100 days

[mrs.dr.ron]

Pork with marzipan = taste sensation ! what a strange combination !

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks again for reviving memories. Without knowing much about Lubeck before we went there I was surprised how nice it was. Glad you did get the marzipan - but to be honest my wife is keener on it than I. Still, the shop itself is amazing. My preference would be for the truffles & praline.

 

[Pushka]

We used to give our son all the marzipan chocolates in any chocolate box as we disliked it so much. He grew up thinking all chocolate tasted like marzipan. Bad parents.

 

[drron]

We used to give our son all the marzipan chocolates in any chocolate box as we disliked it so much. He grew up thinking all chocolate tasted like marzipan. Bad parents.

You weren't the first.My parents and an aunt did that to me.Then someone gave me a block of Cadburys and I was sure it wasn't real chocolate.

 

[turtlemichael]

One of the highlights of this cruise was always going to be the crossing from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea via the Kiel Canal. It was impressive despite the "misty" weather. It didn't rain which was good seeing we spent so much time outside on deck.

Entering the first lock on the Canal north of the city of Kiel.






The sensible ones stayed in the Observation Lounge.


Seems a touch unreal to be in a ship half way across Northern Germany.

 

[turtlemichael]

Some more Kiel Canal.


Attracting some interest as we glide past.


Bridge cam so you can watch in bed.




Entering the second and last lock with the Elbe estuary ahead. The ship in the adjacent lock, and the one we followed for the 7 hours transit, is Saga Pearl ll


And now out into the open sea.

 

[drron]

We thought the Kiel canal was one of the highlights of our Whisper cruise.

 

[Pushka]

We thought the Kiel canal was one of the highlights of our Whisper cruise.

Does every Baltic cruise ship go through here?

 

[drron]

No there is a size limit.The largest that can go through is the Superstar Gemini but she is based in Asia now.

 

[turtlemichael]

More nice photos, thank you. We spent 3 nights in Wismar and really enjoyed it and visits to Lubeck & Stralsund. Will we see photos of Marzipan from the Niederegger Café in Lubeck?

A little bit more marzipan from Niederegger OZDUCK.

 

[Pushka]

No there is a size limit.The largest that can go through is the Superstar Gemini but she is based in Asia now.

I'd like to do a Panamanian cruise for this reason. One of those geeky ship things I guess.

 

[OZDUCK]

A little bit more marzipan from Niederegger OZDUCK.

View attachment 104466

I will have to make sure my wife doesn't see this photo as she will want to go back and buy some more directly from the shop.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

We thought the Kiel canal was one of the highlights of our Whisper cruise.

But we had good weather - a nice sunny day, people were out having picnics as we sailed by.

 

[turtlemichael]

The cruise is marching on. 10 days out of 28 gone. And we are more than half way through the total trip being now in our 8th week.

We have just completed two pleasant days in Amsterdam. Friends, who are Australians who live in Brussels, came up for the weekend and we had them aboard for dinner during our overnight in port. They were suitably impressed and the crew we dealt with us looked after them well. Apart from that we just wandered around Amsterdam, again in good weather.

The Cruise Terminal is about a 15 minute walk from Centraal Station, beyond the Doubletree which many will know.


Apparently the dogs in Amsterdam can interpret signs. No doubt about those Dutch!

 

[turtlemichael]

And some more...





Loved this cheese shop - lots of tastings.




Two nice coffee shops - or so the signs said

 

[turtlemichael]

Even more Amsterdam.


A duck shop.

 

[Pushka]

And some more...



View attachment 104579
Two nice coffee shops - or so the signs said

Well, they might smell nice. Except, I found out I cant smell pot for some reason. Coffeeshops not coffee shops.

 

[turtlemichael]

The last stop of the first leg of the cruise, before we dock at Southampton, is Zeebrugge. Zeebrugge is the port for this part of Belgium and is, from our point of view, the gateway to the ancient city of Brugge.

To get from the port to the city is no easy task. Silversea wanted to charge us USD79.00 for the basic bus ride round trip for a tour they called "Brugge on your own", a taxi has a set fee of 50 Euros each way and there is a Silversea-provided shuttle to a nearby town from which you get Belgian Rail into Brugge. The shuttle and the train timetables had not been coordinated so that would mean a 50 minute wait on the station. After must debate we opted for the taxi.

First problem. By the time we got ready to go there were no taxis waiting. They have to come out the 20-30 minutes from Brugge. A small band of us persuaded a tour guide to call one on her mobile and we duly waited. We would share the cab. So we got into the centre of town for 10 euros each, not a bad deal given the distance. The guide had advised us to come back by train and shuttle for the grand sum of 3 euros each. That worked well with better corodination.

There were a few people rather peeved with Silversea for a lack of their usual planning.

The local tourism association representative filled us in on what to do in our few hours in town. I mentioned that we had been here 41 years ago and she responded, with Belgian panache, "it hasn't changed".

All up a good day in this prettiest of towns. The representative was largely right - it hadn't changed except for the masses of tourists now there.

 

[turtlemichael]

And more beautiful Brugge.






Belgians like their beer.




The Begijnhof.

 

[Pushka]

Brugge looks wonderful. I would have liked to have travelled there.