World Cruise 2 Completed
Last updated 30th August 2019
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Days into World Cruise No 2
World Cruise No 2 Website
No Dining room breakfast today as there is a 10:30am Brunch (Big Range Unhealthy Non-nutritious Calorific Hordes)
We were here 2 years ago, and were happy to show Tony and Julie around using both our wheelchairs. We ended up spending 4 hours ashore.
We decided to follow the purple walking route, marked by the faded purple line painted on the road.
Windy overnight, heading north past Portugal, late sunrise at 7:15am as we move past the longest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere.
Back into sea day routine, Kevin Cards, morning tea, lunch, cards and formal tonight, Anne to Bible study, morning tea, Pop Choir and dinner.
Anne walking the corridor back to our cabin
We started our day as we boarded our chartered train with 12 carriages (500 passengers) opposite the wharf for a 3 hour journey to Berlin.
Dinner and a Violinist tonight
It appears that our original wharf put an increased fee per person on our ship so it was decided to provide a free shuttle service from our new wharf (about 50 minutes drive) to central Amsterdam.
Our 3.5 hour walk from shuttle dropoff point
Starbucks first for a caffeine shot
Where did I park the Bike?
Cannabis Ice cream and anything else
Time for a snack before making our way to the shuttle pickup point.
Was this where I left the bike?
Long days with sunrise today at 4:55am and setting at 10:10pm and temperature in the high teens compared to yesterday’s mid 30 0C.
A day to relax at sea before the hectic two weeks ahead with only four sea days in the next thirteen days
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Day Number
|
Date
|
Port or Sea day
|
|
45
|
Jun-19
|
Berlin
|
|
46
|
Fri, Jun 28
|
At Sea
|
|
47*
|
Sat, Jun 29
|
Riga, Latvia
|
|
48*
|
Sun, Jun 30
|
Tallinn, Estonia
|
|
49*
|
Mon, Jul 1
|
Helsinki, Finland
|
|
50*
|
Tue, Jul 2
|
St. Petersburg, Russia
|
|
51*
|
Wed, Jul 3
|
St. Petersburg, Russia
|
|
52
|
Thu, Jul 4
|
At Sea
|
|
53*
|
Fri, Jul 5
|
Stockholm, Sweden
|
|
54
|
Sat, Jul 6
|
At Sea
|
|
55*
|
Sun, Jul 7
|
Copenhagen, Denmark
|
|
56
|
Mon, Jul 8
|
At Sea
|
|
57*
|
Tue, Jul 9
|
London (Dover), England
|
Great first hand at cards today and partner had joker.
Auction for ship’s map signed by the Captain, how much do you think it raised for seafarers’ charities?
Answer at end of the day
Answer: Map sold for $4,100 to a NZ passenger.
A great day, with perfect weather (mid 20 0C with blue skies after some early cloud) and ended with 144 photos after culling.
In Berlin we meet our (excellent) guide Annika on our coach. Next a 3 ½ hour tour of Berlin with photo stops at the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. We also passed by other sights such as the Reichstag, the seat of the German Parliament, the Gendarmenmarkt Square, Tiergarten Park and the Victory Column which gave us a good overview of Berlin.
We had a couple of hours free time on Berlin's and Germany's most famous shopping mile, Kurfurstendamm Boulevard, featuring an abundance of shops, designer outlets and continental Europe's largest Department Store, KaDeWe.
Checkpoint Charlie
All fake including the location, out train guide showed us the original location on our way back to the train. Where else would you find a Maccas 20 metres away from such an historic location?
Our excellent guide spent a lot of time explaining Berlin’s history with pictures and the map above a great help.
Kevin had a Curry Sausage and Anne had a Turkey Schnitzel while we explored this shopping area before we rejoined our coach at 5:45 to return to our train at Berlin West station, arriving at 9:30pm.
Reichstag their Parliament building, the insert shows the spiral dome with people walking the spiral in the dome.
The line of bricks marked where the original wall was.
Kevin only took pictures but made up for that by having a sausage roll on deck while trying to answer the Shark Trivia on the big screen.
Web update using Telstra with my roaming data from Spain Mobile network and cards saw another day sail by.
Soon distracted by the need for a wee wee, so found the Town Hall before continuing to the Cathedral.
Tony and Kevin took the opportunity to proceed to the top of the bell tower, a long spiral ramp with only a few stairs at the top, not realising the time, just as 11am bells rang out, deafening.
Three days at sea before Amsterdam.
Church at 9am, surprised to learn we had only two more Sunday services at sea before Sydney as the other Sundays are port days.
Lunch, cake, quiche and coffee
Production Show to end this day at sea
Another relaxing day at sea, usual activities with Pop Choir moved to Vista theatre, no these are not all choir, most enjoying the choir practice while they wait for Trivia which was next.
More free drinks at the Captain Circle meeting
Back to the railway station and the only accessible toilet (and any other WC) we found in this huge building.
The girls were glad to get home for a rest and cool air as the temperature was in the low 30 0C.
Cricket, Australia versus England live on the TV and the big screen upstairs.
Too hot upstairs, just time for Devonshire Coffee before returning to our cabin.
An abundance of Wind and Solar power
Brandenburg Gate then more city sights
Anne managed very well this “wheelchair accessible” train step as we completed a very enjoyable day in Berlin.
Select Berlin to St Petersburg below for the next section
