Kristiansand

Monday June 20

Unfortunately we hit our first rainy day in this pretty little town, which has curtailed our walking greatly! However we can see how lovely it would be with the sun out, but we can't complain. We visited the Fish market, the cathedral with its nice Scandanavian timber instead of the dark wood of our English churches, and with the ship in town they put on an organ recital for us.

It was still fun walking around with our brollies up, and we did expect a few days like this, even though we're only one day away from the summer solstice! We got back to the ship a bit earlier than planned and dried off, as well as catching up on some reading.

Oslo

Sunday - June 19

This morning we cruised the Oslo Fjord - sadly in a heavy mist, however there is something majestic about these magnificent areas in such conditions.  We arrived in Oslo itself at noon and the weather was clearing.

Prinsendam docked in a prime location next to the old Fort and in close proximity to the city area.  When we last visited Oslo we were disappointed to be too late to see the Resistance Museum so it was first on our list of today's "Must Do's".  We walked through the old Fort area, complete with quirky statues, to the Resistance Museum - a building used to incarcerate prisoners during WW2.  We never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of man, especially when under pressure and the museum displayed many examples of this.  We were particularly impressed with the diary of a prisoner made by piercing sheets of toilet paper with a pin to form each letter.  The sheets were then stashed below floor boards.  This particular prisoner was moved to Germany by a boat that was sunk and he lost his life.  Fortunately, the existence of his diary was known by another prisoner who revealed its location when the war ended.  We also saw crystal radio sets hidden in chair legs and other household items, messages concealed in a piece of wood that was hinged and hollowed out, etc.  The Resistance movement relied heavily on British radio for balance of information as radios had been outlawed by the Germans to ensure the people only heard their propaganda.

After several hours in the dark museum, we emerged into bright sunshine.  As Prinsendam was not sailing until 8 pm, we had time to join the locals strolling through this beautiful city, taking in all the sights, sounds, aromas, etc.  Oslo is a lovely city with lots of historic buildings, magnificent parks and gardens and some great shops (mostly closed for Sunday) and also a lot of electric cars. We stopped for coffee and cake and some good old people-watching as well as catching up on emails, FB, etc. before making our way back to the ship.  It doesn't get dark until 11 pm at this time of the year so we really have to keep an eye on our watches.

Recharging bays for the city's many electric cars

Oslo City Centre

The Resistance Museum

Log with secret compartment to carry messages

Crystal set concealed in chair leg

Al at the Fort with Prinsendam docked alongside

One of the quirky statues located throughout the Fort

Apologies

Hi everyone following our travels,

Unfortunately we have run into technical difficulties with loading photos into the blog posts. We will endeavour to correct this as soon as we can, but in the meantime you can see some on Noelle's Facebook page or my Instagram account.

Love to all.

Copenhagen

Saturday June 18

Having been to Copenhagen 2 years ago, we had one main attraction we hadn't seen yet, and that was the Rosenborg Castle, so that was our objective for today. We set off from the ship and walked along the dock, cut through the Kastellet which is an old fort with a moat around it and some lovely old buildings in the middle of it, and then wandered along the charming streets to the Royal Theatre. Opposite the theatre is the big department store Magasin du Nord, and we went there to change some money, have coffee and cake and catch up on emails, FB, the blog etc.

Rosenborg Castle

After this refreshment stop we set off for the Kings Garden which is where the Rosenborg Castle is. It was partly sunny, and warm when the sun was out, so there were lots of people in the Gardens. We bought our tickets and proceeded to the basement where the Treasury containing the Crown Jewels are, however, unlike the British Crown Jewels you can get up close and personal to them as well as take photos. They were spectacular!

The Danish Crown Jewels

There were so many gob smacking items in the basement area, made of silver, gold, rock crystal, ivory, enamel, precious stones and many other materials, that words don't do them justice, but there would be too many photos to include, so all I can say is don't miss this castle when you're visiting Copenhagen!

We continued looking at the various rooms over the different floors of the castle, and many of the items were just amazing. We spent a couple of hours here without any problem, and then finished it off with a lovely afternoon tea in the Garden cafe.

We headed back towards the ship, taking in the Nyhavn area which was packed with people enjoying meals in the outdoor cafés, listening to bands and shopping. From here we cut through the Amalienborg Palace but we didn't see Mary or Frederick as we walked through! We could hear announcements coming from the waterfront and crowds of people but had no idea what was going on. We found a vantage point above the crowds and realised it was the Red Bull Cliff Diving competition, and they were diving from the roof of the Opera House! This has to be over 30 metres tall, and was scary just watching the divers.

Diving from the roof of the Copenhagen Opera House

No trip to Copenhagen would be complete without a visit to the Little Mermaid, which we saw on the way back to the ship. Most people have seen her, and she was again surrounded by people jostling to get their photos taken with her. However as we kept walking we found her big sister, who wasn't popular at all so we were able to get a photo with her very easily.

 We were glad to get back on board and rest our feet after another enjoyable visit to Copenhagen.

Sailing towards Copenhagen

Friday June 17

We always like it when there is a sea day on the first day of a cruise. This gives you a chance to sleep in, explore the ship and its facilities, meet other passengers and attend special lectures. Today we chatted with 2 couples we hadn't met before and attended 2 lectures.

The first one was by a Norwegian guy who had been in charge of the National Maritime Museum in Oslo, and he spoke about the history of the first 4 ports we will be visiting. He was very good and has really whet our appetite for these ports. The second one this afternoon was by an ex US Navy guy on Communication at Sea, and again we found it really informative and interesting.

Today was sunny with no wind and calm seas, so we sat around the pool for a while and enjoyed the warmth of the sun - this is what cruising is all about!

IJmuiden - Day2

Wednesday June 15

After a glorious night's sleep, we surfaced to find IJmuiden bathed in sunshine but with ominous dark clouds around too. Al went in search of breakfast for us and returned with two fresh herring rolls - very Dutch and very tasty.

We had scoured the map of IJmuiden and decided there wasn't a lot to do but we wanted to go to the Bunker Museum. IJmuiden formed part of the "Atlantic Wall", a German defence that stretched from Nordkaap at the top of Norway, down to the the south of Spain. No fighting took place around IJmuiden - because if the locks here had been destroyed then Holland would have been flooded! Despite this, the townspeople have restored some of the bunkers and set up a museum with artefacts from WW2. As so often happens to us, we are in town on a day when their museum is closed and that was the case today.

Plan B - we set off on foot to explore the residential and commercial part of town as our hotel is located close to the Cruise Ship Terminal and therefore in a very industrial area. I enjoyed the stroll as the Dutch houses are located quite close to the footpath and they leave their curtains wide open affording a clear view of the living rooms and kitchens. After "sticky nosing", we found a coffee shop - no easy task here - and enjoyed the nicest coffee since home. As that seemed to "be IJmuiden", we headed back to our hotel to catch up on wifi, FB and reading, while dodging the showers that had now obliterated any sunshine.

The clouds cleared later in the afternoon and we enjoyed a sunny evening and a delicious dinner in the restaurant on the ground floor of our hotel. Tomorrow we board our cruise ship and head for Norway and the Article Circle - very exciting!

Melbourne to Amsterdam - Day1

Monday June 13

After a busy start to the year, and celebrating mum's 90th birthday over the weekend, we were finally ready for our trip. A big thank you to my sister Heather who picked us up and drove us to the airport. Being a public holiday we expected the airport to be busy, but we found it quieter than usual so we waltzed through customs and immigration and had plenty of time up our sleeve. Noelle got a phone call from her friend Jeanette Hardy (who had just returned from Europe) to say she had just dropped her sister off as Marg was flying to London with Singapore Airlines. You wouldn't believe who we were seated next to for the flight to Singapore - Marg!!

We said goodbye to Marg in Singapore, then took off again at 2am Melbourne time headed for Amsterdam. As soon as the plane had leveled off we put our eyeshades on and went to sleep, or as best you can do in economy! It was a 12 hour flight and we got some reasonable sleep, so we were in good shape when we landed. Again we were blessed with someone nice to sit next to, and so after collecting our luggage we had a coffee with our new friends Irene and Henk before we went our separate ways.

We travelled by train from Schipol airport to Haarlem, which is a very pretty town from what we saw, with bikes parked everywhere. The train doesn't go to IJmuiden where our cruise leaves from so we got a taxi from Haarlem, and were glad that our room was ready for us.

Noelle outside Haarlem station

 

Feeling refreshed after a good shower we enjoyed a big lunch, then headed for the locks that keep the North Sea from swamping Holland. The story goes that in WW2 the Germans told the Dutch to surrender or they would blow up the locks, so the Dutch surrendered! We could see how vital they are, and were fortunate to see them operating, including the opening of the bridge we walked across to let a yacht through.

Looking towards Bunker island and the North Sea

Yacht passing through the opened bridge

Lock gates open and barges head inland

 

An early night was definitely on the agenda, and being in a seaside port area we thought it was quirky how we had this picture to look at as we lay in bed - it was attached to the ceiling!

 

 

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