced sailors have to break in a whole new crew.

Karen and I went into Copenhagen and took the canal boat cruise, which was very nice, and we got to see (besides lots of buildings) the back side of the Little Mermaid statue. To see the front side you have to be on land, so we'll have to go back someday so we can see her front.

We had lunch in the Nyhavn area (where the boats depart from) and it was only $50 or so. (See how I'm not complaining?) I had raw salmon on bread and Karen had liver pate with mushrooms, so I know that certain in-laws will be very jealous they didn't get the chance to share these delicacies. (You know who you are!)

So back on the ship and sailing for Oslo – again! This is the only duplication from the first cruise, but since I complain about the limited time in the ports of call, I'm happy. We'll do the “hop-on/hop-off” bus tour this time and eschew the cruise line excursion. (Eschew is one of my favorite words...and I'm not even sure what it means.)

Enough frivolity for now. The serious educational in-depth travelogue will resume tomorrow.

By the way, if you are following the blog, drop me a brief email. It would be nice to know who is reading it (if anyone!). jimtraxler@gmail.com.