The End of One Cruise and The Start of Another

 Our last port of call before the turnover day in Copenhagen was a return to Sweden - this time Gothenburg on Sunday.  Surprise, surprise - the weather was cool and overcast.  In the morning we took a cooking class on board Marina - 'Mediterranean Journey'.  We made Socca Rucola Insalata, Creamy Almond Pesto Pasta, and Almond Cakes A La Normande.  As usual, the class was fun and the food was good.  We'll have to make it for you when we get home!

In the afternoon, we took the shuttle bus into Gothenburg (Oceania has been great about providing shuttle buses into the cities.  If we can walk, we will.  But today Gothenberg was quite a distance from the port.)  I would say that we found Gothenburg to be uninspiring - just a big city with churches and a lot of shopping.

Monday we returned to Copenhagen.  As people were disembarking and new people were coming on board, we took the shuttle into the city.  The temperature may have been on the cool side but the sun was shining.  It felt great!  And we walked - about 6 miles.  We started by walking up to Tivoli thinking we might go in.  But, when we arrived, we found literally hundreds of what seemed to be high school age kids waiting to go in.  That wasn't what we wanted.  We then decided to make our way over to Rosenborg Castle.  On the way we wandered through Orstedsparken and the Botanical Garden before getting to the castle.

Before returning to the ship, we had lunch in Nyhaven - the herring was very good!

The ship has a whole different feel now that an additional 350 people have joined us.  We're up to about 500 guests now - still well below the 1250 capacity.  They have made an interesting decision - to close 2 of the 4 specialty restaurants each evening, alternating between which to close.  Eating in the Italian restaurant last night felt different - more lively.  On the previous cruise we set a new record - we ate in a specialty restaurant every night and never in the main dining room.  We'll see what happens on this cruise.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry