World Cruise Day 145/152 Viking Homelands - Aalborg, Denmark - Alphabetically, our first stop!

Cruise day: 145/152

Ports days: 75
Sea days: 70
Countries: 24
Continents: 5
Ports: 55

Thanks to Deb & Rob Rothley (of my heart attack phone call - "Dr. Deborah Roth" fame) for the title idea!  It's been a great trip - from Aalborg to Zadar and everywhere in between! :-)

Before we get into today, I want to talk about COVID isolation.  They are treating Arlona extremely well.  Whatever she wants to eat or drink is taken care of.  Well, mostly, as room service seems to have a language barrier and doesn't always get the order right, or even close, they will eventually get her what she wants.  The nurse checks in daily, checking her temperature, oxygen saturation, etc.  Of course, she is PCR tested daily, like all of us.  If she needs anything for her comfort, all she needs to do is ask.  Isolation sucks, don't get me wrong here, but...if you have to isolate, Viking is doing everything they can to minimize the impact.  General Manager, Wendy, Guest Services Manager, Mara, and a whole complement of other officers, restaurant staff, and others have all gone above and beyond to make her comfortable and cared for.  If you have to be quarantined, this is where to do it.

Today we sailed to Aalborg, Denmark.

To get to Aalborg, you have to sail through a very tight channel.  We took on a pilot about 8AM, fully three hours before reaching the pier.

You can see a sandbar very close to the ship

Denmark has adopted wind power as we saw tons of turbines

You can see the water breaking on the submerged sand bar on the ship's side of the channel markers

There was a gull, cormorant, and eider group meeting this morning

All issues were discussed and agreements were made

The meeting was adjourned and the participants took to the air

He seems friendly

See that yellow off in the distance?  It was all over.

It is rapeseed - a huge source of vegetable oil and biodiesel

Wind turbine blades are manufactured here - look at the two work vans on the front left for size comparison - there is also a pickup truck by the yellow vehicle on the right with two people next to it

They had several different sizes of turbine blades stored here

To get a sense of how big these fields are, check out the car to the right of the tree in the middle

You can see our curved path

There is a large petroleum business here - I saw Circle K, Shell, & BP labeled tanks

Once we got through the industrial area, it became more residential and city-like

Clean Danish designs

House of Music

Larsen Waterfront

Aalborg University

Utzon Center for Architecture and Design - Utzon designed the Sydney Opera House

This guy was hovering as we maneuvered to the pier - perhaps Captain Lars' parking skills are being evaluated

The World Cafe featured a Norwegian lunch today, even though we're in Denmark, since today, May 17, is the Norwegian independence day.  They had Norwegian sausages, reindeer steaks, salmon, and more.

This afternoon, I took the included tour, the Aalborg walking tour.  It was 2.5 hours of walking around old Aalborg and new Aalborg.  Here are the highlights.

Aalborg is a quaint town with an old and new section - it is quite walkable with several pedestrian streets with shops and eateries

The original tax collection building - this street used to be a waterway and the King collected taxes from ships sailing in to sell their wares

Our first stop was a castle/fortress that was built in the 1500s and updated throughout the years

Typical Scandanavian half-timber construction - the area between the timbers was initially filled with clay but has been updated with brick and then painted

This is the doorway to the dungeon used to isolate witches and other criminals

The round inserts have small holes to let in limited fresh air

Street art - a collapsed water bottle, but note that the stopper is actually another bottle inserted upside down plus you can see the image of a whale in the lower bottle

I think we need these inflatable things on the Viking Star

This was originally a home but now holds businesses and residences

The old city hall

This is why I am not an art critic

We visited the Aalborg Kloster - a monastery that housed both nuns and monks in separate wings starting in the 1400s.

At the other end of the monastery built in 1506

Budolfi Church is the cathedral church for the Lutheran Diocese of Aalborg 

A sundial mounted on the building and one hour off - they can't adjust the sundial for daylight saving time

I thought the shadow of the streetlight on the building was cool

The old post office - now a bank - the small shelves on the upper portion of the turret were used as takeoff and landing locations for carrier pigeons during WWII - their messages were nearly impossible for the Nazis to intercept

This home's door lists its occupants back to 1787

Is it me, or is the step down to get into this door awkward?

Yes, the wall actually slopes outward at the bottom

The Church of Our Lady - another Lutheran church - Lutheran is the state religion in Denmark and all Lutheran ministers are civil servants paid by the government

Most Danish churches have models like this hanging in them - they are donated by wealthy families with seafaring family members and this is thought to help protect them while at sea

As we approached the waterfront, the more modern buildings started appearing

We arrived at an impromptu Viking village where we were treated to mead and small snacks for our final stop.  We were prompted to not drink all the mead, as the last portion in the glass is to be dumped on the ground as an offering to the gods to ensure safe passage and smooth seas.  I don't think the Explorers' Bar will look favorably on this practice.

The tour was nice and the town was clean and quaint.  Overall, Aalborg was a nice port to visit. I'm not sure that there is enough to do or see for an extended visit, but as a cruise stop, it was perfect.

It was a short day in Aalborg with our 11AM arrival and 6PM departure.  We sailed back out the way we came in, through the narrow channel.

 Arlona spent some time on art again today.  I gave her another tough assignment.

This photo from yesterday was her model

This is what she produced - the challenge of the clear glass - the liquid - once again, she nailed it!

We are sailing southeast toward Copenhagen.

Once again, we have had an absolutely stunning sunset.  Honestly, I never get tired of seeing these.  I hope that's true for you as well.  But it doesn't matter since I'm posting these no matter what. :-)

Copenhagen tomorrow and an 8AM included walking tour.  Time for sleep.