June 29: Talinn, Estonia

After cruising through the night, we awake in Talinn. After breakfast, we take a tour through town to a restored fishing village a few miles outside of town. We are lead by the teaching chef on board and we taste herring prepared four ways (three different picklings and breaded and fried) as well as smoked sea "trout"(?). Then we head back for a tour of the old town of Talinn walking back through town on our own in time to get on board the ship for ice cream before it closes down at 4 until dinner. Kurt finishes his art instruction with a watercolor class and then we enjoy dinner at the Grand Dining Room.

June 28: Riga, Latvia

We dock in the morning and after breakfast we disembark and enjoy wandering through the medieval old town of Riga guided by Rick Steves (that is, guided by his guide book!) Kathy begins to understand that Kurt's main interest in each of these new countries is gathering some local currency and coins for his collection. Kathy buys an umbrella, socks and a kitchen towel. While shopping isn't really our thing, we really do enjoy wandering through these old towns and learning about their history and culture. Back to the ship for lunch in the Grand Dining Room, an afternoon at leisure and and an evening pastel art class. We dine at the buffet and look back on a perfectly enjoyable day.

June 27: A day at sea

A day at sea sailing from Germany to Latvia. Kurt especially is really getting used to the cruising life. Kathy had picked a very nice vessel from a very nice line (Oceania) for his first cruise. And Kurt is already looking over the brochures for another cruise (180 days around the world anyone?) Kurt takes a painting class and Kathy exercises and sun bathes. The storm that followed them from Amsterdam to Copenhagen has moved on ahead and we enjoy sunny, calm weather. Together we play mini-golf and paddle tennis onboard. We take a ballroom dance class (DWTS clearly not in our future) and enjoy a reception with the Captain. After dinner from the buffet on the stern deck overlooking the Baltic Sea, we head down to the lounge to watch our dancing instructors in a "Malibu Beach" song and dance show.

June 26: Warnemunde Germany

After not sleeping well we had breakfast on board and our morning tour was rescheduled for the afternoon. We took a bus to an old monastery then a short train ride to Heiligendamm (pronounced, yes really, Holy Dam), a beach town where a recent summit of some kind was held. Our guide was born and raised in the former East Germany and we appreciate hearing her perspectives on life under communism and the changes brought by the adoption of a free market economy and integration with West Germany. We stopped for some apple crumb cake and a stroll along the seaside where we saw a small carnival then back to the ship. We had dinner at the Italian speciality restaurant Toscana.

June 25: Helsingborg

Again up at 4 AM this time as the ship was leaving Copenhagen. We went back to sleep and slept through breakfast. After another lunch at the buffet (Kurt already getting used to the variety of choices for lunch) we took a bus to tour the Swedish countryside. Perhaps the highlight of the trip was stopping at a small bakery for a snack including a cream-filled, heart shaped pastry. Interestingly three women were left behind by the bus; but we quickly realized they were missing and went back for them. (We saw them in other places and noted they did seem to have the ability to misplace themselves quite easily). We saw a peninsula looking back over the strait to Denmark and then drove back to the ship. We watched the tug boats help the ship leave port then put on our Sunday-best for dinner at the Grand Dining Room. Kathy especially enjoyed the lobster. After dinner, we didn't go to any of the entertainment venues on board but instead opted for an evening at leisure in our cabin.

June 24: Boarding the Marina

At 4 AM we were awoken by the massive thunder and lightning of the storm that had followed us from Amsterdam. Tired from the jet lag, we spent a morning at leisure then took a cab to the port to board our floating hotel for the next 9 days, Marina. The check-in process was simple and smooth and soon we were on board. We toured the ship, sat down to rest and soon our room was ready. We had a veranda room with enough space for us and all our stuff. After unpacking we set off to the lunch buffet. Kurt was overwhelmed by the quantity and variety of the food but found a caesar salad and was set. After lunch we assembled at our muster station and practiced putting on our life jackets. We listened to the band in the lounge then had dinner at Red Ginger, one of the three speciality restaurants that each require a reservation (something Kathy handled earlier) and had dinner with a couple from Toronto. We went to another lounge to watch a cabaret show but were exhausted so we quickly retired to our room.

June 22, 2016: The Baltic Cruise

Kurt had always feared travel by cruise ship: the crowds, the crowds, the crowds. But early on Wednesday he found himself with Kathy loading their luggage in the car taking them to SFO.  Business class seats (courtesy of Delta Skymiles) to Detroit, then overnight to Amsterdam (taking advantage of the showers in the Sky Club there) and then on to Copenhagen. We only slept a few hours and found thundershowers in Amsterdam threatening the entire cruise to be shadowed by a giant storm working its way up the Baltic Sea along our itinerary of Copenhagen-Helsingborg (Sweden)-Mecklenburg (Germany)-Riga-Talinn-St. Petersburg-Helsinki-Stockholm (with a quick flight to Oslo). Arriving in Copenhagen we took the train to the central station and a cab to the Marriott on the inner harbor. After a brief respite we walked along the inner harbor exploring the city. Arriving in Nyhavn (New Port) we took a canal cruise through the city seeing all the sights including the (famous) little mermaid statue. We then walked through the old town enjoying dinner on a square at Cafe Norden (Kathy enjoyed a goat cheese salad and Kurt 3 mini-sliders). We noted a number of young people wearing distinctive hats of a similar style. Thinking we were missing the newest fad, we asked the waiter about them. It turns out that today is their graduation and the hat indicates the school and course of study they completed. We then strolled along the pedestrian shopping street Stroget to Tivoli Gardens (which Kurt thought was a garden but turns out to be an amusement park). At the recommendation of the ticket agent, we watched a children's pantomime ballet (not worth the time) then strolled though the rest of the park and returned to our hotel exhausted. Marinn told us that Copenhagen has the happiest people on earth and we did find them to be very happy and friendly.