Seagull-then Off to Sea

Saturday dawned waayyy too early for a 3am bedtime…..but I valiantly got up , luggage was put outside for transport to the ship, and we set off for a day spent with “Seagull”.

What a FABULOUS tourguide! Cecilia knows her way around Copenhagen, so after a stop for pastry at the famous La Glace (thanks for the treat, C!)

we were off to board Symphony. What a lovely wander we had whilst heading toward the ship!

Cecilia knew the way perfectly, and we were able to see some lovely highlights

—including the famous Mermaid.

Now, over at Captain’s Voyage (for those of you who don’t know), our fearless leader is Jan-Olav, who used to be the Chief Officer on Symphony. As Cecilia had never seen the great lady up close,

I had arranged for her to come aboard with us for the day. We had a yummy lunch in the Crystal Dining Room before starting off exploring this most wonderful of ships.

Cecilia took so many wonderful photos of the ship—which can be found on this thread of CV.

We took a special "heads up" view of Norwegian Jewel

Before settling down in the Crystal Cove for a refreshing beverage-with a very special--and well travelled- Sea Troll!

All too soon, it was time to leave our lovely spot in the Crystal Cove and bid Seagull au revoir.
We hastily unpacked our bags

and it was time for our muster drill. We found our Seagull on the quay

among the fountains and sculptures

and the Captain appeared on the port Bridgewing

and the lines were cast off.

We passed by the Norwegian Jewel

and the adventure had officially begun.

The Norwegian Cruise

It’s difficult to find a place to start…even at the beginning. The whole three weeks were filled with so many sensory experiences, it’s hard to stop and break it down. But I will try.

We left Middle-Of-Nowhere on a hot Wednesday noon, bound for the Atlanta airport to meet up with portion of my family traveling that day. (My younger brother, sister-in-law and nephew joined us a day later).

It had been nine months since we had been together for the family wedding- how the kids had grown! Hugs all around and a quick bite to eat and a wait at the gate...

and we were off to board the plane.

Nine hours and 6 time zones later, we were over the pond and it was Thursday morning in Copenhagen. Our rooms were mostly ready at the SAS Radisson near Tivoli Gardens.

A little stretch of the legs, and we found ourselves a wonderful brewpub at Tivoli’s entrance for lunch.

We decided to wait on Tivoli’s fun until the next day when everyone would be with us to enjoy it, and just did a bit of sightseeing and refamiliarizing ourselves with the town we had visited on our first family cruise in 2006.

The city hall has the most wonderfully whimsical fountain





and a great reggae band playing



Oh the market stalls looked so inviting--especially the prices-about $3.50 a box of berries...or $2 a bunch of sunflowers...




We wandered around the old harbor


and saw interesting sights

and signs.... (the teens found this most amusing......)


A stop for a beer/milkshake pleased Rabbit


and Panda enormously.

Walking back to the hotel, a street performer captured our attention

Our hotel concierge (and there really is NOTHING like a good concierge when you are travelling in a pack) recommended a great Italian/kid friendly restaurant close by…perfect!

Dude in his standard shot with a ginormous calzone

Friday, the rest of the family trickled in – from Los Angeles, Louisiana and Las Vegas.

One never knows WHERE your wanderings will take you…and we found the most unlikely lunch spot—Riz Raz--which turned out to be fabulous. It looked sort of new age vegetarian, but ended up having delicious chicken and burgers!!

After picking up a new set of knitting needles from “my” Copenhagen yarn store (Sommerfuglen..isn’t it fun to have a LYS in foreign lands)- I had mushed my bamboo needles in my carryon and broken one…We hit Tivoli.

The kids bought wristbands for the rides,

Everyone else watched as they rode crazy rides

then the adults (including one very happy 18 year old who was delighted to be allowed adult beverages in Europe!!) settled happily in the biergarten. *

Happiness abounded.

and the rains came down! We ducked into a little bistro for sandwiches and some indoor play.

It was a late night for me and some other family members…as I awaited the arrival of my internet friend Cecilia. We spend a lot of our time on Captains Voyage, and she had made a special trip (breaking up her vacation) to fly to Copenhagen to meet me.

Finally meeting my CV “sister” was a true joy and high spot in the trip. We stayed up until 3am talking and drinking wine…it was WONDERFUL!

Next: my fun day with Seagull aboard Crystal Symphony!!

* Larry has requested his face be blurred in online photos (??? witness protection program???).

Oh, and one thing more...sometime in the morning, we were visited by SPIDERMAN!!!