Day at sea and Oslo, Norway

Yesterday was a day at sea. We did our usual - played cards, read and played bingo - and ate, of course. Didn't win at bingo, but will have one last chance to win $2000 this afternoon. We also were part of the audience that watched the live taping of the Wakey Wakey show which runs from 6am to 11am every day. I even got my name mentioned because I knew the answer to the daily question. Yesterday's question was how many nautical miles did we sail from Ft. Lauderdale to Rotterdam. If you are wondering it was 4902.5! At noon we went to a weightloss by hypnotism for about and hour. I was so hungry by he time it was over, the first thing I said was, "Now, let's go eat!"

Today we went on a bus tour around the city of Oslo and out in the beautiful country to Hageland where there is a glass blowing factory. We watched a demonstration and bought souveniers and gifts. Then we headed back to Oslo where we visted the Viking Museum. It was very interesting. We got back on the ship at 1:30 and set sail for Copenhagen at 2:00. We spent the afternoon packing since our luggage has to be outside our room by 6pm (before dinner). But first we will play bingo at 4:30!

Tomorrow we will dock at 5am at Copenhagen where we will disembark to the airport at 8:30am. Our flight is not until 3:35pm. I just love sitting in airports all day! We will arrive at DFW at 10:34pm!

I will say that this has seemed like a long trip, mainly because of the number of sea days (10). We had one extra day at sea b/c we couldn't dock in Dover, England. We have enjoyed our ports of call, meeting SOME of the passengers (some I could live a lifetime without ever having met!), all the activities on board and the entertainment.

All in all, we had a good time. But I can't wait to see my kids, grandkids, dog, cat and kittens (in that order, Amy:)

Rotterdam

We opted to stay on board the ship while in port today. We've been to Amsterdam a few times before and there wasn't much to do in Rotterdam except shop in their expensive shops and pay 20% sales tax! We played gin ALL DAY - just the two of us. We would play a while in one lounge then go somewhere else and play there. That way we could do more people watching. We also played trivia with one of the crew staff and other passengers who opted to stay on board. We had a relaxing day. BTW - Holly beat the pants off Larry playing gin! We set sail from the port at 7pm and will be at sea all day tomorrow arriving in Oslo Norway Friday morning.

At sea yesterday and Belgium today

Yesterday was a rather boring day, although I must say that the cruise director and his staff did an amazing job of coming up with things to do. We had to toodle around the English Channel all day and were able to get the Belgium Port pilot on board about 20 miles out. He safely guided us into port where we docked about 8:30 last night. Before I tell you about Belgium, let me just say that it is amazing to me how safe they build these huge floating hotels. We were in 60-80mph gales and the water was very rough, but we hardly noticed at all. They have the stablizer things that go out from the ship under the water that keeps it stable as we move along. I am more convinced now that sailing is safer than flying and driving on the highways! Another aside - we weren't able to play bingo yesterday b/c England has this regulation that you cannot gamble while you are in their channel! Prudes!

This morning we took a tour bus to Bruges Belgium. Another surprise. A small old village that has canals running all throughout it. VEry picturesque. We walked the cobblestone streets for about 4 hours, watched a chocolate making demonstration, and Belgium chocolates - yummy!, and shopped. Can't wait to share pictures. When we got back to the ship at 1:30, we had a sandwich down in the International Cafe and rested up for dinner and the "I've Got Music" show in the theater. A lovely evening. We've been out on the balcony watching the other ships go by and we even saw an oil platform way out there.

Don't know what we'll do tomorrow since we did not book a tour. Will let you know.

Girls, how are my animals?

I hope we get to play bingo!

Well, it looks like we might have at least 2 more days at sea. Our port today was to be Dover, England (we were going to Canterbury). However, the seas are rough and winds are expected to get up to gale force (60 - 70 mph). Yikes! Our next port of call is Brussells Belgium and the port authority there said they will not allow their pilots to board our ship to lead us in there. So right now, we are circling the English Channel with no wear to go! That's why I hope we aleast get to play bingo! Will report more later.

Normandy

Well, we are ready to go home. We've seen what we came to see and the rest will be gravy. Normandy is a beautiful part of France. We traveled quaint country roads to get to the beaches.
And once we were there, we were in awe of it all. We saw Pont deHoc beach where the soldiers ad to scale a 100+ foot muddy cliff to attack the Germans. However, the Germans saw them coming and many were killed. We saw bomb craters and bunkers. We then went to the American Cemetary. Just standing in the midst of all those marble crosses (and stars of David) was a sobering time. I still get chills thinking of it. Next we went to Omaha Beach where we were able to walk on the beach and look at the monuments that were erected as a memorial. We had lunch on a farm - it was great. Then we went to a little village called Combano ( I hope I spelled that correctly). We visit the war museum and took many pictures of the remains of the artificial water breaks and bridge pieces. The entire event was just so minding numbing. This is something we have wanted to do for a long time and we are so happy we came here. We will return some day! The negative about the whole day was that our bus broke down while we were in Combano and we all had to find empty seats on one of the other 3 buses. Then when we started out there was an auto accident on the freeway so our bus driver decided to go a different way. Well - every Frenchman in France must have taken a holiday to this area b/c they were on their way home and jammed up the little country roads. We were late getting back to the ship, but luckily the captain decided to wait on us! How nice!

Our next stop is Dover England tomorrow. We get to set our clocks back an hour tonight! I'm telling ya, my body doesn't know what to do with all the time changing!

Another night at sea

The seas have calmed down significantly! It's about time! Tonight after our formal dinner we went to the Princess Theater. The show was The Backbeat Beatles, a group that did all Beatles numbers. They were awesome. Took us back quite a few years, though! I had to laugh at the fact that after it got started several of the "older" couples got up and left. I told Larry that the parents of old were still the parents of old. All us "younger" generation were standing, clapping and singing!

Another day at sea!

We left Vigo Spain yesterday around 6ish and immediately hit "rough"waters. It was the worst yet. They whole ship was swaying and creeking loudly. However, we weren't worried. All the crew and passengers say it would take something catostrophic to turn a ship over. We wre still able to walk about the ship, but we all looked like we were on a 7 day drunk! Today was about the same but fortunately we got used to it. It's not so bad. We didn't do much today. Went to an English Country Fair on the ship. It was lot's of fun. We played cards, went to an art auction, played bingo and now it is time to get ready for formal night. We will be in France tomorrow.