All Aboard! Getting to Copenhagen took a little longer than expected thanks to a traffic jam. So we made it to our cruise ship a mere 30 minutes before she sailed - but we made it.
We made it! Now we can relax.
Our first stop was Kiel Germany. There wasn't much there. We've heard that this stop is mainly to pick up a couple thousand German tourists. After some hiking around and not finding much open (it was a Sunday) we caught a ferry boat to see an old German WWII sub.
Riding the ferry past our cruise ship
After a very long hike from the ferry stop and a quick lunch we toured the sub. It's one of the few existing U-boats and the only one of this type still around.
Back on board we had a lifeboat drill - as you can see the boys were tired after walking around all day touring subs, ferry rides etc...
The next day we spent at sea heading towards Stockholm. The ship had a great kids club that the boys really liked. There was also a playground and some miniature golf to keep the boys busy.
Disco night with the kids club.
A snippet of video from another Disco night.
Miniature golf in the wind and drizzle of the Baltic.
Trying to warm up in the hot tub.
Formal dinner night
The next morning we sailed into Stockholm Sweden. There are thousands of small islands along the coast and the cruise in and out was best scenery on the trip.
A fun diversion in Stockholm. The had some kind of festival downtown and had this pool and balls set up. The boys had to try it out.
Guard and cannon at the Castle in Stockholm
Our favorite stop in Stockholm was the Vasa Museum. The Vasa had her maiden voyage in 1628 and sank the same day. It was recovered in 1961 from the bottom. The cold Baltic water preserved her very well. It was a great museum and a great story about a King who dictated the schedule and the design of a ship that ended up being too top heavy and unstable. They knew she had problems but the King had set the day for the first sailing. A gust of wind knocked her down and she took on water through the open gun ports right in the Stockholm harbor. For more details check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship) or http://vasamuseet.se/en/
The original paint was gone but the intricate wood carvings still remain
The sail out of Stockholm - it reminded me of the Orcas island area north of Seattle.
Our next stop was Tallinn in Estonia. We had the option of leaving the kids in the day camp while we went ashore. Since they enjoyed the camp anyway and were sick of sight seeing we decided it would be more fun for all of us if they stayed and played on the ship. We took a guided tour of the city. The guide was a little cheezy, but the weather was nice and it was relaxing to look around without the boys for a change.
Orthodox Church in Tallinn
Castle in the center of Tallinn. I think Kathy was getting a little tired of posing for pictures by this point in the trip.
Our next stop was Saint Petersburg. Since we only had one day here we decided to take the 9 hour guided tour and leave the boys on the boat again. This was the first country we have visited that actually had immigration control and a stamp on our passport. The EU makes it so easy for most trips you almost forget you used to have to do this at every border.
Our first stop was the Peter and Paul Cathedral which contains the tombs of all the Russian Tsars since Peter the Great.
The double headed eagle shows up everywhere - it's said to shows the unity of the Church and State under the Tsar.
The bodies of the last Romanov Tsar and his family were buried here in a separate room. The family was murdered during the communist revolution and buried in an unmarked grave. Most of them were dug up and moved in 1991 but it wasn't till 2007 that the last two bodies were found and eventually identified and moved to the Church.
Church of the Spilled Blood. So named because the reformer Tsar Alaxander II was assassinated on this site.
The double headed eagle shows up everywhere - it's said to shows the unity of the Church and State under the Tsar.
Tomb for Catherine the Great among others.
The bodies of the last Romanov Tsar and his family were buried here in a separate room. The family was murdered during the communist revolution and buried in an unmarked grave. Most of them were dug up and moved in 1991 but it wasn't till 2007 that the last two bodies were found and eventually identified and moved to the Church.
Church of the Spilled Blood. So named because the reformer Tsar Alaxander II was assassinated on this site.
Saint Isaac's Cathedral
By the Neva river just outside the Hermitage
Inside the Hermitage
The thrown room in the Hermitage
That day on the boat Jack won a medal in a camp competition - he was very proud of it.
Jesse didn't win a medal but he made some very cool drawings at dinner
The morning we arrived back in Copenhagen we accidentally left our laptop either in our room or near a breakfast table. When we returned it was gone. So we had a bad morning searching for the computer and finally giving up the hunt. We also had the joy of finding out that our ship docked at a different location from where we had departed (and left our car). So we took a taxi the mile up the road to our car park. From then on things were good. We made the short scenic drive up the coast to the Kosco family (Ken and Mary and their kids Josh and Elizabeth). Ken Kosco was a buddy of mine at the University of Oklahoma and he was working in Copenhagen for Hess oil company. The boys settled in playing some video games with Josh and Elizabeth. Mary said she could look after the kids for a few hours while Ken took us downtown for some sight seeing.
Manditory photo op next to the memorial Anchor in front of the Nyhavn
Ken was a great tour guide - we were even lucky enough to catch a naval display at the pier that day.
Manditory photo op next to the memorial Anchor in front of the Nyhavn
Kathy at the Absolute Ice bar in Copenhagen
Ken was a great tour guide - we were even lucky enough to catch a naval display at the pier that day.It was also Fashion week so they had a pink carpet runway that ran across half the city. It was funny to see the models walking for a mile in rain.
Fashion Week in Copenhagen
The next day we toured some of the local sights with the Kosco's. Our first stop was Frederiksborg Castle. We'ld been to lots of castles in Europe but this was still very impressive. The gardens and the interior rooms were some of the best we've seen anywhere.
Impressive entrance to the Castle
Looking out at the gardens.
One of the many ornate rooms inside
Viking ship replica at the Viking ship museum
Jack and Jesse pretending to be Vikings.
Sweden is just about 2 miles across the water from Kronborg
The next morning we headed south again towards Leuven. Our first stop was Lubeck. We really liked Lubeck. It had some interesting sights and some good deals for shopping.
The landmark gate in Lubeck
This church was bombed in WWII causing the bells to fall from the tower. They left them where they fell as a remembrance of the war.
That same church had some very bizarre stained glass windows. Notice the skeleton pirate with the guitar?
We had dinner at a cool old restaurant where all sailors used to hang out in Lubeck.
After Lubeck we made a quick lunch stop in Bremen
Our last stop was in Munster. It's main highlight was the nice park surrounding a small lake near the center of town (the old church steeple is in the background).
Then we drove back to Leuven for a little rest before school starts again.
