Cruise day: 162/163
Ports days: 90
Sea days: 72
Countries: 28
Continents: 5
Ports: 63
Today is the last full day of our World Cruise adventure. What started as two cruises, the 138-day World Cruise and the 14-day Viking Homelands Cruise, turned into three, with the unexpected 11-day Scenic Scandinavia thrown in for good measure. I will be doing a wrap-up blog post, probably on June 5 since we won't arrive home until 11:30PM tomorrow. Please don't text me (Jean, I'm talking to you here) and ask if we're OK. ;-)
Today, we're in Copenhagen, and like most of the countries around the Baltic that we have visited over the last 25 days, Demnark is all-in on wind power.
While Los Angeles is supposedly Tesla's highest concentration of vehicles, based on the number I've seen on both visits, Copenhagen has to be in the top five.
We started our day off in Copenhagen by taking the shuttle into the town center.
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| Nyhavn Harbor |
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| August Bournonvilles Passage - August was a Danish ballet master and choreographer |
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| Royal Danish Theater |
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| Magasin du Nord - a massive department store that dates back to 1869 - covers an entire block and has five stories - we did a little shopping today |
After hanging out downtown for a while, we took the shuttle back to the ship to prepare for our afternoon excursion - the optional Christiansborg Palace and Tivoli Gardens excursion.
We started out at Christiansborg Palace - it is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. We toured one wing. I won't get too detailed with each individual room - you can just enjoy the ornate finishes. I'll add some detail in places.
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| The Hall of Giants |
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| Visitors are required to wear these stylish shoe covers |
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| The King's Staircase |
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| It sure looks like she'll miss the bowl |
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| The Tower Room |
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| The Throne Room - the taller chair is reserved for the Queen to support her hair - the arms of the King's throne are lions to symbolize power - the Queen's are griffins to symbolize wisdom |
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| The painting on the ceiling shows Norway's flag falling from Heaven |
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| The floors were stunning |
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| King Christian IX's Room |
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| The carpet was a gift to the Queen on her 40th Jubilee |
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| The Fredensborg Room - the parents-in-law of Europe |
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| Their three sons and three daughters married into nearly every European family |
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| The Velvet Room |
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| The squares on the ceiling... |
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| ...match up exactly with the squares on the floor |
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| The Great Hall - they could seat 400 for dinner here - I think the World Cafe might have them beat |
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| Sculptures in the Swedish Gallery |
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| The Green Room |
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| The Dining Hall - can you please pass the salt? |
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| I think there were 44 chairs but don't quote me on that |
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| The Abilgaard Room |
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| The Queen's Staircase |
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| Porcelain with all the different native plants and herb |
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| The Queen's Library |
Next, it was off to Tivoli Gardens. We saw some sights along the way.
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| Copenhagen is known as the city with all the spires and for good reason |
Tivoli Gardens is an oddity. It is gardens, and an amusement park plopped right in the center of the city. It is wildly popular and tons of people were coming in on this Friday night.
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| The Hans Christian Andersen statue across the street from Tivoli Gardens |
On the ride back, we asked if we could be dropped off as close as possible to the Little Mermaid statue since Arlona was not able to see it on our last stop here. They were more than happy to oblige.
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| The lighting was much better today than the last visit |
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| Of course, Arlona had to feel the water - like other places, wet... |
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| On the way back, we could see all four ships that were in port today - the Celebrity Apex, The Viking Star, an Aida ship, and an MSC ship - I didn't look them up |
We sailed shortly after 7PM. Wait, what? We're flying out of Copenhagen tomorrow. Sailed to where? Another berth. It seems that for some reason, we couldn't stay where we were docked and had to move to another dock. OK, whatever. As long as the bus knows where to go to pick us up in the morning.
The General Manager, Wendy, arranged a final send-off for us tonight - the last World Cruisers standing. It was humbling and gratifying and it really meant a lot to us to have some of the officers here with us that have made our cruise experience a better one.
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| From left to right: Financial Officer Anna, Assistant Housekeeper, Maricris, our Cabin Steward Cristopher, General Manager Wendy, Garry, Arlona, Captain Olav, Executive Housekeeper Anna, Head Waiter Uma, Sommelier Dejan |
This has seriously been an amazing experience and we owe much of that to these amazing people, as well as the entire crew. The biggest compliment I can give is that we have not met a single crew member that we wouldn't hire. They are incredible and made us feel like family. Until...
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| General Manager Wendy said that it was time to kick our sorry butts off this ship! |
I trust that everyone reading this is intelligent enough to recognize humor when they see it, but in this day and age, I'll remind everyone, just in case. If you don't realize it, this photo speaks volumes. The fact that we have that personal a relationship with Wendy that we could stage this photo is amazing. The fact that she is the third General Manager we have had on this journey makes it even more amazing. We can't speak highly enough about Viking's staff and Wendy and her entire team are absolutely the best.
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| Our bags are packed |
We put our suitcases out before 10PM on schedule. We have our carry-ons still in the room for the last-minute items. For the first time in nearly 5.5 months, we don't have a test tube to spit in. What we do have is a pair of negative COVID tests that we need for travel. Yes, Arlona is testing negative. Woo! Of course, we do have her recovery letter, just in case, but a negative test was a welcome sight.
Tomorrow morning, we need to be out of our stateroom by 8AM. We will head up to breakfast at that time. Our shuttle is scheduled for 9:15AM and our flight is at 1:30PM into JFK in New York and then on to Orlando and the ride home. As I mentioned, we'll be home late tomorrow night and have to do things like turn on the water and such, so don't expect a blog tomorrow. I will do a final blog the next day with some summary information and thoughts.
It will be a long travel day tomorrow. We're torn as we're looking forward to being home, but sad to leave our Viking family. Tomorrow will be bittersweet.
viajes seguros; Travels en toute sécurité; sichere Reisen; safe travels
ReplyDeleteSafe travels and thank you. I will miss looking forward to your blogs, but I still have June 5th to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteSo enjoyed the read. We are booked on the 22/23 world cruise so this gave us a preview of what is to come.
ReplyDeleteGary, loved your blog. Thanks you very much. We were on the 2019 W/C and going on the 22/23.Can't wait. Safe travels and THANKS again
ReplyDeleteHave a safe trip back home. I've enjoyed following along. Our first first world cruise was on Oceania and our next one (set for 2023) will also be on Oceania. But we've been impressed with your experience and might do one with Viking someday as well.
ReplyDeleteTo Garry and Arlona, Each of the 162 days of your blog we have been jealously amazed at all you have done. We were on the 2019/2020 World Cruise which was cut short by COVID. What a bummer that was! But, reading your daily blogs helped make up for those days we lost. Thank you so much for all the time and effort you took to entertain us!
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