May 31, 2013: In flight, somewhere over Hudson Bay..... Since forever more, or when I was last seen in swaddling clothes (I don't know which came first), people who have served us food have felt obliged to say, "There you go!", upon its presentation. Is it too much effort to say, "enjoy your meal", or too high-brow to say, "bon appetit"? Why does it always have to be this most colossal of cliches?!
Dear lady, or kind server sir: just how or where is it that I am to "GO", now that my gluteus maximus is firmly planted in this economy class seat, with 5 mm of tolerance on either side, my tray-table obviously not in an upright and locked position, and the rubber chicken entree of the day, staring up at me from its plastic partition?
Maybe its because these givers in life feel obliged to say something to their receivers, as a kind of charge or benediction. After all, a void of verbiage would be too uncomfortable for both parties. One simply can't say nothing. However, in the case of "there you go", something means nothing. As I end this vent, I feel a whole lot better.
On the upside of flight 6163 to Copenhagen, not one single collic-cranky baby could be heard from takeoff to touchdown. That would have been a double blessing, had either the Bride or your scribe been able to have a decent stint of sleep. Instead, dozing came intermittently, during crucial parts of every last movie we tried to watch.
June 2, 2013: Copenhagen....So why, after having been twice before to this "Beautiful Queen of the Seas", would we want to pay this place a second encore? Because there is only one Tivoli Gardens, and because it is THE place in all of Denmark which rolls out the red carpet for people willing to shrug off their worries, recall their childhood, and love life as only Danes can do. Their roller coaster ride is 90 seconds of sheer exhiliration. Those omni-present Hop-on-Hop-off buses around this, and all major tourist towns, are for the less venturesome and the geriatric crowd; not for the kid in each of us. Over the years, we've found many a good thing to be worth repeating; even at the cost of discovering something new. That's what the second-oldest amusement park in the world does to a mind-set. Roller-coasters rock. Water fowl frolic. Marching bands strut. This place is like Narnia without the Bad Queen. As most any Swede will concede, their neighbors to the west know best how to have fun.
June 4, 2013: Warnemunde, Germany..... When we disembarked our ship, we noticed that quite a few of our fellow travelers had opted for the train ride to Berlin, rather than hob-knobbing around this quaint town of 3,000. Their choice has me somewhat mystified. The trip by train from here to Berlin takes three hours. Naturally, the return requires the same amount of time. The "Star" allowed eight (8) hours of shore leave, en toto. That left a meager two hours to do the capital city of the euro-zone's most influential country. It's tatamount to getting a grasp of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" by reading the fly-leaf. Why bother? We chose the path less-taken, stuck around, and walked along both sides of the harbor promenade; stopping at the most delightful second-story coffee-haus, called the "Schakolade" for our one and only weakness; the double latte. Yes, they also make candy in that establishment.
June 4, 2013: Warnemunde, Germany..... When we disembarked our ship, we noticed that quite a few of our fellow travelers had opted for the train ride to Berlin, rather than hob-knobbing around this quaint town of 3,000. Their choice has me somewhat mystified. The trip by train from here to Berlin takes three hours. Naturally, the return requires the same amount of time. The "Star" allowed eight (8) hours of shore leave, en toto. That left a meager two hours to do the capital city of the euro-zone's most influential country. It's tatamount to getting a grasp of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" by reading the fly-leaf. Why bother? We chose the path less-taken, stuck around, and walked along both sides of the harbor promenade; stopping at the most delightful second-story coffee-haus, called the "Schakolade" for our one and only weakness; the double latte. Yes, they also make candy in that establishment.
Granted, Warnemunde caters to cruise ships, but it is not spoiled by them. This is not at all like the main drag in Oranjestad, Aruba, or Pleasure Beach in Blackpoole, England. Every business is purposefully small, compact, and highly specialized. In short, they don't gear to the masses. Many who have sailed on the Baltic consider this the best of all ports to visit.
June 5, 2013; Tallinn, Estonia.....We were promptly greeted, dockside, by our tour guide, Maive, together with her driver, Anne; an easy name for your scribe to remember. Both were fluent in English - to an impressive degree. However, Maive also was equally adept in Swedish, which made me her admirer for life. During our trip on the outskirts and around town, we saw a recently built art museum, a cemetary, old town, the presidential palace. The "changing of the guard" would not make
Buckingham Palace nor the White House sit up and take notice. Every hour on the hour, a military escort would lead two (2) soldiers to the stairs of the palace; there to relieve two (2) other soldiers of their duty. There was a total of
To be continued....
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