Jay and Baltic Sea Beers

Denmark - We stopped in a Danish equivalent of a beer garden in Den Gamle By. I had an Overgart Ol. This was a dark ale. It was good, had a nice flavor. It would have been good with a Bavarian pretzel, but all we had was a butter cookie shaped like a pretzel.

Germany - We stopped for a beer at the festival in Rostock.  It was Rostocker Pilsner. This had a nice golden color with large white head. Aroma is a little hoppy.  This was a nice smooth pilsner.

Beer booth in Rostock

Estonia - We stopped at a cafe on one of the side streets off of the square for a beer.  This beer was Saku Original.  This is the most popular beer in Estonia.  It is a very light colored, smooth pilsner.  The Saku brewery was started in 1820.   Not that long ago when compared to Augustiner Bier in Munich, which started in 1328.



Russia - Since we were on a guided tour, we did not have the ability to stop at a local restaurant or cafe to have a Russian beer.  One of the markets we stopped at sold bottled beer, so I bought one and brought it back to the ship to drink onboard.  The beer had Russian characters, so I don't think I can type out its name.  My guess is CTeHaH Pa3NH.  It was a very light lager, almost without any taste.  One of the worst beers that I have had in a long time.  No wonder they drink vodka instead.

Sweden - We stopped in the old town at a cafe for a beer.  It was a Spendrups Lager.  The beer was yellow gold with very little head.  Nothing very special about this beer.

Copenhagen - We stopped for a beer in the airport in Copenhagen.  I had a Carlsberg Export.  This is a golden lager with a medium head.  Not a bad beer for a mass produced beer.

Last Port - Copenhagen, Denmark

July 18 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Today we have one last tour before heading to the airport.  We did a Copenhagen City Tour where our first stop was to a statue of the Little Mermaid which sits in the harbor.  The statue is the symbol of Copenhagen and one of the most popular tourist sites in the city.  Our tour then continued to the Royal Palace, where the queen and her family still live.  It was time for the changing of the guards while we were at the palace.  The guards here were much friendlier than the ones in England. 

Our next stop was the Copenhagen’s Cathedral – “The Church of our Lady”.  Inside there are statues of the twelve apostles.  There is a statue of Christ at the altar with a baptismal font being held by a guardian angel in front of it.  We went past the home of Han Christian Anderson. 

Our final stop was to a fishing village – Dragor.  We walked through the village where the homes were very small and quaint.  Many of the houses still have thatched roofs.  The amount of details along the roofs would show how wealthy the home owner was.  The sides of narrow streets were lined with an assortment of beautiful flowers.  One of the interesting things we saw was mirrors outside the windows so the people inside could see what was happening on the streets. 

After our tour we were dropped off at the airport.  What a mad house that was.  I told Jay it was worse than Chicago’s O’Hare Airport if you can imagine anything worse than Chicago’s airport.   You can’t check in until 2 hours before your flight and the lines to drop your bags would take at least that long.  Luckily Jay is Gold status with Star Alliance, so our line there was only 3 people ahead of us instead of a couple hundred.  As we were waiting for our flight, we noticed a women walking.  The closer she got to us the stranger she looked.  It was a man dressed as a woman!!!!  He was wearing white tights, green shorts, white shirt, a head band and really red lipstick.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get our camera out quick enough.  (To each his own!)  I had to try a Danish danish at the airport and Jay had a local beer.  We made it back to Munich and the real world without any problems.  No more having our meals prepared and the bed turned down with chocolates on the pillows.  It was a great trip!!!

Last day at sea

July 17 – Last day at sea

Finally, a relaxing day.  We spent the 5 previous days touring in ports and I don’t even know how far we walked, but we were looking forward to a relaxing day.  We were hoping for some sun and time at the pool.  We slept late and woke up to; yes you guessed it, more rain.  After a leisurely breakfast, we packed up our suitcases.  Later we went to a cooking demonstration followed by a tour of the Galley. 

 There was an ice sculpture demonstration next to one of the pools.

In the afternoon we had Christmas in July including snow. All of the Santa’s (10) that were on the boat for “Santa School” were in full dress for pictures. We took silly pictures with our life vests on – evidently the effects of not enough sun.



That night when we were on deck we saw this very long bridge.  The Oresund Bridge connects Copenhagen to Sweden and it is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe.  As we went under the bridge it looked so close to us that we thought we could almost touch it.  Part of the roadway to this bridge is an underwater tunnel and the toll to cross this bridge is about 40 Euros.   The next day we found out that it took us all night to sail around Copenhagen because the boat was a meter too deep to go the short way into Copenhagen. 

That night was another amazing sunset.  There was another cruise ship sailing beside us as the sun was setting.  We met the two couples from Massachusetts for a goodbye drink after I went to the Farwell Show.  Looking back on the last 11 days we had a great time, even with all the rain.  You can’t let rain stop you from seeing all these amazing places. 

7th Port - Stockholm, Sweden

July 16 – Stockholm, Sweden

Today was partly cloudy with a little rain and only a short time in port, about 5 ½ hours.  Definitely not enough time to see very much.  We took the Hop On Hop Off boat tour from the ship to our first stop, which was the Vasa Museum.  The museum has the masts of the Vasa extending through the roof.  The Vasa is the oldest fully preserved ship in the world.  It is a 17^th century warship that was one of the largest (69 meters long) and most heavily armed warships of its time.  The ship sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 after only traveling less than a nautical mile (2000) meters from the dock.  The ship was built top heavy without adequate ballast.  The ship was not found until 1956 and salvaged in 1961.  1000’s of artifacts were found with the Vasa.  The wood carvings on the ship were fantastic. 

Vasa model

We then went on an Under the Bridges Boat Tour of Stockholm which gave us a little history of the city.  The tour goes under 15 bridges and through two locks.  Someone who lives in Stockholm recommended the tour to a couple we met on the ship.  We passed the Stockholm city hall, where the Nobel Prize banquet is held.  The tour was OK, but looking back it would have been better to spend the time walking around Stockholm or taking one of the ships tours. 

City Hall

Royal Palace

After our tour it only left about an hour and a half, so first things first, find a local beer.  On our beer search, we passed the Royal Palace where the changing of the guards was getting ready to take place.  This palace has 608 rooms and is on the waterfront and was built in the 18^th century.  The palace is still used today for state occasions.   So do we watch the changing of the guards or stop for a beer?  We stopped for a beer.   We walked a bit through Gamla Stan, the old town.  We wished we had more time in Stockholm today since we didn’t get to see too much. 

After getting back to the boat, we had lunch with a US couple now living outside Frankfort.   We had a wine tasting.  We tasted 5 different wines.  They were OK.  Jay got to drink most of my wine.  We had a dessert wine that was served in shot glasses, that we could keep, with different Princess logos on them.

Tonight was another Formal night.  After dinner we changed to more casual clothes and went to “The Newly Wed, not so Newly Wed Gameshow” at one of the clubs.  There was a newlywed couple, one married about 27 years and the last couple, from Texas, was married over 50 years.  This show was one of the best entertaining shows on the ship.  The couple from Texas was hilarious. 

6th Port - Helsinki, Finland

July 15 – Helsinki, Finland

Another rainy day, but there are still sites to see and only about 6 hours in port, so off we went in the rain.  We took a bus into the center of town and then walked to Market Square where you can shop for everything from fruits and flowers to local arts and crafts.  Not too many shoppers out.  We then walked to Uspenski Cathedral.  We ran into the Bishop and the priest from Florida at the church.  It is a red brick cathedral and it has 13 onion domes representing Christ and the twelve apostles.  Inside there are many icons and one is believed to work miracles. 

Our next stop, in the rain, was to Senate Square where we went into St. Nicholas Cathedral (a Lutheran church).  This Finnish church is also known as Tuomiokirkko.  The church is a large white structure towering over the square.  It is very plain inside compared to other churches we have been seeing.  We also went down into the crypt, which is now used as a café.

The Crypt

Our last stop was to Temppeliaukio Church aka “Rock Church”.  This is a circular church carved into the rock with a copper dome roof.  The acoustics are supposed to be very good in the church because of the rock wall interior.  It was very modern.  One of the interesting things is that the church has no bells and they play a recording of bells over the speakers.

Entrance to Rock Church

We didn’t stop for a beer in Helsinki since the weather was so bad, but as we were making our way back to the bus stop, we walked down a street and saw shirts hanging on lines from buildings.  At first, I thought that people were hanging out their laundry.  We later found out that this was part of an outdoor exhibition. This was the work of famous Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen.  We found our bus stop, got back to the ship and it was still raining.  No hot tub today.