Catch Up

I got so caught up in enjoying the ports, soaking up the friendships, and making the most out of my time that I’ve gone 7 ports without blogging. I don’t like to go so long, because I forget some of the special details that I want to write about.

As I like to say, I want to “get” to write. Not “have” to write.

Weymouth / Portland England 4/15

A large group of us hit the road to Portland with not much in mind. We were just wandering to see where the wind took us.

Or rather, smells.

We found an INCREDIBLE fish and chips restaurant that served a large portion of delicious food along the water that allowed us to people watch. I’m not a fish and chips person, and even I enjoyed it!

Next we continued walking along until we came across a beach. As the start of spring, there was a carnival going on and lots of families out and about. It was comical that everyone was at the beach, but it was quite chilly so most people were still in heavy jackets. Coats at a beach… makes me giggle.

Next we stumbled upon a coffee shop named Hamilton. Chris, his dad Kerry, and Tom are all from a town in Canada named Hamilton, so it seemed like destiny to stop there for our snack.

After the coffee we were ready for an English pub! We walked until we found the one that felt just right.

A corner dive bar, with a special of 3 Jager bombs for 8€, a few pool tables, and a very drunk man who took the beer of the only other individual in the bar instead of his own. PERFECT! We spent the rest of the afternoon here before heading back to the ship.

On the way to the ship we gave a final goodbye to shauna, who was taking a solo trip to London for the night!

Dover, England 4/16

35,000 steps at the white cliffs of Dover for the day…. Need I say more?

Once at the end Andrew and I stopped inside the light house for tea and scones, with, of course, clotted cream. Life changing clotted cream

On our way back we were drawn to a bar that had lots of gin, free wifi, and live music. We grabbed a bite to eat, gave our feet a rest, and enjoyed the small crowded bar before heading back to the ship just before all aboard (per our usual).

There were details in today that were endearing:

Playing a game with Andrew at the lighthouse involving a pvc pipe race track with water to blow sailboats made out of sponges... Andrew won.

Someone's pet bulldog laying down on the path and the cow in the pasture coming up to investigate him.

The dog at the restaurant giving me a side eye because she was begging for a bite of my food.

The exquisite taste of gin in our gin and tonics, because it's made in England. And enjoying it so much we bought two and didn't even look at the price tag.

Bruges, Belgium 4/17

Andrew, Shauna and I were some of the first people off the ship in order to catch a train to Bruges from where we were docked in Zeebrugge.

With the early start we got there just before everything opened up. When we did find an open coffee shop we stopped for our caffeine dose. Review of the place: If you want to pay an arm and a leg for the nastiest tasting smallest cup of coffee you’ve ever seen, this is the place for you. (they can’t all be winners right)

But, we made up for it not long after! We found a shop that caught our eye for Belgium waffles. We each ordered a hot chocolate was well.

You know it’s the real deal when the hot chocolate choices are based on the % of cocoa. I ordered a white chocolate, shauna a milk, and Andrew a dark. It’s the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.

They brought out a big mug of hot milk, with chocolate that you drop into the milk, and a small whisk to mix it…. Yes please

After we got our sweet fix, we moved onto beer. 3 beer flights throughout the day, for a total of trying 20 different beers. 2 flights of 4 and one flight of 12.

TWELVE!!

I was impressed.

And don’t forget the French fries with mayonnaise, another staple to Belgium.

The final thing that stood out to me here was being able to see a vial of Jesus’ blood. A moment I wasn’t expecting, but truly left me speechless.

This port was nice because we made the most out of it. We passed so many tour groups that had spent much more money, to do far less than we did. We had autonomy over our entire day, and saw everything we wanted.

Amsterdam 4/18 & 4/19

Keukenhof Tulip Festival!!! How lucky am I, that I just so happened to be in this part of the world, at this exact time of year, to see the best known flower festival in the world.

I’ve dreamt of seeing the Keukenhof Tulip Festival for a few years, but never did I dream I’d get to experience it so young.

Andrew, Shauna and I walked around Keukenhof, then worked our way back to Amsterdam where we continued to appreciate the flora and fauna

wink wink

I had also wanted to do the Anne Frank House Museum, but that didn’t work out. I checked about 6 weeks prior, and tickets were ALREADY sold out. But, we did get to see the outside.

At night we checked out the red light districting as a huge group of 10: Al, Chris, Kerry, Jordan, his wife Heather, Tom, Shauna, Andrew, Ben (who we picked up along the way), and myself. It was such a fun night bar hopping! We closed all the bars down and made it back to the ship about 4:30am.

The late return didn’t stop us from making the most out of our second day in the city though. We woke up, wandered around, and did a nice and relaxing Canal river cruise to end our time.

Copenhagen 4/21

The FEELING I got when I saw Espresso House for the first time in YEARS! I was giddy. I jumped for joy, and immediately rushed to the coffee shop that I used to frequent when in Sweden. Felt so good to know I was back in Scandinavia!

We (Tom, Shauna, Chris, Kerry, and I) enjoyed a lovely (and of course expensive)  fika in Espresso House before continuing our way.

We found a souvenir shop with a bunch of merch with “Hygge” written on it. It peaked our interest, and upon a Google search we learned it means coziness, and is pronounced hoo-gah.

We spent the day doing a Hop On Hop Off bus tour, saving our feet from another 20,000 + steps day which we’ve been averaging.

It took us to Christiana, a cute hippie community within the city. I bought recycled pants and jacket from a man who made it for a really great price. I loved what the community stood for. Basically be a good person and do what you want as long as it doesn’t infringe on other people.

We saw Ben sketching at a spiral topped church, he said it’s one of his favorites in the world. We have a habit of running into him in port which is humoring.

We found ourselves at a beautiful center for our next stop, with live music and vendors all around. Kerry and Chris gave some money and the man threw it out into the cobblestone street as if offended…

Our final stop was the famous Little Mermaid statue. We overheard someone call it the “Eiffel tower of Denmark”. We had a churro filled with dulce de leche before heading back to the ship…. Take my money… it was delicious.

Oslo 4/22

Old stomping grounds!! It felt nice to be somewhere familiar where I had recommendations on places to see and things to do.

I knew the start of my day consisted of My Ugly Baby. The second best donut I’ve ever had… All my sweet friends took the time to come with me to find an expensive donut shop, because it was special to me.

Now, is it the donut? Or is the ambiance of being in Norway with friends? A bit of both. It was so fun for me to share a cool place with even cooler people. Perfect start to the day.

I had a lemon donut and espresso with sparkling water for pairing.

The large group went out separate ways after the donut and I took Chris around some of my favorite areas of the city while trying to save money.

We walked through an old fort area, made our way to the opera house and walked on top, went by the barcode project, and made our way to a new area of town for me, and Indonesian inspired area. Eventually got to a church that I’d seen before, but wasn’t able to go into last time because it was closed. Was finally able to see inside and it was interesting. Typically, ceilings in churches are decorated to draw the eyes up towards the heavens. However, the ceiling here had a peculiar painting of fire… interpret that how you will.

We ended the day walking the wharf area and finding a cute bar to have a snack and water before heading back to the ship.

Chris wanted to stop for one glass of wine quickly, and so we popped into YaYa’s (a place we took note of when we passed in the morning that stood out to us because of the name). It was an underground restaurant, and we had to weave through a few hallways to get to the dining section. The hallways were decorated with cool LED lights and plants and fun paintings. It was such a neat final stop. We were so caught up in the great conversation we nearly lost track of time, and made it to the ship with just a handful of minutes to spare before all aboard.

The day ended with a great chat after dinner with a man on the ship named Bill. He was born in Ninilchik, Alaska. Him and his sister Sue both have streets named after them in Anchorage…. His daughter, Tasha Hotch, is involved in the Senate and Alaskan politics. Our conversation made this large world seem not so large.

Kristiansand 4/23

A small Norwegian town with most things closed for Sunday.

I went out on a solo mission, but ran into Ben and his dad Ryan along the waterfront so we spent the rest of the afternoon together.

We made a quick stop at a fort which offered nice views of the fjord before finding our way to the square. At the square we found a cute coffee/pastry stop where I got a bag of 10 small pastries and a latte for about $10.

Next we found a green hiking area that was exactly what I had in mind for the day. Some nature with a casual walking train, birds chirping, breeze causing a bit of ripple in the water. This was all thanks to Ben’s Tours LLC

Wink wink

We stopped inside the church at the square and had a chat with Maya, the volunteer for the church. It was nice to talk with a local and learn not only about the town and the church but also her and her life. Originally from Belgium, she spent many of her teenage years in Kristiansand and came back because she recently retired.

The church had been burned down 3 times before. Which made sense since everything was made of wood. It was a fairly simple design, no stained glass, no intricate designs on the ceiling, but still beautiful.

Finally, I enjoyed the company of Ben and Ryan by a waterfront bench before heading to the ship.

Cheers to catching up,

Tay

P.S. The sunsets continue to wow me. God's art is beautiful