BALTIC AND ICELAND CRUISE
July 4 – 30, 2017
This was a very interesting summer
cruise as it is the only time to travel to these destinations.
Before boarding the Holland America Zuiderdam we spent 2 nights in
Copenhagen at the Palace Hotel in the center of the city. It was
most convenient for walking and sightseeing. It was a busy cruise
with very few sea days. We enjoy the sea days but this kept us busy
with sightseeeing.
The following pictures will help tell
the story of our trip. We were most fortunate to have very good
weather except for fog at Djupivogur. Iceland We were unable to
tender to shore as the visibility was almost zero.
COPENHAGEN
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| The Palace Hotel on the main square. Our hotel for 2 days |
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| Many choices of Herring for lunch |
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| An building made out of shipping containers |
KIEL, GERMANY
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| Interesting local building |
TALLINN, ESTONIA
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
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| Our new "best" friends |
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| The Hermitage Museum |
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| The Amber room in the Royal Summer Palace |
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| The Peterhof |
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| The many extraordinary fountains at the Peterhof |
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| A river cruise for a city tour |
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| The front entrance of the Hermitage. The marathon race was being run this day |
HELSINKI, FINLAND
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| The Rock Church |
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
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| View from inside the Grand Hotel |
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| Enjoying a beer at the Grand Hotel |
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Leaving Stockholm and sailing past the summer cottages on the many islands
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| The islands around Stockholm |
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| An evening on board the ship |
ROSTOCK, GERMANY
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| WITH MARTHA AND COLIN |
BERGEN, NORWAY
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| Bergen, Norway |
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| The historical buildings |
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| The trolls are always present |
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| Delicious meals being cooked at the market |
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| Sailing away from Bergen, Norway |
ALESUND, NORWAY
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| Sail away from Alesund, Norway |
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| We took a tender into the harbour |
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| Northern Fulmar on the lake in town - notice the salt tube on their bill |
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
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| Entering Reykjavik |
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| The city as seen from the Water Tower |
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| A very impressive Church with a great pipe organ |
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| Inside of the Chruch with many tourists |
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| Statues outside of the Water Tower |
INVERNESS, SCOTLAND AND TRAVELLING TO LOCH NESS
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| The Royal Mile |
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| LOCH NESS |
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
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| Castle on the hill |
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| Back to Iceland |
We actually sailed back to Copenhagen and then to fly Islandair back to Canada. The plane was late and we missed all of our connections and we were given a overnight stay in Reykjavik. It was a pleasant stay but very tiring.
Just a note to mention about Hop On Hop Off busses. They made an error and billed us twice for a trip in Bergen, Norway and they would not refund our money. We are now in the process of trying to get it refunded and it is a hazzle.
As you can see on the pictures we had great weather and smooth seas. This is not the norm for this trip as you can expect rain and wind.
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| Flying over Greenland |
