Thursday - 11 July 2013 - Boulder, Colorado, USA
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| Southern Greenland from SK 925 on 6July13 |
Back in 95 degree (F) Boulder Colorado. It actually gets dark at night here. Planning to get the $1.95 hot dog at Costco for lunch today. What a change from a typical lunch on Silver Cloud of beef short ribs with fresh Norwegian herring marinated in juniper berries. At least the flight home from Copenhagen last Saturday was scenic.
As postscript to my trip report, I thought it would be fun to mine my thousand or so pictures for those I didn't choose when posting from the ship. Some show the mood of a place or illustrate a point best left for some reflection before publishing. You'll see what I mean.
I'm refraining from my usual philosophical wrap-up and say only that Silver Cloud was very comfortable; the food and service was most likely the best possible on any cruise line; and we were treated fantastically. The butler was ingenious, smart, helpful, and polished our shoes only twice a day. Can't ask for more, and I didn't. The owner of Silversea wants his little venture (for him) to be #1 in the luxury cruise market. The on-board crew is trying to accomplish this, but the headquarters folks would excel as well if the billionaire owner bought them a clue. Other than that, I love Silversea and the lifeboat I've bought with my fares over the year.
Below are my photos that didn't make the original "cut" but are most worthy of ending my story on this most remarkable itinerary. This really was one of the very best cruises I have ever taken.
AMSTERDAM
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| Amstel River downstream Amsterdam |
The snap illustrates modern Netherlands. A modern windmill watches over a jet hover craft passing a modern version of a Van Gogh bridge. Cooler than what I can't say.
HAMBURG
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| Hamburg early morning arrival |
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| Weird debasing of historic German waterfront |
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| Beautiful waterfront Hamburg suburb |
I guess I didn't have great things to say about Hamburg, Germany. It's essentially a modern city with lots of construction, but the town square was nice and the city looked prosperous. We just expected better since the dawn sail-in was stunning. The Mississippi River type paddle wheel boats (from a recently bankrupted US corporation) along the old historic waterfront was disquieting along with the hodgepodge of ultra-modern buildings. Weird sights, and I'm afraid it got worst during our exploration. Fortunately, the parting view as we sailed back downstream towards the Kiel Canal was of lovely waterfront suburbs. I guess the modern Germans rather live outside the overgrown city.
KIEL CANAL
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| Kiel Canal near "world's longest bench" |
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| Not really a protest group along Kiel Canal |
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| Kiel Canal during rainstorm |
No prior experience "at sea" rivals the Kiel Canal transit. This busiest but relatively unknown 60 mile waterway is oddly otherworldly. A strange experience was seeing what appeared to be a "demonstration" we passed about half way to the Baltic from the Black Sea. Careful reading of the German, however, shows that this was a bunch of friends and relatives of a couple on the ship who were wishing them a good trip. I chatted with the gentleman a few minutes later. Actually he was engaging anyone he met on deck to say that he has lived for the last 30 years within sight of the canal and now finally was on a ship in it. He was beaming like no North German I've ever met before.
HELSINGBORG
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| Helsingborg school kids |
It is most usual for a cruise ship to dock in Helsingborg, Sweden. School kids in international safety vests were being escorted to look at the ship. My, those blond haired, blue eyed munchkins were cute.
COPENHAGEN
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| Shift Change at Copenhagen's Crown Prince's Palace |
Jannik's excellent walking tour included the plaza in front of the Crown Prince's palace. During the guard's shift change ceremony the sentry being relieved could not keep himself from hollering at a tourist who had the effrontery to lean on the building. I guess he really needed the break. The tourist ran away without looking back for fear of being thrown in a Danish dungeon.
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| Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is really very little |
We docked within sight of the very overrated tiny Little Mermaid statue. Check it out as a smudge along the waterfront directly below the three smoke stacks.
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