Voyage of the vikings , Amsterdam , Rotterdam

From: Ellen Servis
Subject: Voyage of the vikings , Amsterdam , Rotterdam

Hi to all,
We are on the last of our 2 day stay in Amsterdam . It has been a busy few days.  We took a tour to Rotterdam to tour the flagship the Rotterdam that has been restored to its style in the 1950's.
Many of the ships have the same names as their predecessor .
We got to see dikes and windmills enroute.
In the evening we took a candlelight canal ride with wine and a walking tour of the famous red light district,  in the rain the tour boat left us so we ended walking back but were given another tour today for free and were dropped off at the ship dock.
The city has many sights and things to do, but as my last stay was for 4 days I opted not to do the museums again.
I had never taken a canal tour so spent most of today doing same it was fun as it  was sunny and the top was opened so the views were wonderful.
Our next port will be Ireland , Waterford , Dublin for a visit with family  then Belfast as we begin the journey homeward.
Some pics for you.

from my iPad

hope all are well.
Until our next port.
Ellen
Kathy says hi to all those that know her.

Bergen, Norway

From: Ellen Servi
Subject: Bergen, Norway

Hi all,
We are now in Europe , this is the second largest city in Norway we are here all day.
It was raining as we docked but it has gotten sunny and beautiful , we are lucky as they get233 days of rain a year,
The dock is very beautiful with old wooden buildings from the 1400 .

More photos later as we will take the funicular to get a panorama
Later
Ellen

Sent from my iPad

Stavangar, Norway

From: Ellen Servis
Subject: Stavangar, Norway

Hi,
This is our last port in Norway . It is drizzling and cool but nice to walk around as there are few people.  The city is old with the oldest cathedral in Norway .  Most of the shops are closed which is fine with my pocketbook.
Scenic cruising this afternoon on lisadjford, hope it stays clear.

Barbecue tonight aboard then off to Amsterdam .

Sent from my iPadtil next time
Ellen

Faroe Islands , Torshavn , Voyage of the Vikings

From: Guest Blogger Ellen

 Faroe Islands , Torshavn , Voyage of the Vikings

Hi again,
We have had another port today in the North Atlantic with another foggy night and fog horns, as we took on the harbor pilot we could hardly see the water but we docked here late and by noon the sun had started to burn off the mist and it a beautiful sunny day.
The town is about 15,000 and both old and new with turf roofed homes in the old city.
The fog rolls in every so often, this is a great and unique place to visit.
The sail away is late 8:30, hope to see a bit more of the surrounding islands and still looking for whales.  The sun does not set until about 11.  It has turned out to be a sunny warm day.
At sea tomorrow
Ellen

Sent from my iPad

Voyage of the Vikings, seydisfjordur, Iceland

 From: Ellen Voyage of the Vikings, seydisfjordur, Iceland

Hi all,
Last night we had an arctic plunge as we crossed into and sailed into the Arctic circle, again.  This is the highest point in our voyage, not much to see in the land of the midnight sun as there was fog again but there were only about 2 hours of night and it was more twilight between1&3 am.
We sailed up a 16 km fjord this am at six still foggy. We have a short day here, but the sun came out and burned off the fog and it was a marvelous sunny cool 55. The town is ringed by about 20 waterfalls and they are gushing into fast running streams into the lake.  It is sooo clean and refreshing.  Hopefully we can have a marvelous view as we sail out to sea.
Iceland is truly a beautiful place, this is our last port here until our return leg
We head off to the Faroe Islands tomorrow , I am looking forward to see such a remote a d unique place.
Hope to hear from you soon.












Luv to all
Ellen
Kathy says hello to those who know her.
Hoo Roo mate!

Sent from my iPad

Voyage of the Vikings; Issafjordur, Iceland

Not my trip but someone I met on the World Voyage.   She and several others are already back on a ship for another long trip.  Not me.  I am glad to be home.

From: Ellen   Subject: Voyage of the Vikings; Issafjordur, Iceland

Hi all,
Just a brief update of my travels so far.
This is a lovely way to beat the heat.  Today is to be in the low50's and clear.  This is the first port in Iceland , snow is visible on the mountain tops from the deck of the ship.
We spent the last few days at sea as we were not able to get into our first port in Greenland due to the ice floe which was 3 1/2 miles wide off the coast, plus numerous icebergs and fog, we heard the fog horn frequently and saw very little scenery.

The mountains were about 6 1/2 miles away with the ice between us.  The captain tried getting around it but no go.  We will try on our homeward journey.  It was a chilly damp 39 degrees or 3 c. As the captain said Greenland was on his bucket list we may yet get there.

We have 6 ports in Iceland, 3 on each leg of the journey.
Sent from my iPad

Beautiful day lovely city.
Just to follow up, today we are in the gorgeous city of Akureyri, it is sunny and warm the ship is leaving early today as there is an arctic swim on deck.
The ship crossed into the arctic circle last night for several hours last night and we will probably do so as we leave it is about 20 miles to the sea thru the fjord. Scenery magnificent.  Anyone that cruises should put this on their bucket list.

Luv ya
Ellen