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)
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