Thursday 31 July 2008

Last Post until After the Wedding

Only 2 days left and so very much still to do. This will be my last post until we return OR if we connect to the internet while on the ship, I will post some pictures from our trip and hopefully the web site for our wedding pictures.
See most of you on Saturday. For those who aren't able to come, please keep an eye out for the wedding pictures - it will be awesome!!!!

Tuesday 29 July 2008

Honeymoon, the End

After a day spent in Copenhagen exploring the city while other passengers leave and new ones arrive, it is off to Oslo, Norway where we again plan to explore on our own. We suspect that we will now be in the land of the "midnight sun" and are looking forward to some spectacular scenery. The following day we are taking a late day fjord cruise in Stavanger, Norway. One last stop in Norway in Bergen and then we head for the Faroe Islands - to a city called Torshavn. We're not quite sure what to expect in the Faroe Islands, but we think that it will likely be pretty cool. Finally, a day at sea to rest and recharge our batteries.
Our next stop is Reykjavick, Iceland. We have planned a full day of touring the "hot spots"

-From Reykjavík we will drive over the Mosfellsheidi heath to beautiful Thingvellir National Park, a place of tremendous interest as a primary site of both Iceland's geological and historical heritage. Walk through the geological fault known as Almannagjá, to the place where Europe's oldest national legislative assembly, the Icelandic Althing, was established in AD 930, and where it convened, in grandiose surroundings every summer for nearly eight centuries. After our walk in Thingvellir, the tour continues over the Lyngdalsheidi heath into the fertile farmlands of the south, to visit the most beautiful waterfall of the country, Gullfoss. Nearby, we'll also stop at the Geysir geothermal area with its multitude of hot springs, where the most active one, Strokkur, spouts every few minutes. A three-course luncheon and coffee will be served at a restaurant in the Geysir area. Returning through the Grímsnes region, enjoy a stop at the beautiful modern church of the historical parish of south Iceland, Skólholt. Our final stop is by Kerid crater, an extinct volcanic crater. We will also pass Hveragerdi village, where geothermal water has been used to build up an extensive greenhouse industry. Pass through Reykjavík's city center by motor coach before arriving at the pier.

Sorry - I cheated and copied this one from the shore excursion description.
After Iceland we have 3 full days at sea before we dock in St. John's, Newfoundland. Neither of us has ever been to Newfoundland and we are really hoping that my sister, Linda and her husband, Ted will be able to make the trip from Norris Arm and show us the city. Next is St. Pierre, France followed by Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia. We hope to see the Fortress of Louisbourg in Sydney and the Citadel in Halifax. A day at sea and we dock in New York City.

A very busy cruise - we will need a vacation to recover from this vacation!!!!

Tuesday 22 July 2008

Honeymoon continued

After our 2 days in St. Petersburg, we dock in Helsinki, Finland where we plan to explore the city on our own. After Helsinki we visit Stockholm, Sweden. Again, we plan to sightsee on our own. After being in port for 5 days in a row, we get a day at sea - a day to relax, spend some time in the spa?? the casino (definitely). Now it is Warnemunde, Germany. Warnemunde is the port for Berlin. Berlin, however is a 3 hour train ride from the port. On the advise of a couple we know from dancing we chose a shore excursion called Rostock by Road, River & Rail. We leave the quay by motorcoach and transfer to Rostock where we have time to wander and shop. Then we board a boat for a 1 hour cruise back to the ship.
The final stop on the first part of our cruise is Arhus, Denmark where again we will explore the city on our own. The following day we return to Copenhagen where the cruise ends for many of the travellers. We will take the opportunity to explore the city.
That wraps up the first 10 days of the cruise. More to follow.............................

Thursday 17 July 2008

Our Honeymoon

On Sunday, right after brunch at the Elmhurst, Jamie is going to drive us to Windsor where we will catch the Robert Q shuttle to take us to the Detroit airport. We are flying first class, Air France. We fly overnight from Detroit to Paris where we have to change planes (and terminals). We then fly to Copenhagen where we will board the Eurodam. The picture is a typical Verandah suite - we will spend the next 25 days in a similar room.
We saik from Copenhagen at 5:00 and spend the next 41 hours at sea on our way to Tallinn, Estonia. We have chosen to simply wander in Estonia - no tour.
The next day, we dock in St. Petersburg for 2 days. The first day that we are there we are taking a tour to Catherine's Palace and Paul's Palace. Personally, I am anxious to see the Amber Room.
To be continued........................................

Saturday 12 July 2008

Three Weeks and Counting

Time to bring everyone up to date on our wedding plans. Only three weeks to go!!!!!

I've been busy putting together the ceremony and the programs. The ceremony is done, but I ran into a significant snag with my printing. I was merrily going along, printing my programs and managed to get about half of them printed when my printer refused to work any more with the cardstock I was using. I called my trusty friends "The Geek Squad" and a wonderful young man came out and spent about an hour trying to get things working again without any success. He kindly gave me the phone # for Hewlett Packard. I called and explained my problem to a very helpful young lady who apologetically explained to me that my printer was made to print photographs - it was never meant to print on card stock SOOO, it will be off to a printing place to get the rest printed.

We are at our final number of guests - there will be fifty-four of us celebrating together on 2 August.

Final fittings for all of our outfits was done today. I hope that I haven't forgotten anything!!
Flowers are done. Photographer is booked. DJ is booked. Cake is arranged. ??? hopefully that's it.

Our ship is finished and is currently on its maiden voyage in Scandanavia. The photographs on the Eurodam blog are absolutely amazing. We are so looking forward to our month off. It looks like we will get some amazing photographs on our honeymoon - we will post some on the blog when we get home.