Baltic cruise - Day 16 & 17 - At sea and the Kiel Canal
Technically, these are both days at sea, sort of. I was sort of glad we had a down day after Stockholm. Frankly I need a bit of a rest up!
We spent the day doing not much of anything. Well, I did two miles on the walking track, just to prove that I could. Chris pooped out after the first mile. I worked on a story, read, (a book I’d previously read a couple of years earlier, but couldn’t remember the ending), quilted and watched a little TV. It’s been nice to catch up on movies. We got so involved in a movie that I even missed my wine tasting.
The day was gorgeous, sunny and temperate, except in the afternoon when we went through an enormous fog bank. The sea was mirror calm and this has probably been the smoothest cruise we’ve ever had. I’m quite spoiled now.
We took the opportunity to go through our receipts and paperwork, tossing what we no longer needed, getting the VAT forms filled out to turn in at Heathrow. It was a day to realize that we are nearly at the end of the cruise and to start mentally preparing ourselves for the trip home. We got our luggage tags and we leave the ship at 7:10 a.m. for a three-hour drive to the airport. At least we should have some time to get the VAT stuff turned in and poke around. I have some kroner that I need to exchange or perhaps I will keep it for our next trip to Stockholm. It’s hard to say, but I am sure we can amuse ourselves.
Tonight was our formal and it was nice to see folks in their finery. It was also the Captain’s Dinner, so there were all sorts of yummy things on the menu. Our tablemate, Cathy, had three servings of escargot, two entrees, dessert and she just about cleaned the platter of petite fours. It’s just not fair. She weighs about a hundred pounds and every time I see her, she is eating. Oh well, I don’t think I put any weight on this trip, but I sure didn’t lose any, even with all the walking I did.
So I had a tian (I’ve not heard this term before. It was like a shaped soft mousse) of shrimp, scallop, and crab with caviar, followed by a double chicken broth with vegetables, an entrée of pheasant and finished it off with a hazelnut soufflé with a warm bourbon sauce. It was exceptional.
Chris didn’t quite out eat Cathy. He had an app that eludes me now, a tomato soup, green salad, the lobster and tiger prawns entrée (he asked if they would take off the lobster and replace it with more prawns, which they did) and the soufflé with ice cream instead of the sauce.
The production show was late because of the Captain’s cocktail party, so I opted out. The production shows all sort of lookalike after you’ve seen them a few times. They do a wonderful job with the space they have, but the shows run for about five years. The bigger ships actually do abridged musicals, but the Ocean and Tahitian simply don’t have the staging for it. I opted out of the show and went back to the cabin to finish my book instead. Because of my job, I can see theatre just about any day of the week - ah, but to have time to read, that’s a pleasure I rarely get these days.
Day 17-
I woke up as we were entering the Kiel Canal. We are currently at station keeping and the sea is a mirror - no waves, in fact, no movement at all. It’s very warm out, nearly 17 c. which is much warmer than we have had in the mornings on this cruise. I have the balcony window open and the sheers aren’t even moving in the wind. We will be traversing the canal all day today (I suppose this will give me a taste of what the Panama Canal will be like on the next cruise).
I was sort of expecting it to be boring, but it was very relaxing watching the countryside slip past us. I spent the morning out on the balcony, enjoying the warm weather and quilting. I finished my second square, which was pretty cool. I have one set aside for the plane trip and that will mark the half way point. I’m doing placements this time.
Anyhow, we moved through the first lock, which brought us up to the level of the canal and we started off. There were occasional jockeying wars as we were pitted against container vessels, both loaded and empty, military craft, personal craft and everything in between. We passed beneath several bridges and almost without fail, there were people waving to us.
We passed by a camp group, saw a gentleman sun bathing in the buff (whoo, whoo) and passed by many small village and some larger towns. We entered the canal at 7 and exited at about 6:30. We still had another 35 miles to go once we left the canal to reach the North Sea.
Lucas, our steward, delivered our suitcases today and we started packing everything except clothes away. We had *surprise* ABBA playing and were wrapping and trying to figure out where things should go when I noticed that the ship seemed to be canted. I made a crude comment and Chris got up and said, “Hey, you have to see this.”
We had gone from a sunny lovely day to a squall. The rain was bucketing down and there was thunder and lightning. We had about two hours of rainy weather and I wondered about Amsterdam. According to the site I use, it would be sunny with a 30% change of rain. Hope so!
We got our two big suitcases packed and even got the tips straightened out (the cruise lines adds a 10% tip every day and it’s split across the board so that even the folks we don’t see but who are vital to the ship get something. However, we you can give them something extra if you feel their service was above and beyond. We made sure our wait staff and room steward had something, besides getting some nuts from the Central Valley. We always bring flavored nuts with us to give to folks who make an impression on us. After divvying them out, we had some left over, so we decided to give them to our table mates and the two top that became part of our table. We also had two bottles of champagne and we gave those away as well.
Dinner was the chef’s dinner and he pulled out all the stops.
I had a terrine of venison and quail with a red onion relish, followed by a fabulous cream of mushroom soup and a trio of lamb, veal, and chicken. All of us were served a strawberry thyme sorbet before the entrée and it was huge! Two bites and I was done.
Chris had the cream of mushroom soup, a green salad, and the sole, as well as a large portion of my entrée as I was stuffed practically before it arrived! His entrée was very small, so it worked out well. He had a crème Brule with some ice cream on the side and Cathy ordered cookies for the table. I had a pistachio one that was okay. It’s hard to get excited about it when you are filled to bursting.
We headed back to the room to talk through our next stop, pack a bit more and read. Can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day. Wow, this trip has gone fast! Because my Internet will be cut off by midnight on the 28th, this is will probably be my last post from the ship. Thanks to everyone who followed along and don’t fear if I’m out of touch for a day or so. I should be back on-line by the 30th and will post the Amsterdam portion.
Take care and happy sails!
We spent the day doing not much of anything. Well, I did two miles on the walking track, just to prove that I could. Chris pooped out after the first mile. I worked on a story, read, (a book I’d previously read a couple of years earlier, but couldn’t remember the ending), quilted and watched a little TV. It’s been nice to catch up on movies. We got so involved in a movie that I even missed my wine tasting.
The day was gorgeous, sunny and temperate, except in the afternoon when we went through an enormous fog bank. The sea was mirror calm and this has probably been the smoothest cruise we’ve ever had. I’m quite spoiled now.
We took the opportunity to go through our receipts and paperwork, tossing what we no longer needed, getting the VAT forms filled out to turn in at Heathrow. It was a day to realize that we are nearly at the end of the cruise and to start mentally preparing ourselves for the trip home. We got our luggage tags and we leave the ship at 7:10 a.m. for a three-hour drive to the airport. At least we should have some time to get the VAT stuff turned in and poke around. I have some kroner that I need to exchange or perhaps I will keep it for our next trip to Stockholm. It’s hard to say, but I am sure we can amuse ourselves.
Tonight was our formal and it was nice to see folks in their finery. It was also the Captain’s Dinner, so there were all sorts of yummy things on the menu. Our tablemate, Cathy, had three servings of escargot, two entrees, dessert and she just about cleaned the platter of petite fours. It’s just not fair. She weighs about a hundred pounds and every time I see her, she is eating. Oh well, I don’t think I put any weight on this trip, but I sure didn’t lose any, even with all the walking I did.
So I had a tian (I’ve not heard this term before. It was like a shaped soft mousse) of shrimp, scallop, and crab with caviar, followed by a double chicken broth with vegetables, an entrée of pheasant and finished it off with a hazelnut soufflé with a warm bourbon sauce. It was exceptional.
Chris didn’t quite out eat Cathy. He had an app that eludes me now, a tomato soup, green salad, the lobster and tiger prawns entrée (he asked if they would take off the lobster and replace it with more prawns, which they did) and the soufflé with ice cream instead of the sauce.
The production show was late because of the Captain’s cocktail party, so I opted out. The production shows all sort of lookalike after you’ve seen them a few times. They do a wonderful job with the space they have, but the shows run for about five years. The bigger ships actually do abridged musicals, but the Ocean and Tahitian simply don’t have the staging for it. I opted out of the show and went back to the cabin to finish my book instead. Because of my job, I can see theatre just about any day of the week - ah, but to have time to read, that’s a pleasure I rarely get these days.
Day 17-
I woke up as we were entering the Kiel Canal. We are currently at station keeping and the sea is a mirror - no waves, in fact, no movement at all. It’s very warm out, nearly 17 c. which is much warmer than we have had in the mornings on this cruise. I have the balcony window open and the sheers aren’t even moving in the wind. We will be traversing the canal all day today (I suppose this will give me a taste of what the Panama Canal will be like on the next cruise).
I was sort of expecting it to be boring, but it was very relaxing watching the countryside slip past us. I spent the morning out on the balcony, enjoying the warm weather and quilting. I finished my second square, which was pretty cool. I have one set aside for the plane trip and that will mark the half way point. I’m doing placements this time.
Anyhow, we moved through the first lock, which brought us up to the level of the canal and we started off. There were occasional jockeying wars as we were pitted against container vessels, both loaded and empty, military craft, personal craft and everything in between. We passed beneath several bridges and almost without fail, there were people waving to us.
We passed by a camp group, saw a gentleman sun bathing in the buff (whoo, whoo) and passed by many small village and some larger towns. We entered the canal at 7 and exited at about 6:30. We still had another 35 miles to go once we left the canal to reach the North Sea.
Lucas, our steward, delivered our suitcases today and we started packing everything except clothes away. We had *surprise* ABBA playing and were wrapping and trying to figure out where things should go when I noticed that the ship seemed to be canted. I made a crude comment and Chris got up and said, “Hey, you have to see this.”
We had gone from a sunny lovely day to a squall. The rain was bucketing down and there was thunder and lightning. We had about two hours of rainy weather and I wondered about Amsterdam. According to the site I use, it would be sunny with a 30% change of rain. Hope so!
We got our two big suitcases packed and even got the tips straightened out (the cruise lines adds a 10% tip every day and it’s split across the board so that even the folks we don’t see but who are vital to the ship get something. However, we you can give them something extra if you feel their service was above and beyond. We made sure our wait staff and room steward had something, besides getting some nuts from the Central Valley. We always bring flavored nuts with us to give to folks who make an impression on us. After divvying them out, we had some left over, so we decided to give them to our table mates and the two top that became part of our table. We also had two bottles of champagne and we gave those away as well.
Dinner was the chef’s dinner and he pulled out all the stops.
I had a terrine of venison and quail with a red onion relish, followed by a fabulous cream of mushroom soup and a trio of lamb, veal, and chicken. All of us were served a strawberry thyme sorbet before the entrée and it was huge! Two bites and I was done.
Chris had the cream of mushroom soup, a green salad, and the sole, as well as a large portion of my entrée as I was stuffed practically before it arrived! His entrée was very small, so it worked out well. He had a crème Brule with some ice cream on the side and Cathy ordered cookies for the table. I had a pistachio one that was okay. It’s hard to get excited about it when you are filled to bursting.
We headed back to the room to talk through our next stop, pack a bit more and read. Can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day. Wow, this trip has gone fast! Because my Internet will be cut off by midnight on the 28th, this is will probably be my last post from the ship. Thanks to everyone who followed along and don’t fear if I’m out of touch for a day or so. I should be back on-line by the 30th and will post the Amsterdam portion.
Take care and happy sails!