Baltic Adventure - Day 1

Copenhagen, Denmark

Tuesday, June 22, 2004: Copenhagen, Denmark

Our Baltic Adventure finally began after months of planning and frantic last minute packing. Debra and I departed from our home in Santa Clarita, California, headed for Los Angeles International Airport at the wee hours of the morning of June 21st.

In Oregon, my parents, Delmer & Frankie, were doing the same. Some 24+ hours later -- after plane changes in Chicago, a nearly missed connection for my parents in Washington, D.C., more plane changes in Dusseldorf, Germany, for me and Deb -- we would all meet up together in the lobby of our hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. The trip had only just begun, but we were already exhausted. So we were happy to check into our rooms at First Hotel Vesterbro.

It was only mid-day on Tuesday -- Day 1 of our Baltic Adventure -- and I have always liked to hit the ground running in order to beat the jetlag. So while Mom stayed behind at the hotel to grab a nap, Deb & Dad and I headed into town on foot. It was only a few blocks to Stroeget (or Strøget), a pedestrian-only area through the heart of Copenhagen.

As we approached the town square near the Rathaus (City Hall), the dark clouds which had blown in since our arrival looked ominous. Across the street was Philips tower with the gold statues of two girls -- one on a bicycle and one with an umbrella. If the girl on the bike is showing, it means the weather will be nice. If the girl with the umbrella is showing, it means it will rain. Apparently the two girls have been stuck in the same spot for years, both of them half in and half out. Which means there is a 50/50 chance of rain most of the time. Suddenly the clouds let loose and it poured down rain! We took cover under a store awning and waited out the weather. After a few minutes, the storm blew through and it was sunny and clear again.

We took a stroll down Strøget and stopped for a drink at a local Pub. Then we headed back to the hotel to gather up Mom and look for some dinner.

We decided to head over to Tivoli Gardens with its 37 restaurants and 25 exciting attractions, where many things are inspired by the fairy tales of hometown icon Hans Christian Andersen. Tivoli has been a favorite meeting place for Copenhageners ever since it opened in 1843. Today, the Gardens are like an oasis in the middle of Copenhagen. The hallmark of several Tivoli buildings is the light pavilion-like style, which was also the dominant Tivoli style when the Gardens opened 161 years ago. This place was the original Disneyland before there was a Disneyland! We had a simple meal in one of the food courts and then decided to stroll around. At the center of the park was a huge square and stage where hundreds of people had started to gather to watch a sporting event on a giant screen. We realized we were witnessing the finals of the Euro 2004 Soccer Championship. And on this very evening, Denmark was playing Sweden. Soon it seemed as if the whole country had come to Tivoli Gardens to watch the game!

We left Tivoli briefly to walk over to Slotsholmen to see Christianborg Palace, and to walk along the canals near Nyhaven. Being so far north, it stayed light outside until very late in the evening, so we decided to cut through Tivoli Gardens again on our way back to our hotel. We had a lovely stroll through the park and stopped to shop for souvenirs and postcards before we got swept up in the throngs of soccer fans who flooded into the streets after the game ended. There were also Swedish soccer fans mingled in with the Danish fans, and everybody seemed oddly happy. We learned later that the two teams had "tied" -- advancing both teams into the finals.

Little did we realize, this was good news for everybody! The next day we were supposed to meet up with my old high school buddy, Johan, from Sweden -- and he warned me he wouldn't be allowed into Copenhagen if Denmark lost the game to Sweden! He'd be taking his life into his hands driving around in Denmark with Swedish license plates! (Southern Sweden was once a province of Denmark, so ancient rivalries die hard!)

Stroeget -- pedestrian-only street in downtown Copenhagen

The weather girls in tower

Taking shelter from sudden rain shower -- Copenhagen Rathaus (City Hall) in b.g.

Eric & Delmer at fountain on Stroeget

Copenhagen

Copenhagen skyline

Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Deb, Frankie & Eric at Tivoli Gardens

Fountains at Tivoli Gardens

Copenhagen skyline from inside Tivoli Gardens

Food Court at Tivoli Gardens

Pavilion at Tivoli Gardens

Chinese stage at Tivoli Gardens

Gateway to Tivoli Gardens

Frankie, Delmer & Deb -- Entrance to Tivoli Gardens in b.g.

Palace of King Christian IV

Canals of Copenhagen

Chinese pavilion at Tivoli

Tivoli Gardens -- around 10 PM

Eric at Tivoli Gardens

Debra at Tivoli Gardens

Delmer, Frankie & Deb at the end of Day 1 in Copenhagen

Baltic Adventure - Day 2

Pictured (l to r): Johan's dad, Eric's mom, Eric, Johan's mom,
Johan, and Eric's dad -- at the Persson home in Sweden

Wednesday, June 23: Lund, Sweden

I'd been looking forward to this day with much anticipation for years! I was finally going to visit my old friend Johan in his native Sweden. A quarter of a century ago we'd been classmates together at Winston Churchill High School in Eugene, Oregon -- where Johan was an exchange student. I have fond memories from those days (we used to tell people he was the Crown Prince of Sweden) -- and today Johan and I have friends and former classmates who live all over the world.

Johan had agreed to drive to Copenhagen to pick us all up at our hotel and take us back to Sweden to meet his family. This was probably one of my favorite days on the trip, because I love to see how real people live. We'd already visited the grocery store near our hotel, which I always consider a barometer of how the locals live. Johan found us waiting eagerly outside our hotel, so we all loaded into his van and headed off to Sweden. Our journey would take us across the Øresund Bridge, which is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world at nearly 8 kilometers across. It connects the Danish capitol of Copenhagen with the Swedish city of Malmö.

Our first stop was at the house where Johan grew up. Johan's mother and father graciously invited us into their home, gave us a tour of their garden, and offered us chocolates and homemade lingonberry juice. (I think it was lingonberry.)

Then we were off to Johan's house in Lund to meet his better half, Anki, their daughter Alice and son Harry. (They have another daughter, Sophie, who was off studying in England.) It just happened to be Harry's 8th birthday -- as well as Midsummer's Eve -- so we were in for some serious celebrating.

Midsummer's Eve is probably the most popular festival day in Sweden, together with Christmas. Midsummer is an old pagan celebration, dating back to the Viking Era. It was a fertility rite originally, and a celebration of Mother nature. It was hoped that this would help to give a good harvest in the autumn. The customs around Midsummer are very old. The May pole is still raised throughout Sweden and people play old song and dancing games around it in nearly every village. Nowadays Midsummer is a national holiday. Family and friends meet, eat herring and fresh potatoes and drink schnapps and beer (and we did all those things!). The actual day of the celebration is also the longest day of the year (summer solstice), signifying that summer has reached the half-way point. Johan's parents joined us for a delightful feast prepared by Anki and Johan -- which, of course, included Swedish meatballs! After dinner we had cake and tea and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Harry. Deb and I brought Harry the bright orange t-shirt you see him wearing in the photos below, which featured cartoonish charicatures of Los Angeles & Hollywood landmarks on the front.

At some juncture, after Johan's parents returned home for the day, the rest of us drove into Lund to see the University where Johan and Anki work, and we also stopped to see the Lund Cathedral, the Nordic Region's largest and most beautiful example of Romanesque architecture, which features an incredible astrological clock inside the building.

After a quick drive through Lund, we returned to Johan's home and had a chance to visit some more. Johan also showed some slides from his time living in Oregon.

Too soon it was time to say our goodbyes to Anki, Alice & Harry so Johan could drive us back to Copenhagen. It was sad to part ways again, but it was such an incredible pleasure to spend the day with Johan and his family. We enjoyed every minute of it and really, really appreciated their generous hospitality.

Johan & Eric (and Johan's father in the b.g.) at the house where Johan grew up

The house where Johan & his family live

Astrological clock at cathedral in Lund, Sweden

Astrological clock

Astrological clock

Happy Birthday, Harry!

Anki & Johan

The family dog

Harry on the computer

From left to right: Johan, Harry, Anki & Alice

Baltic Adventure - Day 3

Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen

Thursday, June 24: Copenhagen, Denmark

After breakfast we finished re-packing our luggage in preparation for our transfer to our cruise ship later in the afternoon. We decided to do some more sightseeing around Copenhagen in the morning, so we checked out of our rooms, and left our luggage with the Bell Captain in the lobby.

We set out on foot to visit Rosenborg Castle, the 17th century home of King Christian IV, which today is home to the Danish Crown Jewels and Royal Regalia. We toured the castle and visited the dungeon vault where the Crown Jewels are now housed. I'm not sure if it was ever a dungeon, but it is in the basement of the castle -- and the Crown Jewels are amazing.

Afterwards, we walked through the expansive gardens surrounding the castle and headed toward the more modern Amailienborg Palace, where the current Queen Margrethe II resides, to witness the changing of the guard. After the guards finished marching around, we toured the Palace museum where we saw many things, including the wedding dress of Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, an Australian, who married Crown Prince Frederik in a lavish royal wedding on May 14th, just one month before our arrival in Copenhagen.

After touring the palace museum, it was time to head back to the hotel, pick up our luggage, and track down our cruise ship. We hailed a cab in the middle of the palace square, and off we went to the hotel. Once we retreived our luggage, it took some doing to get it all squeezed into the cab, but we did it. And then off we went to the docks. When our driver learned that we had not seen one of Copenhagen's most famous landmarks -- or should I say seamarks? -- he insisted on stopping long enough for Dad and I to snap a couple shots of 'The Little Mermaid' -- inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.

Our savy cab driver also knew that our cruise ship would not be found at the appointed pier, so he took us directly to the correct location, where we turned over our luggage to the porters and began our embarkation procedure for boarding Holland America's m.s. Westerdam.

The Vista Class Westerdam is a beautiful new cruise ship which joined the Holland America fleet just weeks before our trip. We would be party to her 7th sailing. The Westerdam is huge -- 951 feet long, with a passenger capacity of 1,848 and crew of 800 -- and every luxury and convenience available on a modern cruise ship. In addition to the fabulous spa facilities, casino, disco, piano bars, shops, swimming pools, hot tubs, restaurants, movie theater, live stage entertainment, the endless buffets, taco stand, pizza bar and fine food served in the Westerdam dining room, we also had a state-of-the-art Internet Cafe with satellite uplink and brand new everything! We could hardly wait to set sail. But first, there was one thing we had to get out of the way...

The mandatory lifeboat drill!

We waved 'goodbye' to Copenhagen and sailed off on our Baltic Adventure...

Crowns in castle vault

Crown in castle vault

Royal Crest on ceiling of Thrown Room

Thrown Room & silver lions

Rosenborg Castle

Debra emerges from Castle vault

Cathedral near Royal Palace

Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace

Guard at the Royal Palace

Changing of the Guard

The Little Mermaid bids us "farewell" as we leave Copenhagen

Ready to set sail on the m.s. Westerdam

Baltic Adventure - Day 4

Eric & Deb on first formal night

Friday, June 25: Sailing the Baltic Sea

The first full day on board the Westerdam is a blur.

I know we took advantage of the Spa facilities and booked several massage treatments in advance. We fell in love with the Thermal Suite which includes warm tile lounges, a Turkish sauna, a regular steam sauna, and a dry sauna, plus three aroma-therapy showers with a variety of fragrant scents. Deb and I signed up for the full-cruise pass! And we really pampered ourselves on this trip. It was a real treat.

This was also our first formal evening on the ship, and we enjoyed dressing up and having our pictures taken. Our digital shots aren't as nice as the pictures taken by the Westerdam's professional photographers. We always enjoy the opportunity to pick up some of those really nice gallery shots.

Frankie & Eric

Frankie & Delmer