August 23:  This is our last day on the Wind Surf and it was spent at sea.  Early in the morning we will arrive at Edinburgh, Scotland and will disembark from the ship.  It was a peaceful, relaxing day with reading, eating, visiting, packing, and reviewing preliminary bill.  There was a slight problem with the bill in that all expenses were placed on Ginni’s credit card; I thought that was a good thing but Ginni did not think so <:).  But, through Wind Surf’s great computer system, the purser was able to separate us out and expenses were applied to the applicable account.  Mid-afternoon the crew modeled latest fashions from the gift shop so I watched and learned the current trends.  That evening, we attended a talk on disembarkation given by the Guest Services manager and joined everyone in the lounge for the captain and crew bidding us farewell.  We had dinner with Richard and Sharon, the Canadian couple that we had met earlier in the week.  After dinner, we went to the Compass Rose for an after dinner drink and listened to CC Maxx Duo performance.   Since we had to be up at 4:30 in the morning, we went to the cabin earlier than previous evenings.  We placed our luggage outside our door so the crew could pick it up and take it into the terminal at Edinburgh for our pick up once we disembarked from the ship.

August 24:  The sound of the alarm seem to come very early!  It was approximately 9:30 or 10:30 PM the evening before back home.  We did have a couple cups of coffee before the announcement came for those of us heading to the airport should leave the ship.  Since the Wind Surf only carries 300 passengers and many of them were staying a few extra days in Scotland, there were only about 20 people leaving with us which made it easy to get our luggage picked up after we went through Scotland’s security.  There was a shuttle bus waiting to take all of us to the airport; upon arrival at the airport, I was able to get checked in quickly but it did take some time to go through another security check.  My journey took me from Edinburgh to Amsterdam (where I had to go through another security check) to Detroit (where I went through customs, immigration, and another security check) to Cedar Rapids with arrival at 8:30 PM.  Luggage arrived with no problem and the airport shuttle service took me home; by this time, I had been up for 24 hours and was starting to feel it.  But it was a wonderful trip and am certainly glad I went.  Good things about the trip was Wind Surf’s excellent service; the weather, with an exception of a couple days, was good; the Scandinavian people were quite friendly and helpful; the Scandinavian countries were all exceptionally clean with their laws making sure people do not litter.  Couple things I would of liked different was the itinerary where I wished we would of had more time in Oslo; I felt Wind Star should of made more of an effort providing guests with information regarding Stockholm and how to get around; one less airport stop both going and coming would of been appreciated but I realize coming out and into Cedar Rapids makes more difficult to arrange.  Overall, a great trip and I am looking forward to planning another one next year.

August 21:  At around 8:00 AM,  surrounded by forested hills and small picturesque islands, the ship docked at the end of the stunning Oslo Fjord.  We were anchored  right below the more than 700-year old Akershus Fortress whose construction started in the late 13th century to protect Oslo from outside invaders.    The first stop of our tour was by the water across from the Oslo Opera House; from there, we proceeded to central Oslo where we passed the Royal Palace, the Parliament, and National Theatre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked in front of the Grand Hotel, where the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is lodged; the only winner who refused to stay in the hotel was Mother Teresa who felt it was too rich.  Since Alfred Nobel came from Norway, he specified in his will that this one prize should be awarded in his country.  At the end of the tour we were able to visit Oslo City Hall where the prize is awarded every year.  We continued on to Vigeland Sculpture Park which is a unique park displaying the life work of Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sculpture park was very interesting and our guide had an excellent knowledge of all the sculptures which depicted man going through life from birth to death.  Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died at the entrance and the spare one was on the bus so I did not get any pictures of the rest of the tour.   After walking through the park, we headed to the Icebar Oslo in downtown.  This is the only permanent bar in Norway made entirely of ice and is kept at minus 5 degrees at all times.  Everything inside is made out of crystal clear ice harvested from the frozen Torne River in northern Sweden.  We were given a thermal cape with hood and gloves that we had to put on before entering the bar; once in the bar, we were given champagne in a glass made of ice.  It was a fun, cold experience!  Another walk took us to City Hall where, every December 10th,  the Nobel Peace Prize is presented.  And then the unexpected happened!  We, along with four others, got separated from our tour and the bus, heading to the ship,  left without us.   We ended up walking the mile or so back to the ship and arrived before the bus; since my purse was still on the bus, I was glad to see it appear!  After lunch on board, I went shopping at the terminal by the ship but there was not much good quality items.   The ship left the port of Oslo at 5:00 PM and we were on our way to Kristiansand, Norway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 22:   We arrived in Kristiansand around 9:00 AM.  Ginni and I had decided to walk around the area on our own instead of taking a tour so, after breakfast, we headed out on our adventure.  Our goal was to head toward market street for some shopping and picture taking.  The first stop was to take some pictures of the town along the harbor and then on to the Fish Market.  This market has fresh seafood which includes lobster, makeral, and salmon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After making a purchase at the market, we headed toward the center of town and the shopping district.  As information, Kristiansand is the 5th largest municipality in Norway with a population of +90K and it is named after its founder King Christian IV in 1641.    We arrived at the shopping center (it was quite busy); the best part of the shopping is I found a 70% off rack of baby clothes so made a purchase for granddaughter Savanna.  On the way back to the ship, since it was a beautiful, sunny day we decided to have lunch at an outdoor restaurant called Enok.  An interesting note regarding the menu; I ordered the chicken sandwich with toss salad and chips…when it came, the toss salad was actually part of the sandwich and not separate as we would get back here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That evening we went to the lounge before dinner to listen to Deborah Boily, a guest entertainer who sang show tunes; she had a good voice.  Ray and Vicki from Australia joined us for dinner.  The Wind Surf crew took to the stage after dinner and shared their hidden talents; singing, dancing, magic tricks, etc.  Headed to the cabin around 11:30; tomorrow we will be at sea all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 18 and 19:  We arrived at Copenhagen at approximately 9:00 AM on the 18th.  Ginni and I had signed up for “Wonderful Copenhagen” tour which gave us a great overview of the city.  Copenhagen is one of the oldest kingdoms in the world and dates back to the first Danish monarch, King “Gorm the Old” who established his reign in the 10th century.  The first sight we were shown was the Little Mermaid, the bronze statue of one of Hans Christian Anderson’s storybook characters, which has graced the spot since 1913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way to the Royal Amalienborg Palace, we saw the inner city’s Old Quarter.    Once we arrived at the palace, the guide gave us a brief history of its origin;  it is the winter home of the Danish royal family.   It consists of four identical palace façades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard and in the center of the square is a monumental statue of Amalienborg’s founder, King Frederick V.   We finished up the tour by passing by Tivoli Gardens, Glyptotek Art Museum, City Hall, and the Stock Exchange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch on board the ship, I read for the rest of the afternoon.  At 4:00, we met up with Anne,  a friend of Ginni’s who resides in Stockholm.  Anne took us on a canal boat tour where we saw many sights; the Theatre for Performing Arts, Stock Exchange with entwining dragon tails, sand sculptures and Stockholm’s Opera House.

 

Once the boat tour was completed, Anne walked us through a major shopping district on our way to Tivoli Gardens.  The gardens, which opened in 1843, is a mixture of exotic architecture, beautiful gardens and scenery, theatres, open air stages, restaurants, shops, and 26 rides ranging from ones that twist and spin to very gentle ones.  This amusement park is the third largest attraction of its kind in Europe.

We wandered in some of the shops and I found a Christmas present for granddaughter, Savanna.  While in one of the stores, we came across a couple from the Wind Surf who told us there were two buses of people from the ship and the buses would return to the ship at 9:45 PM.  We were able to locate one of the Wind Surf’s crew members who was agreeable to our “hitching” a ride back with them.  We had a night cap in the Compass Rose where the duo was performing a vast variety of music which we both enjoyed.  Went to bed with thought of getting some rest for another day in Copenhagen tomorrow.

August 19:  After breakfast, we took the shuttle provided by the Wind Surf into Copenhagen in search of the Stroget shopping area.  When we got off the shuttle, we made sure to write down the street we were on so location of the shuttle for the return to the Wind Surf would not be a problem later in the day.  After taking a few wrong turns, we were able to find the major pedestrian walkway to all the shops.  What fun it was with my finding more Christmas presents!!  We had lunch at a restaurant wedged between two 18th century buildings; it was a nice day so it felt good to eat out in the open air but the service was quite poor because of 4 employees calling in sick.

After lunch, we made our way back to the shuttle and returned to the Wind Surf.  Later in the afternoon, I teamed with three other passengers for Team Trivia in the Compass Rose; we did not do very good but it was still fun.  The Wind Surf set sail around 5:00; with music playing, it is always invigorating pulling away from a port.  Maureen and Rowy were in the Compass Rose having champagne provided by Windstar for signing up for another trip and they asked Ginni/myself to join them; we had dinner with them.  Tomorrow we will dock at Skagen, Denmark.

August 20:  This morning we docked at Skagen, the northernmost town of Denmark.  It was a very picturesque area with low, yellow houses whose roofs were red tile.  Port of Skagen is the largest fishing port in Denmark and a very popular yachting port attracting around 16,000 yachts and leisure boats every year.  Ginni and I went on the “City Tour of Skagen” in which we visited Denmark’s most northerly point, Grenen, where the Baltic and North Seas meet.  In order to get to the spit where we could view the point of meeting, we had to board a tractor trolley which drove us through the sand.  While on the spit, we were able to see many of Skagen’s collection of lighthouses dating from 1627 to still active one built in 1858.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon leaving the spit, we journeyed to Skagens Art Museum.  Between 1830 and 1930 a group of artists were drawn to Skagen for the very special light found only in its part of the country.  These artists produced some of the finest works of Danish golden age paintings, most of which were on display in the museum.   PS Kroyer,  one of the best known, beloved, and undeniably the most colorful of the Skagen Painters,  works were prominently displayed along with his wife’s, Marie.   We then were shown one end of Skagen to the other, with the guide providing details of what we were seeing along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the completion of the tour, Ginni and I decided to stay in Skagen for lunch and shopping.  We had lunch @ Casa Blanca Cafe; each of us ordered one of the local beers and we sat outside because it was a very nice, sunny day.  We wandered the streets of Skagen and found that the shops had quality merchandise at a high price.  What a delightful day we had in Skagen; it was a very good tour with an excellent guide and the exploration of the town was made easy by friendly local citizens.  The ship departed Skagen around 4:00 PM and we were underway for Oslo, Norway.  Ginni and I were invited to join the captain for dinner which we did along with 6 other women; as usual, the food and service was excellent but it was a long couple hours of forced conversation.  Before going to my cabin, I decided to take a walk on the deck and saw the below sight.