When we left the Royal Caribbean ship in Skagen, Denmark, we had seven hours to soak up the local flavor. This port was smaller than most. After we walked a good distance into town we shopped a while, then looked for a public bathroom. Finding none, we ducked into a local church. The simple, clean lines, wood floors, and bare white walls furnished a stark contrast to the elaborate churches we had seen in St. Petersburg. Down the center aisle,…
Our Royal Caribbean ship arrived in Helsinki, Finland early in the morning and began a long walk into town. On the way we noticed a couple of ladies scrubbing graffiti off a sign in a lovely little park. They weren’t paid to do it, they did it because it needed to be done. We stopped to visit with them before we trudged on. We happened upon a very unique Lutheran church called Temppeliaukio Church. It’s built into solid rock, thus…
Of all the places we visited on our recent cruise of the Baltics on Royal Caribbean, I think Estonia was my favorite. With great trials come great anointing. On the way to the town square we happened upon a sign at the basement of a lovely-looking house which read, “One of the most notorious and feared prisons during the Soviet occupation. Open for visitors.” We wandered in, unaware of the history of Pagari Prison. We learned in the years 1944-1989,…
July 8th we spent at sea from Southampton, England headed for Oslo, Norway. Our ship had an ice rink so our first order of business–the ice show. We had sunny weather and 60 degrees, but on the water it felt too cool to stay pool-side for very long, so indoor activities were the choice for the day. Four thousand passengers and twelve hundred crew members from fifty-five countries cruised until about 10 a.m. on July 9th aboard the Royal Caribbean’s…