Denmark - Aarhus and Copenhagen (plus Malmö and Lund, Sweden)

Day 5 - Aarhus

The second port stop was Aarhus in northeast Denmark. I didn't expect much here - from my pre-planning it seemed pretty lame, but I was wrong. This city is very cute and has a lot to offer.

We were split on visiting the open air museum, Den Gamle By, but I later found out that it wasn't just a re-creation of old Denmark, but had sections for modern Danish life as well as how Danes lived in the 1970's. I would like to see this if we go back.

Our first stop was the Salling department store rooftop, which also sounds lame, but it is very cool. At the top there are a couple of restaurants and one of the biggest decks you will ever see with 360 degree views of the city. This deck was amazing, with a couple of glass floors, several levels and quiet spaces. Free to visit and not far from the ship.

Then we went to where we saw the most tourists walking - down by the canals. Aarhus has a nice network of canals, which I am a sucker for.  We found a place to stop and have a Danish beer and watch people and dogs. 

We didn't spend a lot of time in Aarhus, but the city exceeded all of my expectations.

Day 6 - Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö and Lund, Sweden

Today, we took our first official NCL excursion - a six or seven hour tour around Copenhagen, Denmark, then across the Öresund Bridge to Sweden.

Our guide told us all about Copenhagen as we drove the city looking at sculptures and buildings. We stopped at the Little Mermaid statue (very small heavily touristed). The statue is a tribute to author Hans Christian Anderson who is famous for writing many fables including The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, and The Little Match Girl.

From there, we crossed the five-mile-long Öresund Bridge into Sweden. The bridge was created in 2000 and is a beautiful cable-stayed bridge which seems to disappear into the ocean on the Danish side as it goes into a long, underwater tunnel.

Our first stop was to the Lund Cathedral. Lund is a small town outside of Malmö. The cathedral was consecrated in 1145, so almost 1000 years old. The bottom floor is a large crypt with a couple dozen people buried in tombs. The church also houses the largest organ in Sweden.

Then we drove in to Malmö and took a quick look at the "Turning Torso" a unique, tall apartment building.  At the base of the tower there is stone eye sculpture that occasionally blinks at you. 

We stopped near the City Hall and wandered around on our free time. We chose to eat at Drumbar and had the best Swedish Meatballs with a whisky cream sauce. 

The ride back to Copenhagen was relaxing and exciting as we dropped off the bridge into the sea.

Norway - Olso and Kristiansand

Days 1-3, Oslo

Before getting on our cruise in Oslo, we spent a couple of days in the city to adjust to the time zone and try to get a feel for the country. Before planning this vacation, we had been looking to do a vacation just here, going up the west coast to Bergen and other small towns and exploring the beauty of the fjords.

This time, after taking a cab into the city from the airport (which was very easy - the taxi kiosk works just like Uber - you get a plate number and cost up front), we self-checked in to The Verdandi Hotel. This hotel was in a great location, maybe one of the best, but the rooms were super tiny - like a dorm room. We've had tiny rooms in Europe before but this one was especially small.

We figured, Oh well, we can get ready for our tiny cruise ship room... although even that was significantly larger than this one.

The first night we walked to a restaurant on Aker Brygge (pronounced Okker Brigguh), a long pier next to the harbor with many restaurants and apartments. Rorbua specializes in Norwegian cuisine, and I wanted to try some new foods (whale, reindeer). I didn't try the boknafisk (fish dried then prepared) but the whale was interesting (a bit like black stew meat) and the reindeer was good. Shellie had Salmon. The place is decorated in a nautical theme and we were the only non-Norwegians there at that time (locals being there is a good sign). We walked home and it was starting to get cold, but nothing like we would feel at the end of our trip.

The next day we had coffee at Espresso House and waited for the museums to open. On our way we skirted around the huge City Hall which is where the Nobel Peace Prize is given.  The Viking Museum was closed for renovation, but we went to an interactive museum called Viking Planet where you could see the Viking Museum virtually. We also went on a VR "ride" where you get on a viking ship and are attacked).  

The next spot for us was the Paradox Museum. We ended up seeing a version of this museum in other cities, on this trip, and basically you see a bunch of optical illusions and there are some cool shots you can get.

We wandered a bit around downtown Oslo to the parks and pubs along Karl Johans gate (gate (gata) is basically street). Went back, took a brief nap before walking to the pier across from the Opera House for a Oslo Fjord ferry tour.  We booked the tour on Get Your Guide and it took us on a cruise around the neighboring islands and pointed out spots of interest along the Oslo coastline.  

We walked back toward Aker Brygge in search of a restaurant, stopping through the cute square on Rådhusgata, looking at various menus, but settled on FishMe on the pier. Delicious food including Bergen Fish Soup and for dessert, Brown Cheese Ice Cream which sounds disgusting, but as the waiter put it, "The best ice cream you will ever have." No lie, it was like a coffee, cinnamon flavor and very tasty.

Another short, cold walk home and we were ready to sleep and board our cruise the next day.

In the morning we ate a late breakfast at The Cakery and went back to the hotel until boarding time. 

Norwegian moved our boarding site from the main cruise port to the dock across from the Opera House, so we knew where it was. Despite having no terminal there, the boarding process went very smoothly and we were on board, ready to explore the ship.

We spent the night gambling and eating.

Day 4 - Kristiansand

We had no excursion planned for Kristiansand, just spend a Saturday in the downtown area. The other option was the Animal Park, which might have been better. We didn't find much remarkable about the downtown Markens gate area.  The little fish shops near the cruise port were much more what we were hoping for. For a Saturday it was pretty dead, but the town is popular in the summer months and we were just outside that window of time.

We were back on the ship by early afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing and took in a show.

The food on the Norwegian Dawn was mostly good and the waitstaff, bartenders and all other staff were very friendly. This was our first cruise on NCL and we were pleasantly surprised. Also, because of the timing, most kids were in school, just a few on the boat. Most people were our age or older which gave the cruise a different vibe from the Caribbean cruises we do all the time.

 

Baltics Cruise 2025

We just wrapped up 16 days in the Baltics and had an awesome time. Shellie and I were celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary - no kids, just the two of us.

We chose a cruise on Norwegian Cruise line which was our first cruise with NCL. It was a nice experience and would recommend cruising with them. It was also very affordable, although we found many of the countries we visited to be expensive relative to the US.

Our itinerary is below:

This gave us a chance to see many different countries and decide which ones to return to later.

I'll have separate blog entries for the different destinations, but the summary of our experiences is below:

Oslo: Nice blend of old and new, good food (FishMe Bergen soup), interesting food (whale, reindeer), fjord cruise, planet Viking, paradox museum, city hall, Aker Brygge

Kritiansand: Was pretty dead for the most part, even on a Saturday; probably much better in the summer; has a nice animal park but we did not visit it

Aarhus: Nice to stroll the canals, Den Gamle By open air museum shows Danish life old and new

Copenhagen: Large city with pretty buildings and history - need a car/tour to see the sights 

Malmö and Lund, Sweden: Went across the bridge from Copenhagen into Sweden to see some of theoldest towns; had some great Swedish meatballs

Kiel/Hamburg: took the train to Hamburg and spent the afternoon in Speicherstadt, the old warehouse district on the harbor, visited Miniatur Wonderland; massive scale models of locations from around the world - amazing; didn't get to visit Hamburg Dungeon (closed to school tours)

Rostock/Berlin: rented a car and drove 40mi south of Berlin to Tropical Islands waterpark in an old blimp hangar - fun!; then drove into Berlin to see some of the iconic sights; crazy traffic trying to get back, plus some rental car adventures

Poland: took train from Gdynia to Gdansk and walked the old town; WWII museum closed early so we didn't get to see it; old town is beautiful and we would like to go back

Lithuania: Shellie's favorite stop (Klaipeda) - old town and canals, pretty parks and the barrier island/peninsula is pretty with a beautiful beach

Latvia: Old town sits near the inlet to the Baltic Sea, market is large and crazy, were there on a Saturday; cool buildings and churches and nice place to stop and eat

Estonia: We went through the old town which is pretty, but did all new-world stuff - Ate Texas fajitas and barbecue and went to the DaVinci Genius interactive art exhibit; another palce we'd like to visit again

Finland: took a walking tour and learned some history; went to the harbor market and a really cool multi-purpose library; did not see the Rock Church which was a big miss; wicked cold already in just September

Sweden: Stockholm may be the most beautiful city we have ever visited; stayed on Gamla Stan near all the main sights; went to the ABBA museum (very fun)

Italy, Turkey, Greece Part 2 - Day 1

Day 1 - Arrival in Rome

Shellie and I took her mom, Gwen, and several other first-timers to Italy for Gwen's 80th birthday. Besides Gwen, we had Shellie's sister, Kim, two of her four children, Sage and Orin, and our friend Deana. So, seven total people.

This is a good trip to review (along with Germany where we had six people) for when you have a slightly larger group. 

The itinerary for this trip was four days in Italy, then a seven-day cruise:

We used Booking.com to find an apartment very close to the Colosseum in Rome central.  I would highly recommend this extremely spacious place: Sweet Dream Cavour (on Cavour street). It had four huge bedrooms and a perfect location. The host was also very responsive and the apartment was spotless.

We arrived very early in the morning (7am) and were able to drop our luggage at the building which also houses a hotel. We also had options to drop it at a "Bounce" location where we could have stored our bags for a reasonable rate.

Colosseum

We immediately headed toward the Colosseum on foot, and though it was a little bit of a hike for Gwen, we made it. You may encounter a gauntlet of vendors on Largo Gaetana Agnesi (the street that looks down on the Colosseum grounds). My advice is to head down the stairs as quickly as possible or you may end up buying something you don't really want.

GETTING COLOSSEUM TICKETS IS TRICKY: READ HOW I DID IT HERE

While we were waiting for our timeslot we ventured around Palatine Hill and the rest of the surrounding area. The area was more controlled by barricades than the last time we were here (SEE 2015 BLOG).

Your Colosseum ticket will get you into some of the extra areas, but we didn't have much time - we walked up Via Sacra to the top. If you do, I would suggest walking through Palatine Hill - your Colosseum ticket should allow you to enter there too (the entrance is on via di San Gregorio at the base of the hill).

We really enjoyed the underground tour and then walking out on the Colosseum floor.  The kids (I say kids at 20 and 26) took a lot of pictures.  

Pantheon

We walked back to the hotel and formally checked in, then took a taxi to the Pantheon. You now also have to have tickets to the Pantheon, but fortunately they are super easy to get online with tons of timeslots. We comboed it with a dinner reservation in the courtyard outside the Pantheon. I would definitely recommend the Pantheon to any visitor - the architecture and the art is stunning.  

To get tickets just got to the Vatican Museums website and pay the 5 euro.

Dinner

We had dinner at di Rienzo. Excellent waitstaff and great location. The first-timers got their first real taste of Italian cooking!

It was an excellent end to a fun-filled day.  Tomorrow we will be getting up early to head to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.