By the time we had hit Germany I was kind of going through the motions. Between feeling crappy and missing home I was ready for our vacation to end. Not that I was miserable or anything, I had just reached the point where I would have been ok returning home. However, after visiting Demark and it's capital of Copenhagen I definitely felt rejuvenated and revitalized once again.

Unlike our last couple of stops, we spent as much time ashore as we could. From as soon as we could leave the ship to just a few minutes before we had to be back on board.

The night before I had done some Googling to try and find a few places we'd want to see as the only thing we had planned so far was to visit the Absolut Ice Bar. Two things that caught my attention were an old medieval tower and a Viking museum. So Chris and I grabbed a taxi and we headed for the tower. Our driver spoke a little English and we found out that the Viking museum was actually a ways outside of the city, so we didn't end up seeing it. We also found out that 'Tak' is how you say thank you in Danish. When we got to the tower we paid the driver - which was a bit of an ordeal as Denmark has their own currency. I had always thought they were part of the European Union.

The tower was pretty neat it just went up and up in a spiral ramp. You were always curious as you rounded the next corner whether that was it or not. It seemed to go on forever. And then about half way up there was a doorway into what was an art museum. I found that to be quite odd and didn't spend much time in there as I was determined to get to the top. When you got to the last 'floor' you had to go up some incredibly narrow stairs and only one person could go up or down at a time. The view from the top was very impressive, you could see all of Copenhagen from it. There was a small gift shop where I bought some postcards. I asked the girl who worked there if she had to walk all the way to the top everyday to get to work (she did). She said it was good exercise and gave me my change. She looked surprised when I said 'Tak'.

As an aside, there were sooo many ridiculously good looking women not only there, but in all of the Baltic countries we visited. I'm sure I was walking around with my mouth hanging open most of the time. I think Chris and Nancy said something about seeing some hot guys as well, but I didn't really pay much attention.

After the tower we walked down one of the streets and came across the Sex Museum. It was literally sandwiched between two regular type of stores. Of course we went in. The displays were, um, very interesting. They covered sexuality from 100 years ago up to modern times. One of the displays was a wall of TV's each showing a different 'movie'. They were all numbered and the idea was if you liked one (or more) of the movies you could buy it from the store by referencing the number. Of course the one I liked happened to be sold out.

From there we wandered down to Stroget, which is the main shopping district. We looked in a few stores and saw a number of interesting street performers. We also stopped at a couple of different outdoor spots and had some beers. Chris had along Alpha's GPS device with which we could keep track of each other (Alpha and Nancy had gone off on their own to Tivoli Gardens) as well as mark locations that we'd been to. As most of the places we stopped at were for beers Chris would mark them with a beer icon. At the end of the day the map would be dotted all over with them.

Chris had been told to try the local hot dogs so we found a stand and bought some. First off they look quite different from what we're used to. They were all really long and depending on the kind were either served in a bun (which looked hilarious as they stuck out of the bun) or on a plate with the bun and condiments on the side. They might have looked odd, but they were really, really tasty!

Alpha and Nancy met up with us at a place called Victoria Pub. Before we left, we had talked about surprising Deb by getting a picture of us at the Victoria Pub in London as that's where she used to work. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to do so in London, but when we saw this one we knew we had to go there. So we did end up getting Deb's picture, it was just in a different city :)

From there we all split up again as Chris and I wanted to go to the Ice Bar. However we had lost our map and I was in a foul mood as a result. We had been following the map to what was marked as an information centre as we weren't exactly sure where the Ice Bar was located. It's very disconcerting being in a foreign city and having absolutely no idea where you are. We kept walking in the direction the information centre was supposed to be and eventually came across it (and got another map). It turns out (and I thought this was pretty funny at the time) that the Ice Bar was only a couple blocks from where we were.

Although it was expensive considering how long you got to spend in it, it was one of those things you just had to do. Before you could go in though you had to put on gloves, boots, and a parka. I asked the lady selling tickets how cold it was in there and found out it was only 15 degrees below. I wanted to go in without all the gear but wearing it was mandatory as the clothing also protects the ice by keeping your body warmth inside. Inside everything but the ceiling and floors were made out of ice. Even the glasses they served drinks in were made out of ice. It was a very 'cool' experience and we both had big grins on our faces. Chris was even more happy when she found out they served her favourite drink, Ruby Red Vodka.

We were hungry after that so we found a funky place that served fancy burgers. Not long after we sat down Alpha and Nancy came by and we did the usual comparing of notes. I ended up having a blue cheese burger which was amazing and it was also the first burger I'd had in a restaurant since London.

Afterwards Alpha flagged down a cab and we headed back to the ship. On the way we stopped at the Little Mermaid statue to take photos. Apparently this wasn't the original one but a new one that they had built. I know it has something to do with Hans Christian Andersen who was from Denmark, but that's about it. Chris knows the whole story so if you want details ask her.

When we first docked in Copenhagen, I had noticed a really long bridge spanning one end of the horizon to the other. I was hoping that when we departed we'd head towards it but unfortunately we didn't. I did some digging when I got home and it turns out that the bridge actually connects Denmark and Sweden. So had we more time we could have rented a car and gone to Sweden as well. Oh well, we'll have to do that next time!

Pictures can be found here.

Because of some obvious sensitivities not only for myself but also for everyone else who was with me I won't go into detail about what Amsterdam is most famous for - except to say that the Coffee Shops there are completely different from the ones here. It was also amusing to find out that the city has a no smoking bylaw in force. You aren't allowed to smoke tobacco in those places (or any public place) although you can smoke everything else under the sun. I honestly have no idea how they enforce it.

All of us got off the ship as soon as we could in the morning. The plan was to take a boat ride along the canals and to go visit the Red-Light district. We walked and walked until we got to the main train station which was also where you caught the Canal Bus. The first thing I noticed about Amsterdam while we were walking was that there were a lot of bikes. One street had what seemed like hundreds lined up all in a row.

The canal tour was alright. It was neat seeing all the houseboats and watching the people on them having their morning coffee or tending to their little gardens as we went by. Each canal intersection also had a large control gate which they could close to prevent flooding. We saw some interesting trees and a number of ducks and swans. Apparently Peter the Great modeled St. Petersburg on Amsterdam as he was so impressed by what he saw when he had visited there. All I can say is that St. Petersburg is a much, much nicer city to look at. Still people don't really go to Amsterdam for the scenery do they?

Keeping with that train of thought, we got off back where we started and headed down the streets. It must have been gay pride day there or something because we soon came across many drag queens. On one street there was also a long table which ran down the length of the block and there were many people sitting at it and eating what looked like a continental breakfast. It was a very odd sight to see and the streets were just packed with people.

Chris was hungry so we tried to find somewhere to have breakfast. Of course it took us a few tries until we found a place. I don't know why, but besides London and Paris, in almost every other city that we visited it was impossible to find a spot where you could eat and have a drink. Outside of some chips or a cheese sandwich you could only get alcohol. Even if you went to an English or Irish type pub it was the same thing. So half the time we were all staggering around drunk because we hadn't eaten all day! While Chris and I ate Alpha and Nancy went off to try and find the district.

As we were finishing they came back and Alpha had a big ass grin on his face, obviously they had found what we were looking for.

The Red-Light district goes for several blocks up and down both sides of one of the canals. Every building consists of either porn shops, coffee shops, or individual rooms where the prostitutes work. While some of the ladies work out of buildings which face the main strip, most are in buildings which face each other and are separated by very narrow alleys. Some of the ladies were very beautiful, some not so much. They would display themselves in the windows and try to entice you to go in and partake of their charms.

Although we knew that you weren't allowed to take pictures of them, the point was quickly reinforced as we saw one of them get extremely upset, yelling, swearing, and threatening to call the cops on a snap happy tourist. I did manage to get one shot but it was from far away.

We went into a few of the adult stores. They were mostly what you'd expect although they definitely had some movies which, well, would be illegal here. Some also had private booths which you could 'enjoy' yourself in. There were also numerous specialty S&M shops. Probably my favourite place had live peep shows of women and couples. You'd go into what was essentially a closet with a closed window. After depositing two Euros in a coin slot the window would open and inside would be the entertainment. A few minutes later the window would close again and if you wanted to see more you'd have to put in more money. After about 10 minutes or so whoever was in there would leave and then another person or couple would come in and continue on.

While you could see them, they could also see you. It must have been the sheepish grin I had on my face most of the time but the girls there definitely liked me. A couple of them gave me a real close up and personal show - I might as well have been their gynecologist - and informed me that for 20 Euros I could go back to a private room with them. While it was tempting I politely declined. Afterwards Alpha, Chris, and Nancy commented on how I seemed to unfairly monopolize the girls time :)

We spent the rest of the day hanging out and having a few beers. One of the places was an English style pub and the one wall was covered with the back of coasters which people had written on. We wrote my website address on one and put it up as well. I went to the bathroom there and while most of the toilets I had seen in Amsterdam didn't have seats, this one didn't even have a toilet. It was just a hole in the ground with spots to place your feet and a bar to hold on to. It was very bizarre. I also saw several pissoirs on street corners. These were outside places guys would go to take a leak in full view of everyone else. One type offered absolutely no privacy other than the fact your back was turned to everyone, while the other type offered a screen which surrounded you. We walked past one of the second kind and seeing as I had to go I decided to give it a try. I have to say it's a very liberating feeling just whizzing away, in full daylight, as people walk right past you, and not having to worry about getting arrested. I think Calgary should get a bunch of them installed around town!

Although we were having a lot of fun, it was time to go. We made our way back and hopped on the Canal Bus which took us to where the ship was docked. I think everyone else had tried to maximize their time ashore as there were huge line ups to get back on. Once we got back to our room we didn't have much time to rest as we had to pack and leave our luggage outside of our door before the end of the night.

It was with much sadness that I realized our vacation would soon be over.

Pictures can be found here.

Our suite seemed a bit larger but the balcony was smaller. I guess last time we were lower down and whatever level we were on previously has the biggest balconies. One thing which was cool was that we also had a window which looked out the front of the ship. So quite often I'd peek through it to see if anything interesting was coming up.

My favourite thing to do on our last cruise was to hang out on the balcony at night and listen to the crashing waves. I tried to recreate that balcony experience however I quickly came to realize it just wasn't going to work. It was simply to cold and to windy. The wind might have had to do with us being right at the front of the ship, or maybe it's just windier on the Baltic Sea.

Being that it was a European cruise most of the people there tended to be older or were families with small children. As Alpha commented, there was a 'definate lack of hotties'.

The first day at sea we explored the ship and got to know our way around. The weather was overcast and kinda crappy. That night we had our first dinner and met Natalie, who was our waitress. She was excellent. We all thought she was amazing and she worked really hard to make sure we were completely happy with everything.

We cut loose that night and had a lot of fun. I noticed that there was one bar that no one ever was at and I felt kind of sorry for the bartender. So I suggested we should all go there and have a drink. I'm glad we did because it turned out to be our favourite place. The bartender's name was Romeo and he was (we got a kick of of this) from Romania. I soon realized why there was never anyone there though - he only served hard alcohol, as in no mix. It was basically a Martini type bar which served very exclusive brands of booze. Mohitos were the drink for everyone else, but I tended to mix it up. Romeo introduced me to the most expensive Bourbon on the ship, which I really liked. Alpha also sampled some high end Cognac. And I also tried some Port, which I'd never had before.

It was very interesting listening to him talk about the properties of various liqueurs and wines. We spent all kinds of time chatting him up and finding out everything about him, his work, what he thought of the ship and so on. We gave him our website addresses so I hope he looks us up when he finishes his stint on the Splendor and drops us a note.

The weather was much better on our second day at sea. Nancy hung out at the spa while Alpha and Chris hit the casino. I went and walked around the walking track at the top of the ship and ended up doing 3km. Unlike last time I at least made an effort to get some exercise. I think it helped as when I got home I had only gained a few pounds. I could have worked out at the spa, but I found it much more enjoyable being outside with the wind in my hair and being able to look out upon the ocean as I walked around.

The food overall was really good. Most nights we enjoyed what we ate in the dining room, we really enjoyed the fancy dinner, and the buffet, pizzaria and burger place were also good. I had discovered one place which served Indian food during the morning to early afternoon. It quickly became my favourite place to grab a bite to eat although Chris hated it as I usually ended up having stinky curry burps.

We spent a good time in the hot tub on the second day. Alpha had bought a digital camera which was waterproof so he got a kick out of dropping it in the water and pretending to be horrified. It also came in handy on the rare occasion that some hotties would come join us in the hot tub (he could be very discrete).

That night we went through a storm and it was pissing rain and there was lots of lightning. We were sitting on the Lido deck and they had obviously closed the roof but every few minutes the boat would go over a big wave and the water in the pool would splash from one side to the other. The boat was definitely rocking :)

When we left Estonia I came across one spot at the back of the ship which ended up being my favorite spot to hang out whenever we left port. There were big comfy stone chairs and you'd be almost in the middle of the ship, just relaxing and watching the shoreline slowly recede in the distance.

Chris had written John, the cruise director, a 'Dear John' letter in which she mentioned what a great time she was having and she thanked myself and Alpha & Nancy for being so patient with her and helping her when she wasn't feeling good etc. And he read her letter on his morning show which was broadcast on one of the TV channels! Before the cruise was over he also sent her an autographed picture of the ship and a bottle of champagne. We both thought that was pretty cool.

On our second last sea day I won $400 at the casino playing the slots. I was just about to quit when I thought I'd give it one more spin. I'm really glad that I did! Chris had also won some money on the slots earlier that day. I don't think we figured it out to the exact dollar, but overall we were up a fair amount by the end of the cruise.

One thing I noticed while looking out our balcony was just how much tanker traffic there was. Some days you'd see three or four tankers next to us. It was in sharp contrast to when we were in the Caribbean and we'd be the only ship in the ocean.

When we got back to England and disembarked in the morning it was the usual shit show. We had tagged our luggage the night before in the mistaken belief that they'd automatically transfer it onto the bus. Nope. I had to battle the hordes of slow moving, old people to find our luggage in a warehouse with three thousand other suitcases. Then we got outside only to find that three of the four busses were already full. The last one wasn't open yet as the driver had different information on where he was supposed to go. Until he got clarification from the higher ups we had to wait in the pouring rain. Eventually we got on and as a sort of bonus Chris and I had the back row of the bus all to ourselves.

Heathrow wasn't that bad. We got to go through the 1st class line, had something to eat, and hung out at the Air Canada lounge, eating snacks, surfing the web, and drinking free booze. Nancy joined us about an hour before we had to board. Alpha apparently thought the model of aircraft we were flying on was a deathtrap and so he stayed an extra night so he could get a different plane.

Once we got on the plane our familiar pods were there to greet us. I think Nancy was impressed as her previous flight didn't have them. Then to my horror I realized we were sharing 1st class with no less than 5!!! young children on our nine hour flight. I hope the approx $50,000 the one family shelled out for their kids was worth it. Actually my fears were unfounded as once we got in the air they were well behaved. Still, I thought I was about to have my worst nightmare realized.

Unlike the flight over, time seemed to whiz by going back. Before I knew it they were announcing that we were starting our descent. I was blown away as I couldn't reconcile in my head where the time had gone. I had watched a couple movies and some TV shows, but I hadn't slept at all. I wasn't complaining that's for sure but I still found it to be quite bizarre.

We got off the flight, went down the escalators to get our luggage and Mo & Po were there to give us a ride home. And thus our dream trip to Europe was at an end. Although it was stupid expensive we both thought it was well worth it. We weren't home for long before we missed all the great places we had been and wanted to go back.

We're already talking about going on a Mediterranean cruise in 2011 for our 40th birthdays!

Pictures can be found here.